Thanks, Mel. A friend of mine was in Iceland almost the same time as you. She seemed underwhelmed and was horrified by the food prices and her limited choices as a vegetarian.

Believe me, moving to NZ was a consideration and a close second choice, but it was a lot easier to move within the U.S., plus I have a love affair with Kauai. But I'm halfway to NZ now and I have no doubt I'll go back as I have a close friend there--and I do love it there!

I work at a music festival in Ireland every year in early March, and we always add another European destination. But because we are always there in winter we choose big cities where we can spend lots of time indoors in museums in case the weather is awful. So Iceland is not on the radar ... yet. In addition to Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales we've done Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Oslo/Bergen and in between. This year might be Prague. But that might change after I read your Switzerland report ;-). I was in Geneva many years ago and I barely remember it, but I tend to think of Switzerland as a place to go for scenery.

Anyway ... nice to reconnect! Now ... back to booking flights for L.A., NY, Philadelphia, and Nashville.

Wow. Thank you for such a detailed trip report. Love that you mention prices, places, hotels and what you ate along with the restaurants. That is the way I love a trip report to give me. It sure helps when you are trying to put together a trip to the country you are reading about.

Great trip report and the pictures were beautiful.

Thank you tgzshopper, I hope our experience helps with the planning of your trip.

Count me as another who really enjoyed your report. We went to Iceland in November 2015. The weather was mostly awful and the days extremely short, but we loved it anyway. We had one gorgeous blue-sky day - lucky for us it was the day we'd booked a glacier trek in the morning followed by Jokulslaron Lagoon. Plus we saw the Northern Lights one night (the rest were too overcast) while staying in Vik. We've vowed to go back because of the lovely memories, but although your pictures were great, they didn't entice me the way I thought they might. Maybe a short return trip one day. Off-season crowds (lack-thereof) sure are nice. Thanks again!

Hi,
Good Morning,
I am planning for a vacation to iceland in june. Would like to know some info about car rental. How was your overall experience with lagoon car rental? Would you recommend the same company to me?

And how about the extra insurances like Gravel Protection, Theft Protection, sand and ash protection, super collision damage protection etc.? do you suggest to take any of these extra protections?

Regards,
Bharath

Hi vihari512 -

Yes, I'd recommend Lagoon Car Rental. I'd not hesitate to use them again should I ever return to Iceland.

We declined all of the extra insurance - we always do - we never buy insurance from a rental car company. We felt we had sufficient coverage through our credit card company (and were willing to take the risk with anything the credit card policy might not cover).

What you do depends on your circumstances and your personal comfort level.

We strayed from the Ring Road many times - encountered quite a lot of gravel - but we avoided the F roads (which are off limits for most rental cars anyway, unless you have a 4x4). Our itinerary didn't include any F roads anyway.

No worries. Hope it helped.

Our trip to Iceland had to be canceled but we will rebook it. Your posts are very helpful!

Good to hear. Hope you can go soon.

Hi Melnq8,

Thank you for writing this trip report, I really enjoyed reading it. The details and pictures were a big help in deciding if we should go to Iceland.

You're very welcome cafegoddess. What did you decide?