A little precursor for this article before my sanity is questioned; hitchhiking in Iceland is nothing like the United States.
Not only is hitchhiking legal, but it’s a preferred means of transportation for many foreign and local travellers. Icelanders are renowned for their kindness and overall friendliness, so picking up hitchhikers is seen as an interesting addition to the original journey for most Icelanders. While hitching a ride around Iceland is common, it’s generally unheard of for people to hitchhike during the winter season.
However, that did not deter two friends and me from embarking on our own adventure around Iceland. Since we had a few days off of work, we decided to catch a ride from Reykjavik to Akureryi (the main hub of the North). We rose hours before sunrise in hopes of catching a car heading north. Eventually we just hopped in a car that was willing to drop us off at the edge of Reykjavik in order to find cars heading north. In fact, it took us three different drivers to get outside of the city limits!
It started out rough, but then our wanderlust prayers were answered by Heð, who was heading an hour north to check out an old farm property. One of my favorite parts of hitchhiking is meeting Icelanders and other travellers who have interesting stories, facts, and tips. The conversations that occur between complete strangers on a long car ride might be the most diverse and wonderful conversations to be a part of. After a short drive around the town where the strongest Viking in history was born, we parted ways at a gas station three hours south of our final destination.
When I say “a gas station”, I mean “the only gas station in a 80 mile radius.” And if you were wondering how many cars passed by us at this point, we counted…3 cars in twenty-five minutes. Luckily once again our wanderlust prayers were answered just as the mist turned to rain outside. This particular savior played a major part in our hitchhiking trip. He said his actual full Icelandic name to us once, but then insisted we just call him Halle, so for all intensive purposes he is Halle. Halle drove us three hours to Akureryi- stopping to let us take photos of the sunset mountains, listening to our exclamations of awe at the ever changing landscape, and providing Icelandic antecdotes. Before he dropped us off at our friends’ place for the night in Akureryi, he invited us to check out the annual thorrobraut he was attending in Miva. Thorrobraut’s are annual festivals for every city/town where the community dines, drinks, and dances together to celebrate the past year. At the feast they eat traditional Icelandic dishes such as fermented shark, sheep’s head, fish, and sheep balls. Obviously we were more than eager to attend the celebration, so we made a plan to visit him in Miva at the festival the following night.
Another component of hitchhiking is the act of saving money in any way possible. For us, that meant packing all of our food for the three days into our backpacks before heading out. Our combination of food was eclectic at best, but we definitely made it work. Rice noodles were our specialty each night, and no trip would be complete without a container of Skyr. When it comes to Skyr, I’m addicted and I have no shame. There was also a jar of pickles that somehow made its way into backpack for the trip.
On our second day of hitchhiking, we met Laura, our actual savior of the whole trip. A solo German traveller making her way around Iceland in a black four wheel drive that doubles as a bed for the night. Laura had been driving around Iceland for the past ten days, and when she saw the three of us standing by the side of the road, she waved us down and we embarked on a crazy road trip together. It was my first excursion to the north of Iceland, and while I am continually in awe by the vast landscape of the island, the north holds my official favorite spot in Iceland. Dimmuborgir is near Lake Miva and is one of the most magical spots I’ve ever seen. It’s believed that the mystical creatures (elves, fairies, and trolls) of the island live in Dimmuborgir. The rock formations themselves are incredible, but the sky is a perpetual purple and orange mix in the area that makes it seem like magic is in the air. The energy was fantastic, and I felt like a child again as we slid down ice hills, threw snow, ate icicles, and found little caves to explore.
The day was spent taking in all of the sights in the North. We got extremely muddy running around the hot pockets, washed our feet in a heated pool inside of an isolated cave, and met Halle at the Thorrobraut in Miva that night. The most notable circumstance of the day occurred that evening when the three of us decided to change our plan and ride with Laura to the East then South back to Vik. What lied ahead of us was an all night drive through the East Fjords, but what we got was a spectacular northern lights show and a cramped 2 hour sleep that I wouldn’t change for anything. Capturing the northern lights is a photographer’s dream, and I personally feel eternally blessed every chance I get to see and to photograph the aurora dancing across the sky. For a detailed look at the best way to photograph the aurora borealis, you can check out my post here.
Eventually a misty dawn led us into the closest town, and we were able to caffeinate appropriately for the day ahead. One of the most frequented attraction in the Southeast is Jökulsárlón , the Glacier Lagoon. The Lagoon is filled with drifting ice blocks broken off from the Glacier, and in time the ice chunks are swept out into the Atlantic Ocean. Since this was my second visit to Jokursalon, I had a nagging urge to do something more than simply observing the natural landscape. Luckily this urge was mutual, and we all made a split second decision to take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean during the dead of winter! I couldn’t feel my feet (or any part of my body for that matter), but I was well aware of the overwhelming smile plastered across my face. Needless to say, we were cold and exhilarated for the rest of the day!
Ultimately we had to part ways with Laura to get back to Reykjavik that night, but we did get to spend an extra couple of days with our travel mate when she came to Reykjavik later on in the week. Our final hitchhiking ride of the trip was from a police officer. Honestly, I can’t think of a better driver to end the trip with.
Well, maybe if it had been a Skyr truck driver with a load of Skyr in the trailer…
Check out the video recap of our adventure here!
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