Travel stories from Iceland

CamperStories

FREEDOM

When traveling, we’re all about FREEDOM.

You know, that sensation of being the master of your path, that each step is guided by your senses. From Asia to Savoie, from Bolivia to Philadelphia, we’ve always had our own travel style and we strongly believe that even if it’s unique to us, it will always evolve with our new encounters and life experiences.

Planning our next trip, we chose to explore ICELAND and its unique landscapes, amazing waterfalls and straight roads. Excited as we were, we were faced with different options: standard travel with hostels and bus or freedom with a camper van.

VAN life is special. Special is bad to some, is a must-be for others. We chose to travel in a special way and tried to maximize our journey on the island. Option 2: VAN, CHECK. Now what rental company, well, just chose the one that makes sure you have all you need and make you benefit from their experience. Yes, with RENT.is, you have all you need on your back: transportation / housing / cooking, your van becomes your everything.

OFF to ICELAND roads and to our first night in the cold local weather, no problem we got a heater. And what a joy of waking up in an unknown area, where everything is new and ready to be explored. It will then be a challenge to find the right spot each night but for sure, it will be our little place, just for the two of us, just for one cosy night.

With just a week to spend exploring Iceland, we decided to head straight to the furthest part of our trip, Jökulsárlón lake, stopping by on the way and getting to understand local culture.

Getting stock of food, gas and water to make sure we can be far from others, in the WILD and alone. This is what you’re able to get when living off a van, you’re the first on the touristic spots in the morning. That’s how we got to explore the crashed planed with barely no other humans around. Watch out for NO CAMPING signs, yes, it’s part of the game, but at the end, you get to explore and find even better spots to rest for some time!

FOOD

Yes, it’s important, and even more when it’s a bit cold outside. But what a pleasure of cooking everyday your own meals, mostly soups carried from home, that you’ll get to enjoy with your travel partner in your van. You might think you’ll switch turns every time of who’s going to go outside in the cold rainy weather and turn the pastas? Well, sorry I might be too gentlemen and Carole got to stay warm at all times. But that might also because I love to cook and that was simply fun to get to experience a new way of getting things ready in a new kitchen everyday ?

SLEEPING

Camping Sleeping

When you’re 1.93m, you’re always afraid of touching on both sides.. Well, you can always adapt and even if our NISSAN NV200 seemed small from the outside, we had just enough space to feel at home and get closer for a warmer nest. And opening the side doors each morning were the most exciting moments, especially when you found your night spot after dark and are not really sure about how the surroundings are! Open, get the sun in your face, and enjoy the view!

DRIVING

Camper Driving

Is easy, with your own car at home. Well, here it’s easier, with a tight van, that fits everywhere and will get you just anywhere! Make sure you carry enough gas just in case you enjoy the far away roads too much and really don’t want to head back to the last gas station to refill. Don’t be scared, you’ll find plenty on the main roads and the tank capacity is enough for around 700kms. For our one week trip, we drove over 1200 km with a couple safe refills, just to make sure. And that was just perfect! Little bonus, RENT.is give you a little gadget that gets you discount on gas at some stations. You might not get that from other rental brands ?

MOMENTS

We shared a lot of them, that’s why we travel, why we’re together and why we LOVE LIFE ?! And our Iceland trip was full of them, from finding the most romantic spots every night (my task) to ensuring we had all we needed (her task), we were in the right conditions to just ENJOY TO THE FULL!

ICELAND

Yes, we had a great time! Very different from all places we’ve been before but the island has so much to offer. From being able to witness waterfalls every couple “blocks” (not blocks like streets but more blocks like mountains ?). From taking pictures of lamb running on roads, to trying local fish, beers or burgers, all these new flavors were the highlight of our trip and we will keep powerful memories from this trip. We wish we had more time to explore other parts of the volcanic island and get to learn more about the locals, get to know their history, stories and understand better what is ICELAND.

TIPS, FROM TRAVELERS to TRAVELERS

Plan your trip ahead to make sure you don’t have to rush and you get to enjoy the moment each day, at each spot.
Open your opens and get ready to be amazed
Make sure you watch the little things, flora or fauna are so different
A volcano island is DIFFERENT. When you see 360° of lava landscapes, you feel on another planet and that’s what ICELAND is about ?
Plan enough time, the island is big!
Chose your van rental company wisely
Be ready to get fresh in glacier streams – it’s cold!!!!!!
Get some dry soup bags from home for times when there’s nothing else around ? you’ll love the mushroom creamy hot meal so much!

E N J O Y ?

If you wish to follow our adventures, don’t hesitate to subscribe to @justintheworldtravels on Instagram for more travel tips, adventure ideas and more! We look forward to crossing paths on the road, somewhere on our beautiful planet.

Happy Camping! #CamperStories