Iceland (1) - To Vik

Day 1
Our flight left Boston at 9:30 pm, arrived in Keflavik International Airport (KEF) before 6:00 am, half an hour ahead of schedule. We picked up our rental car near the airport and started our journey.

1. Our rental car, a Mazda 3 with automatic transmission. We paid 75 euros per day for the car, 10 euros per day for CDW (collision damage waiver), and another 10 euros per day for super CDW, which lowers the deductible from 115,000 ISK to 30,000 ISK. So in the end we paid almost $140/day for a compact car! We would have used the insurance that comes with our credit card if I hadn't read so many negative comments about Icelandic car rental companies on Tripadvisor, so we bought extra insurance to get some peace of mind.

Note: Due to the instability of ISK, many companies in Iceland set prices in euros these days, and charge ISKs at the time of payment.

2. Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall that you can walk behind.


3. Along the Ring Road. Iceland is actually quite green.


4. Skógafoss.


5. Skógafoss.


We arrived at Vik around 1:30 pm. It was sunny with blue sky. We did a little grocery shopping. By the time we left the store 15 minutes later, the sky was totally grey and it rained nonstop till the next morning.

6. Our hotel at Vik from the Ring Road.


7. After checking in, we went to nearby Dyrhólaey, a place supposedly has terrific views and many puffins in the summer, but this was all we saw in the rain.


8. Dyrhólaey.


(To be continued)