Iceland's winter tour around the island

Iceland is a very beautiful European island country. Its unique climate and cultural customs are commendable. Most areas are covered with snow and ice. However, due to the complex geographical and geomorphological environment, there are a lot of hot springs and warm areas here, which are suitable for living. Traveling to Iceland is also a good experience.

How does Iceland make me feel? Loneliness is like running away from this world. The sky is low and the clouds are low, as if we were on our way to the end of the world. When the wind blows the blizzard and the waves beat the black sand, it seems that the end is coming.

Iceland has a high risk factor of self-driving in winter. We were lucky that there was no accident on the road, but occasionally there was an atmosphere of tension and worry. The climate in Iceland is changing very fast. It may be a storm now, but it will be sunny later.

Let's put a edited self-driving road video below, which will be added later. It will talk about expenses, car rental and overseas travel insurance. We paid travel change insurance on this trip, and the two of us paid almost 13 thousand yuan. I will also write about my trip to England.

Iceland's itinerary is very simple. You can walk around the island along the 1 highway, either counterclockwise or clockwise. The scenic spots are basically near the island line, and all the scenic spots are free. In addition to taking part in glacier hiking, Lan Bing Cave and other projects are also charged.

Around the island, 7- 12 days is enough. Adjust your stay time at each point according to your own interests. In winter, the road conditions are bad and the sunshine time is short. Dawn broke at 10 in the morning, and it was dark at 4 pm, which was a long time. If the road conditions are good and the sunshine time is long in summer, it will be faster to go around the island.

In winter in Iceland, snow, rain and strong winds are normal, so wherever you see them, the dressing guide emphasizes wind and water resistance! You can't count on an umbrella. The fact is that Iceland has no umbrella at all, and strong winds will blow people away.

When you go to Iceland in winter, don't expect to dress like a fairy. Jackets and trousers are the first choice. Iceland is not as cold as I expected, the temperature is not very low, about 0 degrees, but the wind is too strong, so the photographer will freeze, so the photos will not be as delicate as usual. If the picture is not good, why not pose again? The wind just wants to get on the bus quickly.

Entering Iceland, it looks white from the plane.

The waterfall of the gods is located in Game of Thrones, and the weather is bad. These photos don't show the frozen land when winter comes.

Singral national park

This geyser is actually a very small geyser, much smaller than the old faithful geyser in Huangshi National Park.

On the road, it is like this when the weather is good.

such

It's true when the weather is bad.

In this way, the snow on the roadside was blown by the demon 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, so slippery that you can't control the car if you are not careful.

Scenery along the way

Tundra landform

The magical black sand beach.

Glacial lake, these floating blue ice floes are all melted from glaciers, and they are all thousands of years old ice.

The diamond beach in the sun is dazzling and beautiful.

Straw hat, named after its shape.

On the winding ramp, the red-topped church stands quietly.

Hiking on glaciers is a must-see in Iceland. If you want to see the mysterious and magnificent caves in Lan Bing, you must come to Iceland in winter, and the caves will melt in summer.

Walking on the Lan Bing, there is an interstellar feeling.

To participate in this project, you must follow the guide, ice claws and ice picks, which are necessary for action on the ice. It was still raining that day. Fortunately, the weather is not very bad and the project has not been cancelled, otherwise it would be a pity.

About renting a car, renting a car in Iceland in winter, four-wheel drive and snow tires are the basic configurations. Car rental platform, well-known car rental website is very convenient. This time I rented it on the local car rental platform in Iceland: northbound.is, which is a relatively small platform and the price is much cheaper than renting a car. We rented car insurance for 9 days, less than 5000 yuan.

Precautions for driving, be sure to look at the weather forecast and road conditions in advance. Don't go out when there is a storm and blizzard forecast, and don't rush in when the road conditions are bad.

Check the weather. we

In the picture, green means good road conditions and convenient transportation, and red means no traffic jam. Sometimes there are orange and blue, which means there is some snow and it is slippery. You can drive, but drive carefully.

All roads in Iceland are numbered. One-digit road is the best, followed by two-digit road. The three-digit road is even worse. It is recommended not to go in winter. These roads are generally remote and there is no snowmobile operation. If something goes wrong, passers-by can't help. Waiting for help is very long and expensive.

About the cost: Wuhan-Shenzhen, Hong Kong-London, the per capita round-trip air ticket is 2600 yuan, and London-Beijing-Wuhan, the per capita round-trip air ticket is 3750 yuan.

Iceland 10 day trip costs nearly 10,000 yuan per capita.

This part includes the round-trip air ticket from London to Iceland, as well as the fees for renting a car, transportation, accommodation and signing up for the Lan Bing Cave Project in Iceland. The cost of traveling in London is extra.

Iceland is very expensive. Have a casual meal outside. -400 yuan. Almost all of our accommodations have kitchens, and we all cook by ourselves, so this part of the meal saves a considerable amount of money. The most expensive is the Lan Bing Cave Project, with per capita income 1.700 yuan.

It should be reminded that transferring to other European countries via the UK requires a British visa, and only the Schengen visa at the destination cannot transfer from the UK.

It is necessary to buy overseas insurance in advance when traveling abroad. Although it is not used at all in many cases, it is just a peace of mind, but this money cannot be saved. Overseas insurance must be bought in China before departure. Individual insurance companies have introduced insurance that can be purchased overseas, but only within one day after arriving at overseas destinations. After we stayed in England this time, the insurance we bought expired. We didn't study the insurance clauses clearly in advance. If we miss the renewal date one day, we can't buy any more. Without insurance, we have to be careful and hope that nothing will happen.

This is the insurance I bought at that time. No insurance company was consulted after the expiration. I bought another insurance policy because I felt self-righteous. Later I 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 nothing, the insurance company won't contact you for a refund.

When I was at my wit's end, I bought insurance and studied the insurance clauses before I knew that my insurance could be settled. I can't return to China because of the outbreak of the epidemic, which is in line with Article 5 of the travel change. The insurance I bought pays a maximum of 8000 yuan.

The last real trip was in Beijing. After a night, I flew to Haikou the next day. Because Wuhan can't go back, I can only stay in the field. Hainan is the only place where you can stay for free. Hainan has a place to live, so I choose to go to Hainan and wait for Wuhan to be unsealed.

After returning to China, I began to prepare claims. Insurance claims are a tug of war! By rights, don't wait for the insurance company to think of you. This is my experience.

The first round: apply for claims in the official account of the insurance company WeChat, and submit the materials as required, including London accommodation fee, round-trip air ticket price difference, one-night accommodation fee in Beijing, and air tickets from Beijing to Hainan. Maybe there is a bug in the application system. I uploaded more than 10 accommodation vouchers, but they didn't read them or didn't read them at all. The staff contacted me and asked them to supplement their passport information and ticket information, but they didn't mention accommodation. This made me feel that there was no problem with the accommodation information I provided, so they didn't raise any objection. I was dumbfounded when I received the notice of the settlement result, and only lost the price difference of the international section of the refund.

The second round: Call the customer service to express disagreement with the settlement result and not pay the accommodation part, and the air ticket from Beijing to Hainan. The insurance staff asked me to supplement the information needed for compensation. Because I used a full currency card, I had a bill settled in RMB at that time, and I also provided credit card payment information, but the amount of claims received was more than 1000. I found that they only pay for accommodation in Britain, and the amount is calculated in pounds, according to the current exchange rate. In February, the exchange rate of British pound against RMB was still around 9, often 9. 1, which was reflected in the credit card settlement bill. However, after the outbreak of the British epidemic in March, the government proposed a collective immunization strategy, and the pound plummeted from 9 to around 8. According to the current exchange rate, the compensation amount directly lost hundreds of dollars.

The third round: I called customer service to express my disagreement with the settlement result, hoping to explain it clearly. The customer service said that their claims have always been calculated according to the current exchange rate, whether it is travel changes or medical claims. 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 says you can't go back to your daily residence, so you can't go back to Wuhan. I either stay in Beijing and wait at my own expense every day, or I go from Beijing to other places. We chose Haikou, where I don't need to pay at my own expense. I think the latter is also reasonable, but the insurance adjuster insists that this is only my own objective reason. Originally, the trip was from Beijing to Wuhan, and I went around Beijing to other cities, which was not within their claims. I asked, "Did I stay in Beijing on the spot? Is the daily accommodation fee reasonable? Can I make a claim? " The other party replied, yes, no matter how much you leave in Beijing, you can pay within the claim amount. I replied, in that case, it should be reasonable for me to spend the night in Beijing. Why didn't I pay? Say that the other party can pay.

But I'm still waiting for the results of the third round, waiting to pay for one night's accommodation in Beijing.

By the way, I have confirmed with the claim adjuster that if I return to Wuhan from Haikou via Beijing, the air ticket from Beijing to Wuhan and the accommodation in Beijing before the official date of unsealing in Wuhan can also be paid within the claim amount. However, we are not going to toss about the remaining amount.

Although the claim did not give the ideal amount, it also subsidized the economic loss. I am satisfied with the result.

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You also need to prepare a foreign currency credit card to travel abroad. I have never seen what Icelandic coins look like when I go to Iceland this time.

All major banks have launched overseas credit card rebate activities, which is different from those credit cards that have to grab as much as possible to get rebates. This "very global" activity of China Merchants Bank is too powerful. 10% cashback cannot be robbed automatically, but 5% cashback is for everyone. China Merchants Bank credit cards often have this activity. After cashback in consumption abroad during the Chinese New Year, it is now cashback for overseas online consumption.

I * * * only take about RMB 2000 in cash back, and big customers can take more, because every line can participate, up to RMB 10020.

Because I cook and eat by myself, I don't eat out, and it's very expensive in Iceland. Anyone who goes out to eat is 2-400 yuan, which saves a lot of money.