Iceland is the “best kept secret for RV travel in the world” according to Edmonds-based RVtravel.com editor Chuck Woodbury.
“Forget traveling all the way to New Zealand for mind-boggling scenery. Iceland has it all,” he wrote in his most recent RVtravel.com newsletter. “One minute it looks like the Scottish Highlands, then turn a few corners and you swear you’re on the Oregon Coast. Turn a few more corners and you ask yourself ‘How did I get on Mars?’ And you have never seen so many waterfalls.”
Woodbury returned early this month from a one-week RV trip in Iceland, traveling the country’s 830-mile “Ring Road,” Highway One, with a campervan from Happy Campers of Reykjavik. “Once you leave Reykjavik, there is practically no traffic,” Woodbury explained. “I didn’t even drive the speed limit most of the time and wasn’t passed by another vehicle until my third day.
“There are a couple of freeways in Reykjavik. But once you’re out of town you’re all by yourself. You can snap a photo without pulling off the pavement. Nobody will show up for five minutes or longer. If they do, they just go around.”
Iceland is about the same size as England. But its population is 320,000 compared to England’s 51 million. It’s the same size as Kentucky with seven percent of the population. “Combine this with some great roads and you’re in a driver’s paradise,” said Woodbury.
About 15 years ago, the RV craze hit Iceland. “Its residents couldn’t buy motorhomes and trailers fast enough. Drive today through any neighborhood in Reykjavik or even remote villages and you’ll see recreational vehicles of all kinds parked in one driveway after another.
“I doubt there is another country in the world with more campgrounds per capita — from a corner of a farmer’s field to full-blown RV parks in the center of towns or in the middle of nowhere. It’ll cost you about $8 to $10 per person a night in the larger parks. Or just pull off the road and camp for free.”
Woodbury is posting stories about his trip at RvIceland.com. “I’m definitely going back,” he said. “One week wasn’t enough time to see the country properly; that would take two to three weeks.”
I worked with a delegate from the World Bank who was from Reykajavik while restructuring the banking system in Lithuania; I was fascinated with his stories as to how modern and the contrast to the extreme nature with hot springs, waterfalls, and just fabulous terraine. I told this to my nephew/godchild (who did visit me in Lithuania when he was 9) and well, he took his girlfriend there and thougt is was magical and proposed to her. She is now his wife and the photos provided were awesome.
Iceland used to be very expensive like the other Scandiavian Courtries, but unfortunately, they invested much of their pension funds in the US and those “created” CMOs deravatives. So, when the real estate market tanked, this country lost their shorts as the mortgate and insurance industry got sucked into the AIG/TARP/GMAC/FreddieMay/FannyMac bailouts. SAD…SAD…SAD..
However, I hear things are looking better….and I would love to go there…but my Lithuanian friend would be upset for not visiting them.
Diane Why the second to last paragraph Don