Iceland: Journal Entry 1

We’re off to an adventure of a lifetime. Iceland: the land of ice and fire.

To plan a trip of this kind requires some degree of preparation. We, or perhaps mainly I, with a supportive front from my love decided to go through the experience with minimal reliance on usual comforts that one will find in a major metropolitan city. By this, I mean we decided to explore Iceland through backpacking/tenting. Some reasoning behind our choice:

The cost – everyone told us “Iceland is very expensive”
The experience and adventure – our lives and how we choose to live them are subjective; we often have a choice in the matter of how we view our circumstances. Previously, when we’ve embarked on a new travel adventure we relied on accommodations, guides, transportation, food, etc… Hoping to take the matters into our own hands we wanted to create our own experience. Success or failure, we wanted to make the choice

Taking our reasoning into account we started preparing for the departure a few months ahead of schedule.

We brought our own food:

Canned Salmon
Instant Mashed Potatoes
Oatmeal
Instant Soup in a Cup
Hot chocolate & Coffee
Protein & Granola Bars

We packed a few essential supplies to survive in the wild:

Tent
Sleeping Pads
Sleeping Bags [rated to 20 F; July was chosen as the desired month for our visit due to warmth, lack of rain and extended daylight hours]
Cooking equipment: stove and cooking set
Collapsible water containers – this, although silly was extremely useful
Dry packs
Backpacks – 2x40L and an 85L for a multiple day hike
Our photography equipment – we both understood how impractical our camera equipment will be on this trip, however, when pushed came to shove we both decided to opt-in and drag our heavy gear with us – WE LOVE OUR PICTURES – 40 reasons to date a photographer
etc….

In essence, we tried to maximize the functionality of our gear while minimizing the weight of our luggage.

The days rolled on and as months turned in to week, days and then hours we were still scrambling to finalize the final touches. The preparation became slightly overwhelming and although we managed to complete our packing/organizing efforts I maintained a compulsive attitude that we could have done more. There was so much to do, so much to remember and know that the efforts [although great and progressively better than our past adventures] did not seem to hit that elusive mark of excellence.