What Does One Bring to Iceland?

So, I'm off to Iceland in 10 days with my big brother. Iceland. Iceland. Just saying it is unreal. It's like a dream world -- I believe it exists but I have no ability to properly understand it. I mean, I understand it is a country and it is floating out there in a ton of very cold water. And it is beautiful. Far more beautiful than any place I've probably seen yet -- and I've seen some places!

Anyway, our adventure will be chronicled here. I'm in the "what does one bring to Iceland" stage of packing. To help you properly understand why this is an actual stage and not just a silly blog title, please note that we're spending 13 days in a rented RV together driving around the entire country in a counter clockwise circle. The final night, we'll stay in hotel in Reykjavik, the capitol city. I hear their hotels are simple and what we'd consider spartan. Yeah? Well after 13 nights in a van with my brother I think it'll seem like the Taj Mahal. Auto correct wanted that to read "Taj Macho". I'm not sure it'll seem like that, but stayed tuned.  

So, the packing began today. Take a look at what I'm bringing.

 

 

In the above photo, which I delicately titled "stuff" you can see the stuff I'm bringing. Ha! Ok, this is the various stuff beyond food and clothes we'll need. At the top left and moving across we've got a reusable coffee filter (amen!), dirty clothes bag, Nalgene bottle, thermos, assorted emergency supplies like hand warmers and a space blanket, travel plug converters, human waste bags/toilet kit, Dr. Bronner's soap (this stuff is the bomb diggity and we'll use it to wash everything from the dishes to ourselves), underwater camera, roll up keyboard and wireless mouse, passport, Kleenex, sun screen, baby wipes, garbage bags, sleep masks (24 hours of sunlight, baby) contacts, reading material, cough drops (darn this mono), aloe, Tide, Pete's Pack (a custom developed emergency kit made by my ex and named for my dog!), two lengths of para cord (clothes line to repelling down a cliff), inverter (the most important thing here -- without this we have no way of charging everything!)duct tape, ipod player, hand sanitizer, hydrocortisone cream, portable water jug, dry sack, laptop, tablet. Whew!

 

 

In this photo, you can see I'm not bringing a lot of clothing. We're expecting temps between 40-50 for the most part. I'm going work with layers. I'm bringing hiking boots, running shoes and flip flops (public showers and mineral baths). I have only 2 pairs of black pants and a pair of jeans. A pair of shorts for good measure. God forbid we have an unexpected hot day of 60 and I have to be all cramped in pants. I have one large all weather/rain jacket that can pull on over everything. One swimsuit and one towel. I do however, have a lot of socks. I'm worried about jungle rot. It's a real thing. Sure, I bet generally it applies in, say, the jungle, but I'm bringing a lot of socks, ok?

 

 

And, the last shot here is the food. It turns out I work on the same floor at PayPal HQ with Mr. Iceland. He tells me we'll have access to lots of food options so I'm not bringing the max (12.5 pounds between the two of us). We'll have snacks and things to pack our bags with for day hikes or overnight excursions on the Icelandic Pony. That's a real thing. Not a euphemism. We have plenty here if we go a day or two (or 5) without coming into a town. Seems unlikely that'll happen though, since the entire country is so small.