To be honest, I put off writing about Iceland for awhile. Those five days ended off my first month of travelling on an absolutely perfect note. Of course, I was reluctant to leave both this gorgeous island-state and my wonderful travel buddies, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. It's difficult to describe the entire experience in a single blog post because I can probably gush about it endlessly.

Saying that Iceland was magical would be a serious understatement. We didn't experience the snow because we were there in mid-August (considered summer) and we didn't see the glaciers so highly-raved of (except from afar in our car). But it was amazing nonetheless. In those five days we were so so so close to nature and everything took my breath away. Have you ever stood on top of a huge waterfall and took in both the majestic view and crisp, fresh air? Close your eyes and imagine that right now. That was Iceland. The weather was perfect when we were there. It did rain on one of the days and honestly the gloom can be a real bummer but we were blessed with clear skies and long days on the others - for that I am thankful. 

The four of us started planning for Iceland a couple of months before we left for Europe. We decided to do half of the Ring Road instead of the whole thing because we didn't want to spend the bulk of our five days on the road. We mostly explored the Southwestern region of Iceland and it was one of the best decisions we made. How it worked: we bookmarked the sights and important places on our offline Google maps in that entire region and on the night before, we would discuss which area to drive around, depending on the location of our next accommodation for the night. And if we see anything/road-signs/crowd while we were driving, we'd pull over and check them out as well. This way we got to see both the planned and unplanned sights.

Our first stop was Skógafoss

We walked 8 kilometres (!!!!) for this DC3 plane wreck (spent about 2 hours walking in total and 1 hour taking as many pictures as we could to make up for it)

And I really hope when any of you walk there there wouldn't be a throng of tourists in your pictures...

We ended off our first day at Vik, the black sand beach - it was so cold (about 10 degrees but the sea breeze though...) but the sand was so so so soft!!! 

Justin Bieber shot his music video for Cold Water here btw

Kerid - the volcanic crater lake in Grímsnes

Greeted by these breathtaking sights on the road -- incredibly blessed

Kirkjufell Mountain was very close to one of our accommodations 

Lots of fluffy sheep and horses and cows and pink/white marshmallows (I think they contain hay or grass) on the grasslands

The entire area around Strokkur Geysir smelt like rotten eggs lol (actually sulphur) and everyone was camping around the fountain waiting for it to erupt every 6-10 minutes

We spent quite awhile walking within Thingvellir National Park but probably only covered 1/10 of it...

Kai said I'm like a monkey because I was also climbing everything that could be scaled hahahahaha 

This mandatory 'i-sat-in-the-middle-of-the-road' shot tho (had to keep running around because there were actually cars coming hahahaha much efforts)

Fav picture of us!!!

This was Berserkjahraun, within Snafelsnes (another ginormous park)

We had to take a shot with our trusy ol' Ford and this was it

The Black Church at Budir

We spent our last day in Reykjavik (the capital city of Iceland)

And we had Viet noodles omg omg omg omg ok it cost us SGD20 but hot soup on a cold day? Anytime.

Inside the Church of Hallgrímskirkja

Waikiki ops represent \m/

Blasted our last Icelandic Krónas on local delicacies such as these -- I can't remember what I had exactly but this was rye bread with an assortment of meat and jellies (???)

Ok doesn't the church remind you of something from Lord of the Rings!!! 

I probably missed out pictures of some the sights and attractions that we saw in those 5 days (i.e. Gulfoss!!!) but all in all, I felt that the entire trip was completely worth it. There were a few hiccups like our front windscreen fogging up due to the difference in the temperatures outside and inside of the car, our constant fear of falling off the narrow roads on the cliffs, the difficulty of getting used to looking on your left instead of your right when you turn out of a parking space and our paranoia of getting a ticket for speeding (hahahaha been there done that). This was a Waikiki-rep (+ Bryan hahahaha) team and we've known each other for so long!! I guess this is what they mean when they say that the company matters a lot too. Really, really, really glad we planned for this road trip together. Wouldn't have done it any other way :') 

Also, here is a rough breakdown of how much we spent (and what on) in SGD. I'm sure a lot of people are interested in this part (well I would be):

Flight tickets: $600

Car rental: $240

Accommodation: $120

Food and Petrol: $300

I spent about $1.2k, definitely not a small amount (I know of people who spent less than $1k) but I thought it was an incredible experience!!!