ICELAND: 10 things must-have to bring with you

Hi everyone, I decided to write this in order to gave my personal advice to who wants to go to Iceland for the first time, especially for the fact that the first time that I went there I didn’t bring with me some of these objects and I found myself really uncomfortable during the trip. These objects may seem obvious but trust me, they are of vital importance and I have seen so many people who just arrived in Iceland without some of these objects were really uncomfortable.

First of all, however, I make a premise: I am a photographer, so some items that I will list will also have to do with the digital world, but they are objects that will surely be comfortable for any kind of traveler because they make life easier.

My experience in Iceland began during June 2017 with a 10-day road trip (of which you can find the travel plan in the other blog post), the purpose of the trip was mainly to be able to conclude the whole tour of the island through the ring road (1400km) and gather the experience through my photographs.

During December 2017 I went back in search of the northen lights living fully the Icelandic winter, so the objects that I will illustrate will be essential in both summer and winter.

So , finally, heres my list of the 10 things to M U S T bring with you in Iceland!!

1) A WATERPROOF SHELL

Ok guys, Icelandic weather sucks , its rainy or snowy , pretty cold and very, very, very windy. A famous Icelandic saying reads: “if you do not like the weather then wait 5 minutes” and I honestly have to say it's true. Especially in winter the weather is really though, on my last trip for example I found 6 days on 8 with very high wind, so high that I couldn’t even open the door of the car or taking shots with the trypod. So to contrast wind and rain please don’t use umbrellas because otherwise you will end up with an umbrella destroyed after just 2 minutes you have set foot in Iceland, buy a good shell and make sure that is waterproof with high mm water clolumn resistance. Personally I recommend to buy a shell with thermofixed zips in order to prevent the entry of water into pockets wetting phones and other stuff , and with goretex. Also, make sure to have a nice protective hood fully adjustable, in the case to have strong rain and wind (thus, most of the times) this will save your ass! I recommend this type of shell both in summer and winter, just ensure that if you go in winter the shell is big enough to contain your jacket or just buy a good waterproof jacket.

2) WATERPROOF SHOES

As told you before weather in Iceland sucks most of the time, and maybe you just learned the fact that water is the predominant element in Iceland, infact its full of magnificent waterfalls and amazing rivers generated by glaciers. Horewer water isnt only in those spectacular places, its literally everywhere. It rains most of the times so its all wet, so make sure to buy real waterproof shoes! I bought the lasportiva ultraraptor in goretex, those are like running shoes and not boot-like, this because I feel more comfortable walking with this type of shoes and most important thing I can drive without changing shoes every single time. This beacause I think its dangerous to drive with boots for their rigidity and the low sensibility that follows. Unfortunately this approach is possible only in summer season, in winter you have to wear a boot , like mountain boots, on which you can fix rampons or small rampons to avoid falls on ice. This winter I didn’t bring rampons with me believing that it wasn’t a real problem…well , I felt rouvinously 2 times causing heavy laughs of Icelandic people and almost crushing my reflex into the ground. Trust me, rampons are fundamental in winter!

3) TOUCH GLOVES

I usually bring with me 2 pair of gloves during my trips: one thinner with touch fingers and a thicker one, to wear alone or with the first pair under. During summer its not so rare to wear the thicker one,temperature with the right climate conditions can reach 0 celsius pretty easily. I make sure for myself to bring those 2 pair of glooves with me each time, the thinner one is really comfortable regarding the use of the camera or phones or trypod ecc, that could be quite impossible using normal thick gloves.

4) THERMAL NECK WARMER

I found this solution really easy and quick, especially in those situations where the weather really sucks and you cannot almost open your backpack to take the essential to protect your self from the cold. I use the thermal neck warmer as a double protection for both neck and head depending on the situation, when its pretty windy and cold I wear the warmer as a hat protecting mainly ears and using the shell as neck protector, or I can do simply the contrary, using the warmer for the neck and for the head the hood of the shell+jacket. During summer is enough a syntetic warmer with wind stopper technology, while during winter I use a warmer with a different frame , more thick and warm that I can use as a real hat because at his extremity has a little elastic rope that permits to close the warmer at one side, this is really useful. Aniway I usually bring with me always those two pairs, because weather can change in every moment. Also I favor this type of wearing instead of hats and scarves because they save lot more space in your bag!!

5)WATERPROOF BACKPACK

Ok, since now we’ve learned that icelandic weather is most of the times rainy so, guess, how has to be your backback? Of course waterproof!I use a photographic backpack tha can act also as a normal back pack, with lot of compartments and thermofixed zips, if you want to check it is not cheap but its defnintely worth it, it’s the Peak Design 20l everyday backpack, better it’s the 30l. Aniway , waterproof backpacks costs a lot, you can arrive to the same result just buying a few dollars waterproof cover, a more smart solution for the same problem.

6) CAMERA CLEANING EQUIPMENT

Iceland has some of the most beautiful enviroments and thus, landscape to be photographed on the planet. This depends also from the fact that Icelandic landscapes are so different one to each other that for a photographer its just like a dream to find in a so “little” space so much variety of enviroments, from glaciers to rivers and waterfalls , infinite black lands, small ponds with bubbling mud, in other words we have an infinite size of objects to be photographed, that is translated in changing each time the lenses on your camera. Passing from a zoom lens to a wideangle camera more and more times in enviroments with strong winds and particles flying in it can dirty strongly your sensor. So its fundamental to clean every nigh after shooting the sensor with the right equipment making sure to not having each day overlapping spots on your images.

In addition ,absolutely, if you are a photographer or a video maker make sure to bring with you at least 3-4 of cleaningh cloths for the lenses of your camera! Otherwise photographing all the magnificent waterfalls of the south coast will became a nightmare for your camera! The water falling is vaporised and bringed also at long distances from waterfalls, its like a constant rain of really small rain drops falling on your lens. With only one cloth you can clean your camera for 2-max 3 times, from that point on your cloth will be all wet and it will not be more useful.

Make sure to clean the camera each possible time in proximity of waterfalls especially during winter, the rigid temperatures make the water freeze after few minutes causing scratches on the lens.

7) POWER STRIP , USB CAR MULTIPLIER and POWER BANK

Make sure to bring with you these 3 objects! usually if you sleep in B&B or more commonly in a farm you will find at least 1or 2 electrical outlets, thus if you need to charge lot of equipment in one night those surely are not enough. It’s the same also about your car, during the day you will need to follow your navigator and most of the times the battery is nearly dead because of the continue use and the cold conditions, so make sure to bring with you a USB car multiplier to attach to the 12V outlet. If the car is not avaiable for charging because you’re doing a long trekking bring with you a strong battery pack (power bank).

8) TRAVEL ORGANIZATORS

This depends strongly from the type of travel that you are going to take, personally I’ve done a road trip trough all the road 1 sleeping each night in a different place. So organizating your clothes with travel bags organizators its fundamental otherwise if you travel without it you will find yourself each night so tired to skip tidy up your stuff, resulting in a total mess after just few days.

9) ICELAND TRAVEL GUIDE

Study well your Iceland travel guide before leaving, emergency numbers and road signs , make sure to sign all the important informations because Iceland it’s a tough enviroment, do not uderestimate her!

10) PATIENCE and RESPECT

There are lot of expectations about Iceland,most of the people expect to find desert lands without encount no one for km and km, and this can be true since Iceland population is about 300 thousand people, but the rality unfortunately is different. Iceland most attractive and accessible places are always crowded, places like skogarfoss, the black beaches of vik, the vatnajokull lagoon area ecc, all the main attractions of iceland, are full of tourists and thus some times take a decent shot can be pretty hard. I found lot of people that just do not respect enviroment and they do not have common sense, like waiting for someone elses shot for some time or totally monopolizing the place making impossible to other to take some shot without the person in the middle. With some more common sense living Iceland most beautiful places will surely be more comfortable so try to be respectul and patient with all people but most of all with the enviroment.

Ok guys, I hope that this can be helpful to everyone, if you have questions you can add a comment here below or DM me on Instagram or Facebook or with the contact format that you find on the website.

Happy travel to everyone!

Riccardo