ICELAND Ring Road - Part 1 // Picking up our Happy Camper Van // Iceland Road Trip Vlog
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- čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
- Welcome back to our Iceland Travel Vlog Series! We traveled to Iceland in May 2021.
In this video, we pick up our Happy Camper Campervan and begin our two-week trip driving around the Ring Road in Iceland. We start off our Iceland road trip by visiting some of the best southern Iceland waterfalls.
Our trip started off a little rocky as our camper van had a breakdown on the first day, and we crashed our drone, but fear not! We got things back underway and had an awesome time driving the Ring Road.
We have a lot more videos from this road trip around Iceland so be sure to watch the other videos from this series!
Thanks for watching and PLEASE SUBSCRIBE (this really helps to support us!)
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ICELAND PACKING IDEAS
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Place visited in this video:
Seljalandsfoss
Gljufrabui
Skogafoss
Kvernufoss
VOLCANO VIDEO! • HIKING TO THE ICELAND ...
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Traveling to Iceland FAQ: www.icelandair.com/blog/icela...
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#ringroad #icelandtravel #iceland
I was glad to find your channel. I am an Icelander that enjoys seeing good vlogs from people enjoying my country and seeing it again through their eyes.
Your videos are some of the first I have seen after the long Covid break of tourism and they are so well done.
Sadly it seems that you filmed this 3-4 weeks ago so by now your trip is already finished to I can't offer you coffee or something. I do know you will be passing through my town Akureyri in north Iceland in a future video :)
Thanks so much for your kind words! Yes, we have already left Iceland. We had an amazing time. You live in a very beautiful country. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Comment from a native Icelander :) The butter you took in Bonus was actually more of what Icelanders use for baking, it's not really butter although it can be used as such. The hot dog is considered by many to be our unofficial national dish because there are only a handful of people in Iceland who don't like them :) The standard ingredients are fried onions, raw onions, mustard, remoulade, and ketchup, those are the basics (I like them with just the fried onion and the ketchup for example), but it depends on the place you go if they have something else besides that :)
I liked the hot dogs! The one at the famous stand in Reykjavik was the best, I think
@@TheAwkwardTourists which is why it's the most famous one :) Looking forward to seeing more of your trip :)
Another great video! I’m so glad I found you guys. Can’t wait for the next one.
Thanks for your great videos!- so excited...I pick up my HappyCamper on the 21st!!
You'll have such a great time!
Fantastic :) you picked the right month to go - Iceland looks beautiful
We loved Iceland , make a budget then double it . and yes our van broke down as well
Haha seriously! I'm so glad we were able to cook most of our meals, the price of eating out was so sky high!
Have visited Iceland twice before and loved it…..I’m heading back in July to drive the whole ring road. I will be watching your blogs to get some more ideas. Great vlog ❤️👏👏
Thanks so much. We had an awesome time driving the country. We will be making 5 total videos on the Ring Road. Stay tuned
I’m so glad I found your channel-love it! You are getting us so excited for our trip at the end of July! I have the notify bell on to catch the next one! Can’t wait!!
You're so sweet! We appreciate you!
Same! can't wait to be there in 2 weeks.
how was the trip?
@@yahoo911emil Absolutely EPIC! I need to go back!!
@@donnaschilling7690 thats nice to hear. Me and a friend of mine is planning to go next year. Can't wait.
You got some amazing views. Iceland looks gorgeous
Iceland is pretty incredible!
Great video. Camping by the waterfall sounds like a dream come true listening to the falls while going to sleep. Iceland is so beautiful
Iceland really is! And we really lucked out with that campsite...
My wife and I visited Iceland the last week in May. What an amazing time and what a stunningly beautiful country! I am looking forward to reliving our time there through your videos. We didn't make it to the northern ring of Iceland (maybe next time) but covered almost everything on the southern ring. Looking forward to future videos!
Thanks for watching, we will be posting two videos a week from here on out. Stay tuned
I'm planning to travel to Iceland and want to see the ring road, not sure I have enough time to do the entire route however. Is there a section you recommend spending time in rather than rushing through the entire way? I'm thinking I have 4 days... Thanks for mentioning May, I'm interested in May or June. Cheers.
So excited to see this. Headed that way in 2 weeks specifically to go waterfall hunting!
There are so many waterfalls in Iceland. Have an awesome time! Be prepared for all types of weather!
What a fine update on your travels! As I mentioned last time, this is very helpful (especially the costs and tips on shopping) for planning our Ring Road trip that starts in exactly a month. Looking forward to more! I can appreciate one of the comments about the "chain reaction" that results when you upgrade, say, a camera. I'd love to have a drone for our trip, but I can already see where that would go. ;)
Glad you are finding the videos useful and thanks for the support! Iceland is an amazing place to drone, but it can get pricey once you start playing that game.
i so want to go to iceland! looks so cool man they did a good job of the camper for it being so small !! oh no about the smoke from the car!! wow othe waterfall is insane!!! how wicked you had it to yourself!!! looks so amazing!!! love both fo your energy look forward to more! :)
Iceland was on our bucket list for years and it was the perfect time to visit. Very thankful that we were able to experience it the way that we did. We have a lot more videos on deck from this trip. Stay tuned!
This seems to be a very charming place, I hope I can visit sometime in the future when all this is over. Seeing and sharing places like this is why I love traveling and make videos so much! And please keep up the great job! Subscribed!!
Thanks so much! We hear you, fingers crossed that travel gets back to normal sooner rather than later!
Beautiful you too! Definitely gonna take a look at that happy camper van whrn we visit although we might need a bigger one since we have a child 😂 awesome vlog!
It was definitely "cozy" We probably would have been better in one that was the next size up, but we made it work. Thanks for the support!
Really enjoyed your upload and was very informative. Bless
Glad it was helpful!
Broken van and drone in first couple days....still kept the smiles and saw some amazing things. I hope the rest of your trip went smoother. Really looking forward to watching the rest.
Thanks! We will be posting two videos a week until the end of the month. All Iceland videos, stay tuned!
Another incredible video. Will you guys be going to highlands in this trip?
No unfortunately we'll have to skip the Highlands this time
You could skip the tunnel to Reykjavik and drive through Whalefjord, stop beneath Glymur Waterfall and hike up to the waterfall.
Wear good shoes, good warm cloths and have some liquid and food in your backpack
Begin to walk up left side.
You will come to a " cave " then you walk down toward lowest point of the river.
Cross the river ( there should be a tree trunk across the river. If it is not there cancel the trip! ) and up the right side.
When walking up take it slow and NEVER take pictures close to the edge ( use your drone instead )
I do not recommend going up above the waterfall crossing the river there and going down left side.
Return the same path.
Check weather forecast before going, drive at legal speed ( or little less ) through Whalefjord as there are some blind spots there.
Be relaxed, observant, take care and have a excellent trip around Iceland!
Thanks, we didn't make it up there this time. We will be sure to check it out next time around
You two seem like nice people. ... Subbed. 👍
Thanks for the support!
this is so cool... i was supposed to go in march of 2020, that got rebooked to october 2020, rebooked again to march 2021, and now once again rebooked until october 2020. Fully vaccinated and ready to be there. Also doing the ring road in a camper van so this is so cool to see. looking forward to more videos!
Thanks for watching. Hopefully you can make your trip happen soon!
@@TheAwkwardTourists I hope so too! October can’t come soon enough! Just watched a few of yalls videos.. you guys are crushing it!
Great news that you could get a new drone and not so expensive, iceland needs a drone shot all the time i think 😂😂
That's what we were thinking. We would have been really disappointed loosing it with 2 weeks left in the trip
@@TheAwkwardTourists yeah, and i hear the air 2 s its amazing so great Addition 😁
If I go back I am getting a camper van next time!!
It's definitely the way to go
Just landed in Iceland this morning and can hardly wait to escape my hotel room quarantine! After watching this, I think I will very likely return to replicate this trip. It looks like the best way to see this very cool country. But this trip is primarily to spend as much time as possible photographing the Geldingadalur volcano.
I think that's a great reason to visit! When else are you likely to see something like that??
@@TheAwkwardTourists Exactly!! You don't get to see new earth being created every day.
Congratulations on the unfortunate loss of your Drone?🤔....lol! At least it happened at an opportune time with the brand new model being available where you were at and you have a great new one! It looks like it has amazing definition and detail in the previews at the end of the Vlog! The quality of the Drone video may cause a chain reaction of new purchases 🤑💰with you wanting a newer camera to keep the image detail the same throughout the video now! Beautiful area you guys are in!
It's true, now we need new computers that can actually process the drone footage haha!
great video! I'll rent hte same van thank you bothh
New sub here. Great vlog thanks! I’d appreciate a vlog on your warm and wet weather gear and boots choices, thanks!
Thanks for the support! We are working on a blog post about all of our gear used on this trip. Stay tuned
We were there from May 14th to June 1. We probably passed you at some time. What a great trip
Probably! Did you drive the ring road?
Thank you for the video, how did the fridge situation go as far as fitting everything?
We had to be pretty strategic with our groceries, It was definitely a small space in the fridge. Played a little game of Tetris every time we put our food away......
I love your content 💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓
Thanks so much! We appreciate you
Hi, i loved your video, i founded today searching in CZcams places to visited in Iceland :))). Sorry if i make some mistakes because my englisch its not so good as I wanted 😂😂😂😂. Take care
Thanks for watching!
I really enjoy your channel and all of your adventures. But wondering where do you go to the bathroom or shower in that camper van?
Thanks for watching! Well, we don't do either of those things in the van because it doesn't have a bathroom haha. So we found them along the way
22:50 the new US embassy haha :)
You deserve a million subcribers.
That's so nice, thank you!!
Hi! Great video🙂
I'm planning an trip in Iceland at the end of October. Did you use a specific app for camping? How did you find places for sleep?
Thank you!
Happy Campers (the company that we rented from) Includes a Tablet with an app on it with all of their rentals, The app had attractions, gas stations, campgrounds, facilities, pretty much everything that you needed. So we used that and Google Maps to find our campsites
@@TheAwkwardTourists Thank you so much!!!!
Did you happen to check out the Costco there? Curious if that's cheaper than the other grocery store options.
We didn't, buying bulk wasn't really the best idea for our little camper van haha
I've had a gas station hot dog. They ok. I've had gas station nachos too. They good as well.
In Iceland?
@@TheAwkwardTourists oh no. I wished. In USA. Just been watching videos and researching Iceland.
Wonderful video, what’s next after Iceland 🇮🇸?
We head to Italy!
@@TheAwkwardTourists I’m going to Italy in august
I’m going to Iceland next week and am binge watching y’all’s playlist! Would I regret not bringing my tripod for my camera?
I would bring it for the waterfalls, There are so many of them!
What day and time did you get so lucky to have these places empty or not filled with people? I'm renting a van too.
Iceland has fewer tourists right now due to covid, so it's not really a matter of day or time of day. It was just time in history really haha
quick questio: when you say it's illegal to park your van anywhere what do you mean exactly? Is it mandatory to park in the camping sites or is it also possible to park overnight in one of the attraction parking lots or any other parking lot in general? Is sleeping in it that makes the difference law-wise or is literally the act of parking that is illegal?
It's illegal to camp overnight, in both a tent and a van, anywhere other than a designated camping site
We thought about the camper van and ultimately we decided to try and find places along the road where we can stay. It's a challenge! It would be so nice to just be able to go wherever, whenever, BUT where do you shower? In the waterfalls? LOL! also going to get a DJI Mini 2 so hope that can give us what we need. Hope you get some sweet footage with your new toy! Definitely afraid to crash mine. I'm going to practice before I go.
We were able to find a few campsites with showers, but not many. We splurged for a few hotels/guesthouses when we were in desperate need of a shower and a real bed. haha
@@TheAwkwardTourists nice! Good to know!
Interesting...what made you pick Happy campers over Kuku or any other company?
In all transparency, we worked with them to promote their company in exchange for posting videos about our experience. Having said that though, we had a great experience with them. They're family-owned, budget friendly, and have really good customer service
@@TheAwkwardTourists Totally not a problem! I ended up booking with Kuku because I grabbed a massive deal on a 4 seater, automatic van for just $1500 for 2 weeks, usually this van costs anywhere between $2500 to $3000+- booked it in 2019 to go in 2020 and finally travelling in a couple of weeks :p
@@eusouthaypelomundo That's awesome. Glad you are finally able to make the trip happen!
Not too be indelicate but how & where did you guys find “🚻 Facilities”? Also, what’s the cost of the camper van /week or 2 weeks? Having crashed 2 drones in Scottish Highlands coastal rocks, now I’d take 2 drones at least. Nice video tho’!
We used bathrooms in gas stations and a lot of the attractions have facilities that you can use. We have been told that there are public pools in most towns that you can use showers/toilets too, but a lot of those weren't open when we were there. Camper vans like this are about $90 usd per day, but you can find deals if you search around. We have crashed a ton of drones! Glad we aren't the only ones!
@@TheAwkwardTourists -That camper van experience sounds right up our alley. We’ve been to Iceland twice but only stayed in expensive hotels & really didn’t get to see the Real Iceland you 2 did, “‘til we rented a car but only for 3 days on our 2nd trip.
So, doing camper vans looks great. Hey! As long as there are 🚽 & 🛀…, $90 a day is sweet!
We had such a good time watching your Vlog. In a camper, you guys got to go to so many more places than we ever could. And getting to see 1-of-a-kind Geological sites, all to yourselves…well…it just must’ve been magical.
Speaking of magical… I bet the Icelandic 🧝🧝🏻♀️ had a hand in your great time too!.😉 Thanks for the info…it’s an 🇮🇸 camper experienced for us, next trip
2 questions: how much is the camper van? And where did you shower and use the washroom during your road trip?
The Van was about $95 per day, But that depends on the time of year and sometimes you can find deals. We took showers at hot springs and campsites, Bathrooms are available at most tourist attractions and gas stations along the way
@@TheAwkwardTourists Thanks!
Sheesh, talk about a prime camping location! And the lack of other tourists is a treasure that money can't buy. I'm going in August and I fear the crowds will be back in full force by then.
Hopefully it will be mellow this summer for you, I'm sure it wont be as crazy as other years
Hey, Im going to Iceland July 12 and I was wondering if traveling alone in a van would count as quarantine as a oppose to a hotel. Only asking because Iceland state that the vaccine card is only valid 14 days after the second shot and my second shot is July 8, 4 days before departure. Worry about it being a problem getting into iceland.
I wouldn't think that would count as quarantine, but we don't have official information on this. It would be best to get info from the Iceland government, I wouldn't want to tell you the wrong thing
@Nhi Nguyen I reserved a Happy Campers camper van ahead of my trip. However, when the man at the airport who was giving me my vial for the COVID test asked me where I was staying the first night, I told him, and he said that a camper van is *not* sufficient for quarantine while awaiting test results. Due to the fact that you don't have your own bathroom. I had to go online right there in the airport and make hotel reservations for the first night before I was allowed to continue into the country. Which was fine. I was so tired from the jet lag that it was nice to get a shower and a good night's sleep that first night. I ordered a nice hot meal brought up to my room from the restaurant attached to the hotel.
Hi, we are a family of 4 and plan to go to Iceland for 8 days and Reykjavík is a base. My youngest son is 8 years old and he is healthy. i am thinking to do the city and then south not sure we will have enough time to do the Golden Circle. Questions about: 1) the waterfall you went, will those be difficult path to hike for 8 years old kid? Is walking under waterfall like you did safe for him to do (cannot really tell from the vdo if the path is widely big and whether or not is slippery.)? 2) did you go with a tour for the volcano eruption sightseeing? if yes, which one are you recommend? My little son probably cannot do this one but I like my older son to see it. 3) which sightseeing do you like and that you think it is easy enough for kid to do. Thank you!!!
You'll have a great time! Any of the waterfall hikes we did were safe enough for a child in my opinion, but ultimately that's up to you to decide. We hiked to the volcano on our own
@@TheAwkwardTourists Thank you!!!
Loving the vibes of this video, especially the music from 0:00 to 0:23. Any chance for a name of the song? Thanks!
Thanks so much! the song is called Chemistry by Tape Machines. It's on Epidemic Sound
@@TheAwkwardTourists ❤️
Going with my wife in July and we love the idea of a camper but we’re obsessed with showers! Are daily hot showers on the Ring road realistic? Or should we just rent a car and sleep at hotels?
Depends on where you go. I’de say 80-90% of the time you have hot showers (unless at campsites, then it’s a matter of luck). The more remote, the more likely of a cold shower. A lot of villages have small water heaters so maybe 5 min of hot water and that’s it. Big hubs of Reykjavik, Akureyri, and Egilstadur are fine, even Hofn in the southeast by glacier lagoon is pretty reliable.
I'd also consider the many towns that have public pools...a very Icelandic thing to do.
We didn't camper van it, but did sleep in our 4x4 at Jokulsarlon...drove a few hours down the coast in the AM and used the pool in Hofn. using a pool REQUIRES that you shower first, so it all worked out.
Hot springs and public pools are a MUST DO part of the Icelandic experience. have fun!
@@schmidty1dotcom anything in particular made you choose a 4x4 instead of camper?
@@LS-zx5dc Part of the trip was to do the interior which requires the right type of vehicle to handle F roads, stream crossings, and other offroad trails. it was NOT a comfortable sleeping experience, especially with it never getting dark in June LOL. Maybe "slept" 3 hrs and realllly needed that hot shower, so the pool was a godsend!
Campervan always looked like a cool idea though, and is perfectly fine for the ring road. there is so much to see that doesn't require 4x4, so don't worry there!
If you're going back to Reykjavík you might want to stop at Costco for much cheaper grub. Also, I saw you buy smjörlíki ( trnsl: butter-like ), which is margarine, not butter. Real Icelandic butter is the best ! Thanks for Skógarfoss. Other stronger waterfalls are Gullfoss and Dettifoss. Don't go too far out on the cliff above Dettifoss because the spray from the falls and slime build-up on the rocks may cause you to slip and fall over! I slipped and almost fell when I was there. You seem like a happy couple traveling together and shouldn't have any trouble scrunched in the back of that van ! I enjoy travelling with you. I was born in California and lived in Iceland for about 10 years. My father was a 100% Icelandic Víking and my mom was from Detroit, so I have Viking blood and an American heart. Can't beat that ! Good luck on the rest of your trip. Wish it was a little warmer for you. It's around 90 ° in Jacksonville FL. We sell canned sunshine in Florida, but it's too late for you now. Love you 2.
Thanks for the advice! We had a little bit of a hard time in the grocery store. Definitely thought that was real butter! We did go to Dentifoss but we missed Gullfoss. Iceland is amazing. It was our first trip. I bet you saw a lot living there for 10 years. Thanks for the support!
Yes, I did see a lot, but one year around Christmas time when I was freezing to death up there, I was watching the armed forces tv and they had a football game going on in California where it was 85° ! That's when I really got homesick. Glad you saw Dettifoss. Maybe you'll see Gullfoss ( Golden Falls ) next time around. Hope you're having fun and don't go away flat broke !
If you should go again, try the last 1/2 of July and the start of August. Best weather then. You should also check out the nightlife in Reykjavík, it's CRAZY ! At least it used to be when I lived there.
We are renting a camper van with Happy Campers. How is the storage space for the bags in the back ?
For the one we rented, The only storage was under the bed, which fit a large backpacking backpack well, but it did not fit a large hard sided suitcase (we had one of each) so the suitcase, had to be situated just right when we were sleeping with the drivers seat all the way forward. and it had to sit in the doorway all day long when we drove around. To be honest, the hard sided suitcase was a pain to deal with, I would recommend you bring a large duffel or backpack that will give you a little more flexibility to fit into the underbed space
@@TheAwkwardTourists thanks for the response. This was my fear and you confirmed it. The website said 2 small bags and one large bag and I was skeptical about it. We are also in the same camper van type as you guys. Unfortunately we don’t have duffel bags as such :( On their website they mentioned they have luggage lockers and we are probably going to be storing it there
Hi, how do u dry your hair….. if u r not staying in a hotel….. can we use hairdryer in the campsite…. Or …
Hi, that will really depend on whether you shower at the campsites, whether the ones you stay at have electric outlets, etc. When you stay in a camper van there are some difficulties but you figure it out as you go
Which drone did you guys get?
Air 2S
@@TheAwkwardTourists awesome, I’m debating whether to get one, but I’ll have to learn how to fly it first
Ive been living in iceland for 7 years ive never noticed the piggy having an black eye lmao
Kelly spotted that right away, I (Kevin) wouldn't have seen it if she hadn't pointed it out
I was thinkimg of walking the ring road in iceland realised i may need a bike
You're planning on biking 900 miles? That's pretty ambitious!
I did see you took margarine instead of butter, not very tasty. Smjörlíki is margarine, but butter is Smjör.
Yes, thank you. We've been told dozens of times already lol
Smjörlíki is margerine but not butter ;)
Icelandic butter (smjör) is actually delicous (as much as butter can be delicous hahaha) but Smörlíki basicly means "something that wants to be a butter - but isn't" 😂
Thank you, yes we've had about a dozen people tell us. If that's the biggest mistake we make with these videos then I'm ok with that
@@TheAwkwardTourists as far as you had a good time in Iceland everything else is a minor matter. Be always welcome back 👍😀
I HATED the hot dogs.
lamo the bacon is fried onion
Haha, yeah we figured that out later in the trip. You're the first person to catch that. Whoops!
Local Icelander here great videos the waterfall Hverafoss where you broke your drone was actually featured in this video czcams.com/video/sJXZ9Dok7u8/video.html
I was an extra in it and they did a lot of professional drone shots and think they did actually crash one drone lol
Must be something about that canyon. Where drones go to die. haha