Iceland Winter Island Tour

Iceland is a very beautiful European island country. Its unique climate and cultural customs are commendable. Most areas are covered in ice and snow. However, due to the complex geographical and landform environment, there are a large number of hot springs and warm areas suitable for living. It was also a great experience traveling to Iceland.

How does Iceland make me feel? Solitude is like an escape from the world. The sky was low and the clouds were low, as if we were on our way to the end of the world. When strong winds whip up blizzards and huge waves crash against the black sand, it seems like the end is coming.

Driving in Iceland in winter is highly dangerous. We were lucky that there were no accidents on the road, but there were still occasional moments of tension and worry. The climate in Iceland changes very quickly. It may be windy and rainy now, but it will be sunny a little later.

Here is an edited video of the self-driving journey, which will be added later. It talks about costs, car hire and overseas travel insurance. We paid for travel change insurance for this trip, and the two of us paid almost 13,000 yuan per day. The UK trip will also be written about.

The itinerary in Iceland is very simple. You can walk around the island along Route 1, either counter-clockwise or clockwise. Most of the attractions are near the island line, and all are free. In addition to participating in glacier hiking, there are also fees for projects such as the Blue Ice Cave.

To travel around the island, 7-12 days is enough. Adjust the time you spend at each point according to your own interests. In winter, road conditions are poor and daylight hours are short. Dawn didn't break until 10 a.m., and it got dark at 4 p.m., which was a long time. If the road conditions are good and the sunshine hours are long in summer, it will be faster to get around the island.

In winter in Iceland, snow, rain, and strong winds are normal, so no matter where you see it, the clothing guide emphasizes windproof and waterproof! You can't count on umbrellas. The truth is, no one holds an umbrella in Iceland, and strong winds will blow people away.

When you go to Iceland in winter, don’t expect to dress like a fairy. Jacket pants are preferred. Iceland is not as cold as I thought. The temperature is not very low, around 0 degrees, but the wind is too strong and the photographer will freeze, so the photos will not be as exquisite as usual. If the photo is not good, why not re-pose it? Feng just wants to get in the car quickly.

Entering Iceland, it looks white from the plane.

Waterfall of the Gods, location of "Game of Thrones", bad weather. These photos do not convey what the frozen Land of the Gods looks like as winter approaches.

Singral National Park

The Geyser is actually a very small geyser, much smaller than Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park.

On the road, this is what it looks like when the weather is nice.

This is true

When the weather is bad, this is indeed the case.

Just like that, the snow on the roadside was blown up by the evil wind and danced on the road.

You can't even see the road ahead.

However, this is the most dangerous road we have ever driven. The road is full of hard ice and very slippery, making it difficult to control the car if you are not careful.

Scenery along the way

Tundra landforms

Magical black sand beach.

Glacial Lake, these floating blue ice floes are all from the melting of glaciers, and they are thousands of years old ice.

Diamond Beach is dazzling and beautiful under the sun.

Cao Mao is named after its shape like a straw hat.

On the curved slope, the red-roofed church stands quietly.

Hiking on a glacier is a must-do in Iceland. If you want to see the mysterious and magnificent blue ice caves, you must come to Iceland in winter, and the ice caves will melt in summer.

Walking on the blue ice gives you an interstellar feeling.

To participate in this project, you must follow a guide, crampons and ice axes, which are necessary for action on the ice. It was still raining that day. Fortunately, the weather was not too bad and the project was not canceled, otherwise it would be a pity.

Regarding car rental, when renting a car in Iceland in winter, four-wheel drive and snow tires are the basic configurations. Car rental platforms, well-known car rental websites are very convenient. This time I rented it on a local car rental platform in Iceland: northbound.is. This is a relatively niche platform and the price is much cheaper than renting a car. We rented a 9-day car insurance policy for less than 5,000 yuan a day.

Be careful when driving by yourself. Be sure to check the weather forecast and road conditions in advance. Be sure not to go out when there is a storm or snowstorm forecast, and don't rush in when the road conditions are bad.

Check the weather with us

Green in the picture means the road conditions are good and the traffic is easy, and red means there is no traffic jam. Sometimes there are orange and blue, which means there is some snow, it is slippery and you can drive but drive carefully.

All roads in Iceland are numbered. Roads with one digit are the best, followed by roads with two digits. The three-digit road is even more difficult to walk. It is recommended not to go in winter. These roads are generally remote and not operated by snowmobiles. When the situation arises, passers-by cannot help. The wait for help is very long and expensive.

About the cost: Wuhan-Shenzhen, Hong Kong-London, the per capita round-trip air ticket is 2,600 yuan, London-Beijing-Wuhan, the per capita round-trip air ticket is 3,750 yuan.

A 10-day trip to Iceland costs nearly 10,000 yuan per person.

This part includes round-trip air tickets from London to Iceland, as well as the cost of car rental and transportation in Iceland, food and accommodation, and signing up for the Blue Ice Cave project. Travel costs in London are additional.

Iceland is very expensive. A casual meal outside costs 200-400 yuan. Almost all of our accommodations had kitchens, and we basically cooked our own meals all the time, so we saved a considerable amount of money on this part of the meal. The most expensive one is the Blue Ice Cave project, which costs more than 1,700 yuan per person.

It should be reminded that a British visa is required to transfer to other European countries via the UK. Only a Schengen visa for the destination cannot transfer from the UK.

When traveling abroad, it is necessary to purchase overseas insurance in advance. Although in many cases it is not needed at all and is just for peace of mind, this money cannot be saved. Overseas insurance must be purchased at home before departure. Some insurance companies have introduced insurance that can be purchased overseas, but it can only be purchased within one day after arriving at the overseas destination. After we stayed in the UK this time, the insurance we originally bought expired. We didn’t study the insurance terms clearly in advance. If we missed the renewal date by one day, we couldn’t buy it again. Without insurance, we had to be cautious and hope that nothing would happen.

This is the insurance I bought at that time. After expiration, I did not consult the insurance company. I bought another policy because I felt like I was being self-righteous. I later learned that the second policy was invalid. If the invalid policy voluntarily applies for surrender, the insurance company will refund the money. But if you don’t know that you bought it for free, the insurance company will not take the initiative to contact you for a refund.

I bought insurance when I was at a loss, and after studying the insurance terms, I found out that my insurance was reimbursable. I cannot return to my country due to the outbreak of the epidemic, which complies with Article 5 of the travel changes. The insurance I bought has a maximum compensation of 8,000. Yuan.

The last real trip was in Beijing. After spending the night, we flew to Haikou the next day. Because I can’t go back to Wuhan, I can only stay in other places. Hainan is the only place where you can stay without spending money. There is a place to live in Hainan, so I chose to go to Hainan and wait for Wuhan to lift the lockdown.

Start preparing for the claim after returning home. Insurance claims are a tug-of-war! Fight with your reasoning and don’t wait for the insurance company to think about you. This is my experience.

First round: Apply for a claim on the insurance company’s official WeChat account and submit materials as required, including accommodation costs in London, round-trip air ticket price difference, one-night accommodation costs in Beijing, and air tickets from Beijing to Hainan. There may be a bug in the application system. I uploaded more than 10 accommodation vouchers, but they didn't look at them or didn't look at them at all. The staff contacted me and asked them to supplement my passport information and air ticket information, but did not mention accommodation. This made me feel like there was nothing wrong with the accommodation information I provided, so they didn't raise any objections. I was dumbfounded when I received the notification of the claim result. I only lost the difference in the international leg of the refunded ticket.

Second round: Called customer service to express disagreement with the claim settlement result, and did not pay for the accommodation and air tickets from Beijing to Hainan. The insurance staff asked me to submit additional information required for compensation. Since I used a full-currency card and had a bill settled in RMB at the time, I also provided credit card payment information, but the claim amount received was more than 1,000 yuan different from my budget. I found that they only paid for accommodation in the UK and the amount was in GBP at the current exchange rate. The exchange rate of pound against renminbi in February was still around 9, often 9.1, which is reflected in credit card settlement statements. However, after the outbreak in the UK in March, the government proposed a collective immunity strategy, and the pound plummeted, from 9 to around 8. According to the current exchange rate, the compensation amount would be a direct loss of several hundred yuan.

Third round: Call customer service to express disagreement with the settlement result and hope it can be explained clearly. Customer service said that their claims have always been calculated based on the current exchange rate, whether it is travel changes or medical compensation. I can only accept the result of this exchange rate, but I still have objections to the accommodation in Beijing and the air tickets from Beijing to Hainan.

The insurance clause states that I cannot return to my daily residence, so I cannot return to Wuhan. I can either stay in Beijing and wait at my own expense every day, or I can go from Beijing to other places to wait. We chose Haikou, where I didn’t need to pay for myself. I thought the latter was true, but the insurance adjuster insisted that it was just my own objective reasons. The original trip was from Beijing to Wuhan, but I went around Beijing to other cities, so it was not covered by their claim. I asked, "I stayed in Beijing on the spot and the accommodation expenses I spent every day were reasonable. Can I claim for compensation?" The other party replied, yes, no matter how much I stayed in Beijing, I could pay within the claim amount. I replied that in this case, it would be reasonable for me to spend the night in Beijing. Why didn't I pay? Say the other party can pay for it.

But I am still waiting for the results of the third round and waiting to pay for one night’s accommodation in Beijing.

By the way, I have confirmed with the claim adjuster that if I take a detour from Haikou to Wuhan via Beijing, the air ticket from Beijing to Wuhan and the accommodation in Beijing before Wuhan officially announces the opening date will also be included in the claim amount. Pay both parts. However, we are not going to throw away the remaining amount.

Although the claim settlement did not give an ideal amount, it also subsidized the economic losses. I am very satisfied with this result.

************Credit Card Wool****************************** *************************************.

When traveling abroad, it is also necessary to prepare a foreign currency credit card. When I went to Iceland this time, I never saw what Icelandic coins looked like.

All major banks have launched overseas credit card rebate activities, which are different from those credit cards where you have to grab as many as possible to get the rebate. This "very global" activity of China Merchants Bank is so awesome. The 10% cash back cannot be automatically grabbed, but the 5% cash back is enjoyed by everyone. China Merchants Bank credit cards often have this activity. After the cash rebate for overseas consumption ends during the Chinese New Year, it is currently cash rebate for overseas online consumption.

My boss *** only got about 2,000 RMB in cash back. Large customers can get more, because every line can participate, up to 10,020 RMB.

Because basically I cook and eat by myself and don’t eat out, and it’s very expensive in Iceland. Eating out alone costs 2-400 yuan, which saves a lot of money.