My job has me on the road and currently in Grimsby, a port-town in the northeast of England, before heading over to Liverpool, a port town in the northwest. Since I’m spending five out of seven evenings this week in hotels, its time to make good use of the solitude and catch up on planning the trip!

As mentioned in the last post, the itinerary framework is now complete in that periods of time have been allocated to each of the four base camps: Reykjanesbaer, the town of Vik, Skaftafell National Park and Jokulsarlon and then Reykjavik itself. But with five days in Vik alone and four in the Jokulsarlon area this really is the bare bones of a framework and there is still plenty to do to turn it into a trip that makes the best use of the time. Some people like to just turn up and go where providence takes them. It’s a great way to travel and you’re much more likely to experience something unexpected, but for better or worse, I’m not someone who travels that way.

Of the two main base camps Vik offers the biggest challenge simply as there is so much that can be seen within 100km of the town. Nestled at the base of the Kafta volcano, one of Iceland’s largest and most active, and within easy driving distance of Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that pretty much stopped western and northern European air travel for a week back in 2010, it presents a great base for seeing almost all of the variations in Iceland’s varied landscape.

For a start it’s a costal town that sits on the Reynisfjara beach, a fantastically pitch black volcanic expanse with mouth-wateringly photographic coastline in each direction. If you’re after landscape that’ll show even the largest tour group, let alone a solo traveller, just how massive Iceland’s geologic upheaval has been, then Fjaðrárgljúfur to the east is a safe bet. To the west along route 1 there are the waterfalls Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss and Glufrafoss, about 60km distant. Not that you have to travel anywhere near that distance to see a waterfall in Iceland – there are simply so many that I defy anyone to find a reliably accurate figure –  but as the original itinerary saw me travelling counter-clockwise along route 1 I had many more planned for the east and north of the country and so I was careful not to overdo it in the west and south. Then there’s the curio of the 1973 US Navy plane wreck at Sólheimasandur that no-one can be bothered to remove.

A personal must-see for me is Kötlutangi where, if you look directly south, there is no land mass until Antarctica. There may be nothing to photograph there, but that’s in some ways nicer; I’ll be there just for the experience of looking out to the bottom of the World and a place I miss.

Now it is likely that you’d be able to comfortably see all of these in a couple of days, but I’m not in a great rush and part of the plan for this trip is to operate at the other end of the spectrum to Antarctica. There, we missed a couple of excursions to land due to poor weather and with no slack time in the schedule we simply had to move on. My Iceland schedule was designed from the outset to allow for poor weather and so should the weather mean I can’t get a particular shot, well at least I’ll have another chance. I’m also aware that, when looking at the coastline on Google Maps, it all looks, well, flat. I’m constantly reminding myself that, just because I’ll have a 4WD, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be walking. A lot. Now, walking I’m used to, and hill walking is no real issue, but this will be with a 12Kg camera backpack and on often less-than stable ground. As I’d rather not sprain an ankle, or worse, allowing more time to get from A to B seems a prudent choice.

As it stands, at Vik I feel that I’ve selected enough sites to provide a broad view of Iceland’s diverse landscape, but with some time left to just go exploring to see what I find. Time will tell…

Hot on the heels of the last update plans for the trip have moved forward. I’ve decided on the itinerary, booked flights, the 4WD rental and even finalised all the accommodation. Which yes, does mean that I’ve come to a decision on the dates.

One of the things I was unsure of was simply the mechanics of travelling the 380km from Jokulsarlon to Keflavik in time for the flight, all on the same day. Knowing my luck, the 4WD would suffer some kind of terminal failure, I’d miss the flight and be stranded. The flip side was that, whilst the first version of the itinerary allowed a couple of extra days on the Reykjanesbaer peninsula – where the airport is located – it also spanned three weekends. That was three weekends of potential overtime at work, which ultimately pay for these trips. It was such a quandary.

I was also beginning to make the same mistake as the 2013 trip: Trying to fit in more and more locations. I had already began looking into the possibility of travelling north of Reykjavik based on a number of wonderful landscape shots I’d seen. It was only when I added up the days and cost that I realised I was attempting to do too much.

So, with a few changes, here is the itinerary:

• THR 22 MAY
  Early afternoon flight to Keflavik International, pick up 4WD rental and check in to a local hotel on the Reykjanesbaer peninsula.
• FRI 23 – SAT 24 MAY
  Go exploring on the Reykjanesbaer peninsula. In the afternoon, drive the 190km to Vik, undoubtably stopping along the way.
• SUN 25 – THR 29 MAY
  Based in Vik, spend five days exploring the surrounding area, up to 100km or so.
• FRI 30 MAY
  Drive over to the next base camp near Skaftafell national park. This is only 190km so again, I’m sure I’ll be stopping a few times.
• SAT 31 – SUN 01 JUN
  A close base camp to Skaftafell National Park means spending time around, and on, Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier.
• MON 02 – TUE 03 JUN
  Move to a base 40km east of Jokulsarlon and continue exploring. The move is more out of necessity as the hotel I’m in at Skaftafell is booked after after June 1st.
• WED 04 JUN
  Drive to Reykjavik, return the 4WD and be out for some evening photography along the harbour.
• THR 05 JUN
  A day relaxing in Reykjavik satisfying my needs for some architectural photography.
• FRI 06 JUN
  Tying up last minute shots in the morning and fly out in the late afternoon.

For me, there’s a good balance of time here. In Antarctica I often found there wasn’t much time to compose shots – everything was moving and you were kept on a tight itinerary which, although understandable for certain destinations, is the one thing I dislike about organised trips. Here, there is no clock to watch and with five days in Vik alone, I’ve allowed plenty of time to slow down and work each location. Maybe too much time, but I’ll only know that in a few months.

The surprise is Reykjavik being included at all. I was quite keen to avoid it altogether and simply concentrate on the landscape aspect but, well, I can’t resist good architecture and I’ve wanted Hallgrimskirkja as a subject for a while. Plus, with just over two weeks of near solitude, being in a populated area will make a nice change.

So, the holiday is signed off at work, flights were purchased yesterday, as was the rental of the 4WD. Five sets of accommodation are all booked too and I’ve a good idea of where I want to be and see.

In short, Iceland 2014 is born. All I’ve got to do now is not mess it all up by changing things!

Now that the two, primary base camps have been chosen and dates selected – largely based on the availability of accommodation, I’m now beginning to consider the side trips. Of course, in my world nothing is ever quite as easy as it would appear, so this week has been set aside to deciding whether I should land at Keflavik, hop in the 4WD and head straight over to Vik – the original plan – or if I should hang around on the peninsula, spend a couple of days there and then heading over to Vik. Unsurprisingly, it’s a surprisingly big decision.

Ordinarily it wouldn’t really matter: I want to see both areas and given the few days difference the weather isn’t really going to change significantly – at least none more so than Iceland’s weather does anyway. The issue is not so much with what happens at the beginning of the trip but more to do with what happens at the end.

The last big base for photography is Jokulsarlon, located roughly halfway along the southern coast and approximately 420km from Keflavik. In the original plan, I drive back from Jokulsarlon to a guesthouse near the airport and then spend a couple of days driving around the peninsula. Doing it in this order has the rather handy advantage that, should something happen – such as the 4WD breaking down or absolutely perfect light descends over the glacier and lagoon – then I have the slack time to stay without worrying about missed flights etc. Visiting the peninsula first means either no slack time or additional days and cost.

Reading this far you’re likely still wondering why this is an issue, after all I’ve already mentioned that the weather is not really going to change. The problem is to do with the days I’ve picked: As it stands the trip falls over three weekends. As I use the overtime earned by working weekends to pay for these trips, it would be really handy to travel midweek and only be away for two weekends.

I’m tempted to throw all caution to the wind and finish up at Jokulsarlon and drive directly to the airport – after all, there’s nothing like living life on the edge…

Well, as many will know, the trip to Iceland was postponed. I’ve been having a bit of a sulk about it for a couple of weeks (hence no posts), but as it was entirely my decision to postpone it I shouldn’t be too moody about it. However, whilst I feel like I let myself down a bit, it does appear that it may have been a good decision to wait.

There were a couple of reasons for postponing the trip. First: The cost. It was going to come in at just over £3000 for what amounted to 19 days, including international travel. Whilst Antarctica was well over double that for a mere 13 days Iceland doesn’t fall into the ‘once in a lifetime’ category. Not that it isn’t a stunning place to visit, but rather it is a place I could go several times.

I knew from the start that Iceland is on the expensive side, and I’m not one to shy away from spending money, but when I spend it I have to feel that I’m not wasting it and it was this feeling I was having trouble shaking. I eventually traced my concerns down to the itinerary and my plans to drive around the whole country.  I use Google Maps a lot when planning trips and you can probably understand my concern  when you see where I’ve tagged key points of interest.

Despite planning a circumnavigation of the country, my wish list pretty much involved the southern coast…

As can be seen the majority of points are down along the southern coast. There’s an important cluster up toward the northwest – important as it includes Dettifoss and Myvatn –  but other than that I would be travelling large distances for only single locations. It just wasn’t a good split of ‘expensive’ time and it was too late to change hotel bookings.

The second point that kept niggling at the back of my mind was it’s a lot to take on by oneself. I’m certainly no stranger to solo travel and often prefer it as it allows me to spend time setting up shots and exploring angles. But, Iceland is very capricious and should something happen and you’re out of cell coverage then you’ve got a problem. I had been taking steps to mitigate risks, of course, but one thing my day job has taught me is that you cannot project plan every eventuality. Coupled with this is the fact that a lot of the sense of wonder in landscape photography comes from a sense of scale. This is something Iceland’s vistas have an abundance of and so much of showing the vastness of its landscapes come from including a convenient reference point – and what is more convenient than a handy human?

So,  with the above in mind and despite the kill date being passed, I cancelled the bookings. In the end I lost around £200, but compared to  £3000+ I would have spent, I could accept that and the rescheduled trip in 2014 would be more focussed, less grandiose, and more productive. And, of course, I can always go back if I miss anything.

Now, as with many things in life, good things can come out of grim situations. In this case, an unexpected message on Facebook from someone I’ve known for many years.  He’s a keen rock climber with a love for the outdoors and he’s very interested in going to Iceland. Now this has several benefits, not least the cost drops significantly. It’s also safer travelling with someone should the worst arise. The other benefit here is that I know nothing of rock climbing and so to have a subject that not only lends a sense of scale, but does it in an adventurous way -and in a way I never could –  is a real benefit.

There’s lot of planning to do. My schedule is largely out the window as with two people to consider it’s all about accommodating both wish lists but, given that the reason he wants to visit is going to make for some great photography, I really see this as a benefit – certainly more entertaining than my original, somewhat stuffy, plans. As I said it is early days, but I do hope we can come to an arrangement.

Today marks the kill date for the Iceland trip; the date after which cancelling would incur significant financial losses. So, have I pulled the plug, or am I now financially committed? Of course I haven’t, but that just means a lot more work to do.

With less than two weeks until I fly out to Iceland, there is still a fair bit of planning to take care of, and the task of getting everything in order before then is made more challenging by the fact that I’m away on business this week and working next weekend. On the plus side, being stuck in a hotel for the next few evenings should minimise the distractions and the wonder of cloud storage providers such as Evernote and Dropbox means that, after spending weeks on my multi-monitor behemoth of a computer at home collecting information and distilling it into a Word document, as I opened my laptop at the Premier Inn hotel here in Grimsby, UK, a few moments ago all my work seamlessly appeared. When it works, technology is great.

Having my notes magically appear, however, doesn’t detract from the fact that I’m short for time. For week-long city breaks, it really would not be an issue as you can easily make last-minute changes on the fly – you can even just make the whole thing up as you go along and make a success of the trip. On the other hand, when travelling across a country, and you have a purpose – say photography – then at the very least you need a framework.

I set out a rough framework in a blog entry a couple of weeks ago largely based upon the fact that I had booked accommodation in various places around Iceland. Since then, I have continued to scour the Internet for interesting, and potentially photogenic, sights and it has been no surprise that I’ve found more things I would like to see.  This has brought about the inevitable checking to see if I can change accommodation so I can spend time in the new place, which has had the knock-on effect of having to decide which of the original planned sights would be culled in order to free up time. In short, I was dangerously close to undoing a lot of basic, but critical, planning I had completed. But, that would likely be disastrous this close to the start date and so I must simply accept that the accommodation – and hence the sights – are largely fixed.

Well, not quite.  The framework thankfully does allow for some modification, especially when using Reykjavik as a base camp.

As mentioned in a previous post I have three days for Reykjavik, one without a 4WD rental and two with. The plan is spend the first day investigating the city on foot and getting back into the right mood for seeing things photographically – a step I have to pass though on every trip. The following two days were, up until this weekend, rather vague. Now they have shape and meaning.

On one of these days I plan to investigate the Reykjanes peninsula, which for many visiting Iceland is famous as the home of the Blue Lagoon – and the international airport. However, I may very likely completely bypass the tourist magnet altogether in favour of some seriously photogenic coastlines, complete with menacing rocky spires and crashing waves. Throw in some monster storm clouds and I’ll positively grin like the Cheshire cat. Aside from the coastline, there are a couple of lighthouses, some nice mountains and some lakes. But what has really captured my eye is the geothermal power station which, whilst I perhaps haven’t sold it very well, I can see some real photographic promise in. Whilst the day is relatively local to Reykjavik, I’ll be getting used to driving the 4WD and, as some of the roads out on the peninsula are gravel, not paved, it’ll be an adventure nonetheless.

The second day is going to be a bit of a marathon, involving some 400 kilometres and seven hours of driving. The plan is to drive up to the geysers Stokkur and Geysir, from there head up to Gulfoss waterfall and then, and this is the time consuming part, up to Gygjarfoss waterfall. I say time consuming as the road ends after Gulfoss and becomes a highland, or F road. In other words, it’s a dirt track. Even in the 4WD I’m not going to be traveling very fast on that. My hope is to spend a couple of hours at Gygjarfoss  and head back at about 3-4PM so I can arrive at Thingvellir National Park for dusk.

So, another two days now have shape and slowly I’m beginning to have some faith that I will see the things that I would like to see. There will be much that I have to miss, but that’s where organising a photography expedition is like life: It’s all about knowing when to quit and just be happy.

The itinerary for the forthcoming trip to Iceland is now pretty much decided, in as far as I now know where I’ll be staying and for how long. During the early stages of planning for the trip I accepted that it was going to be expensive and so made a mental note to not under allocate time. Of course, I don’t know yet if I have erred the other way and over allocated time at each spot, but I suspect not.  I have also taken the step of allowing a full day for travel between each base camp. In some cases the actual travel time between each camp is only a couple of hours, but I’ve read that there is always something along the way to see and anyway, it’s a holiday – I’m meant to be taking it easy!

I know many of you will have Iceland on your agenda too and so I thought I’d share my itinerary and why I picked the stops and durations. Of course, the important bit will be the post-trip report but, right now, the itinerary looks like this:

Day 1

Arrive in Reykjavik. Check in and then a leisurely evening looking around the city.

Days 2-4

Reykjavik. There’s some wonderful architecture and sculpture in the city. It’s also a convenient starting point for the Blue Lagoon as well as the popular ‘Golden Circle’ daytrip that covers the tourist magnets of Geysir, Pingvellir and the waterfall Gullfoss.

Day 5

Travel to Vik. It’s a 185Km journey that should take between two and three hours, but there’s plenty to see along the way. It will also be the first day of driving in Iceland and the 4×4 so it seems a good chance to take it easy and get to know the roads and car.

Days 6-8

Based in Vik. From here, there’s easy access to the waterfalls of Skogafoss, Seljalandfoss, Glufrafoss, and the Southern Fjallaback Nature Reserve, as well as being right on the doorstep for a very photogenic black ash beach. There’s also a downed aircraft not too far away that could prove an interesting subject.

Day 9

Travel to Jokulsarlon. Much as the first travel day, Vik to Jokulsarlon is a 185Km journey so should provide ample stopping and exploring time.

Days 10-12

Based in Jokulsarlon. Jokulsarlon is an enormously popular stop as it is famous for the glacial lake where icebergs calve off Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier and drift off into the Atlantic Ocean. But it is also conveniently located for the less well-known Fjallsarlon and Svartifoss.

Day 13

Travel to Thorshofn. This is a more substantial 415Km journey and likely to take six to seven hours. So, still some time to explore, but I’ll have to watch the clock.

Day 14

Around Thorshofn. I actually picked this destination based on a single photograph I have seen, but there are some great costal shots as well as more general landscapes.

Day 15

Travel to Akureyri. A 250Km, three hour journey. I’ll be passing by Dettifoss, Europe’s largest waterfall and Myvatn, a very picturesque lake area.

Day 16 – 17

Around Akureyri and Myvatn. I’m not so interested in Iceland’s second  ‘city’ but more so in some of the surrounding landscapes. I’ll have time to head back to Myvatn, but also head west of the town along the northern coast.

Day 18

Return to Reykjavik. 384Km and five hours of driving again means that I’m not going to have too much time for detours before returning the rental 4×4 at 4PM.

Day 19

AM relaxing in Reykjavik then PM flight home. It will be my birthday and so I may treat myself to a nice soak in the Blue Lagoon.

So, I’ve managed to move forward with the planning of the Iceland trip today. The rental car has been secured.

When I started to look into rental car options in Iceland it was a bit of a shock as to just how expensive they were. I understand that, as an island, most of the consumables need to be imported, along with much of the heavy machinery and industrial equipment. But still, as I searched through the  various household name rental companies such as Hertz, Avis and Budget I began to wonder if I had underestimated the sheer cost of the endeavour!

After a week of using Google to learn from others who had visited, the general consensus was that a four wheel drive was pretty much a requirement. Iceland essentially has two types of roads: The major arterial roads, such as route 1, which are mostly tarmac surfaces and passable by all vehicles and then the F-roads which are essentially gravel, compacted ground or rubble. Route 1, or the Ring Road as it appears to be called is a 1300km orbital road that connects many of the major sights on the island and has the benefit of taking you back to where you started if you keep moving forward. However, some of the more interesting sights can only be reached via the F roads. Want to see some of the less visited places? You need a 4WD…

However, as I checked out some of the rental companies I was getting quotes of GBP £1200 or more for a 16 day rental. Utterly crazy prices and it was at that point I started to make a big mistake. Sticking to route 1 would allow me to see a lot of wonderful sights. I didn’t need to stray off the tarmac roads at all. Sure, I’d miss a couple of places, but the rental would be half that of a 4WD.

Luckily I spent some time thinking about it and a couple of hours searching for any rental company, not just the big names. A few local companies came to the surface IcelandCarRental, Reykjavik Rent-a-Car, SADcars, Geysir etc. All had prices that were, whilst still high, much lower that the big names. And all had 4WD vehicles that came in at comfortably under GBP £1000 for a 16 day rental.

It’s very easy to get hung up on horror stories about rentals. Dig deep enough and someone, somewhere will have a bad story to tell about such-and-such a company. But a quick Google to for all four companies showed nothing obvious. IcelandCarRental came in with a Toyota Rav4 4WD for GBP £750 and, after a quick email to them I discovered that the vehicles are relatively new (2010 or newer) and that they are actually they are essentially the same company as Reykjavik Rent-a-Car.

So, a booking has been confirmed for a Rav4 and I’m really glad I did spend the extra money; it’s going to be an expensive trip anyway and so the extra £200-£300 won’t really matter once I’m back and the journey is a memory.  My justification is simply that, to me at least, whilst keeping costs down is a wise move, spending £2500 to have half an experience is worse value for money than £3000 to have the full experience. Plus, you never know – I may just get that killer shot…