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Our friends Yvette and James recently spent ten days in beautiful Iceland during the winter, and were able to take in some fabulous sites and experience some of the traditional culture. Initially drawn to Iceland as a travel destination because of photos on social media, they decided to visit during the cold winter months after an earlier plan to visit during the summer was cancelled, and made the most of planning their trip using travel blogs and reaching out to AirBnb hosts after popular travel sites didn’t seem to offer much help. While they definitely enjoyed their road trip in a rental car and recommend this as the best way to see the country, they had to make some adjustments to the limited daylight hours and sometimes terrible driving conditions that came along with visiting in the winter!

On this episode we talk to Yvette and James about their experiences leading up to and during their trip to Iceland, including their itinerary, some of their trip highlights and their awesome New Year’s Eve experience. They also chat to us about their packing list must haves, as well as trying some of the local foods, including a rotting shark dish (Hakarl) that was less than appetizing for Yvette. Between trekking to beautiful ice caves, visiting geysers, hunting for geothermal hot springs and diving between tectonic plates, Yvette and James travel stories will probably make Iceland one of your bucket list destinations!

Enjoy!

What we talk about in this episode:

• What inspired Yvette and James to start traveling, like Yvette inspiring James to leave his traditional 9 to 5 lifestyle to make travel a priority, and Yvette’s time on a working holiday visa in Canada
• How Yvette and James were drawn to Iceland from photos they saw on social media
• The unexpected perks of visiting in the winter, like the Northern Lights and ice caves, frozen meltwater tunnels that form in glaciers
• How they planned for their trip with limited information on sites like Tripadvisor, and how Yvette used travel blogs and contacted AirBnb hosts to fill in the gaps
• Their experiences visiting two popular tourist attractions, the Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle
• Their experience with barely four hours of daylight a day visiting in the winter compared to Amanda and Ryan’s trip in the summer which had them in full daylight at the Blue Lagoon at 10pm!
• How they were still happy that they saw the Golden Circle even though there were a lot of tourists, and recommend it to people who are traveling to Iceland for the first time
• How the driving conditions in the winter are a little rough, but their thought that the best way to see Iceland is to rent a car
• How they used road.is to keep them updated on road conditions as the weather can change very quickly
• How it helped that they had allotted extra days to make up activities they may have missed because of bad weather/driving conditions on previous days
• Their ten day itinerary which included stays in Reykjavik, the Snaefellsjoekull Peninsula, Vik and Hof
• Their New Year’s Eve experience in Reykjavik experiencing the tradition of huge bonfires and fireworks
• Their recommendations and highlights including diving/snorkeling between the North American and Euroasian tectonic plates, trekking to the ice cave, and finding geothermal hot springs
• Their recommendation to be prepared for the expensive price tags and do your research to avoid crowds!
• Their thoughts on traditional Icelandic foods, and Yvette’s experience with trying Hakarl, a dish featuring rotting shark
• Their must haves for their packing list if you’re visiting in the winter, including crampons, waterproof boots, a good winter jacket, warm clothes/gear and wintergrade boots
• Their recommendations for some itinerary items you can add to your list if you visit in the summer, like traveling into the highlands and visiting the waterfalls
• Additional recommendations like visiting the beaches and venturing outside the tourist trail to get to places that won’t be overcrowded
• Their upcoming travel plans and their desire to eventually visit Africa, and how to get in touch!

This episode of The World Wanderers is sponsored by AutoSlash. AutoSlash is the #1 site for getting a great deal on a car rental. They figure out the best coupons and discount codes to get you the lowest rate possible, and then track prices on your rental right until the day you pick up the car. If they find a lower rate, they email you so you can lock in the savings. It’s like price protection on your rental. They can even track the price of rentals made on other websites. AutoSlash has saved customers millions of dollars on car rentals. It’s completely free – give it a try on your next booking!

You can also check out our new travel community on Facebook where you can ask questions, get travel recommendations, and find community members in your area!

If you would like to support the continued growth of the show and receive cool kickbacks like postcards from around the world and one on one calls with Ryan and Amanda, head on over to Patreon. Thank you so much for your continued support!

Music Credits:

www.bensound.com

You can connect with Yvette on Instagram and read more about Yvette & James’ travels at One Peak at a Time!