The maps we had completed basically covered all of the sights we planned on seeing, plus the campgrounds that we selected at the end of each day.
There were still three important additions we needed to make.
We needed to add in all of the grocery stores that were located in places we were stopping, as well as gas stations, and the State Run liquor store called Vínbúðin. Other than low-alcohol beer that is sold in some stores, all other spirits are only sold at these official government-run liquor stores.
I first added in any grocery stores that seemed to be larger stores and affiliated with the four major chains in Iceland. I was able to see all of our stops on a single Google Map of Iceland and was able to search each area of the island for “grocery stores”. I added each one I selected that was on our routes and then added them to the “saved places” in Google Maps for each day of travel. Then I did the same thing for gas stations just to make sure we could determine possible fuel stops on our route. For both the grocery stores and gas stations, the availability was less in the far northwest of the island, and especially in the Westjfords. It was nice to see that information so we can make sure we plan accordingly as we approach that part of the country.
Then I went back and did the same process to add the Vínbúðin stores, which are about as abundant as gas stations. I guess it was not surprising to see that the Vínbúðin stores are generally located next to or really near to the larger grocery stores in some of the larger towns. I had already learned that the prices of liquor in Iceland are 2-3 times what we might expect to pay in the USA. One source of online information said that about 80% of the cost of a bottle of vodka was taxes. Since we won’t have a lot of refrigerated storage, we may need to make frequent stops for supplies, both food and beverages. Our plan is to stick to wine and local beers for refreshments, skipping our normal Seagram’s VO and all of its associated mixers and ice.
We will certainly be careful since the laws for alcohol consumption and driving are very strict in Iceland, so we will only be partaking of refreshments when we know for certain we are settled in at a campground for the night, and not needing to leave. There will not be any enjoying wine at a scenic overlook and then driving back to our campground, which is ok. One source of information said you can not have 0.02% or more alcohol present in your blood. That’s four times less than you can legally have in many states of the USA. There was even mention of not driving the next day after consuming alcohol the night before.
I did some research on the Vínbúðin stores and they have a nice website with a listing of various wines and their prices. I was not able to determine if the pricing is fixed at all stores in the country, but one would assume so since they are all government-run. Several .75l bottles of Pinot Grigio I saw online cost in the range of about $15.00 to $19.00 US at the current exchange rate. I did see that a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinto Grigio cost the equivalent of $21.00 US, which is only slightly higher than it is here in the USA, even at Costco, so it obviously varies in pricing across brands. There was one 1.5l Pinot Grigio Box Wine that was about $30.50. Makes the Costco Brand 3.0l box of Pinot Grigio we get at home for $14.99 a great deal compared to Iceland, twice as much for half as much.
Most everyone traveling to Iceland recommends purchasing some alcohol at the duty-free store at the airport upon arrival, but there is a limitation based on “units” for how much one can purchase duty-free. Of course, the website I found this information on had a link to the “Duty Free” Iceland website, which defined “units” by type of alcohol and by size. It is not the same just based on size of the container, each type of alcohol has a different scale of “units”. I have added the link here, just so it is easy for us to find the unit calculator it once we arrive. Here is the link to the Duty Free Unit Size Calculator.
After adding in all of the new map information, I attempted to make one single map of our planned routes around Iceland, but I was not able to figure out a good way to accomplish that feat. I am finding out that although there are some good features of Google My Maps, there are certainly many limitations on its use. I combined the first couple of days successfully, but then it just did not work any longer, even though I was following the same process as I had for the first two days. The map would show up, but not any of the information or stops along the way. Online research did not provide any suitable solutions so I just gave up.
There will not be a lot to do going forward other than tweaking our plans and trying to figure out a good way to reorganize things in the event we have bad weather. I had seen some recommendations to have flexible travel plans on the directions of travel around the ring road. As it currently stands, we are basically traveling in a counter-clockwise direction around the island. I started making maps that are just the opposite travel directions just in case. It was not too difficult, I just made a copy of our existing map and re-arranged the stops for each day in the opposite order. I gave them each a distinctive title change adding the word “CLOCKWISE” to the map title. Of course, we had to also change the date and the day of the trip to correspond with the change in direction. This will hopefully make it easier to select the proper map for the chosen direction.
There were only a couple of days where there was a little difficulty, and it also pointed out some logistic issues with two of the days, one being the day we plan on whale watching in Husavik. We are off one day being in Husavik when going in the Clockwise direction versus the Counterclockwise. This causes a bit of an issue with making reservations in advance for whale watching. With a couple of tweaks in the routing, we may be able to be in Husavik on the same date going in either direction, allowing us to make a single whale-watching reservation no matter which direction we go. If not, we may just check on the cancellation policy/timeframe for the whale watching reservations and possibly make one for each date, and just cancel once we determine the direction we start out in, which will be based on the weather.
Leave a Reply