On to the land of Ice and Fire
Some journeys begin with a bang. Ours began with a slice of cake—and a stroll through a liquor store.
Read moreAround Iceland – One Road, Many Stories
A slow travel series from the crew of Bagabonda
A slow travel series from the crew of Bagabonda
Some places you don’t visit. You orbit them. Iceland is one of those places.
There’s one main road—Route 1, known simply as the Ring Road—that loops around the entire country. A single line of tarmac that weaves through lava fields, past glaciers and black sand beaches, across fjords and forgotten fishing villages. And once you get on it, the temptation is simple: follow it all the way around.
That’s exactly what we set out to do.
This series is the day-by-day log of our journey across Iceland by road. We swapped sails for wheels, packed our layers, and stepped ashore with a 4×4, a loose plan, and a great deal of curiosity. Our ambition? To follow the Ring Road at our own pace, complete the full circle, and let Iceland show us whatever it had in store.
This is not a rush-around checklist of Iceland’s top ten tourist stops. It’s a slow(er)-motion orbit. We’ll take you with us through rain and wind, over gravel roads and steaming ground, from postcard-famous waterfalls to the forgotten trails that disappear into fog. There will be mud. There will be coffee. And there might even be a few moments of silence worth remembering.
Whether you’re planning your own trip to Iceland, following along as a fellow nomad, or just daydreaming from the warmth of your sofa, we hope you’ll join us on this loop around a country that often feels more like a distant planet than a neighbor in the North Atlantic.
No spoilers here. Just a promise: it’s going to be raw, real, and a little bit wild—exactly how travel should be.
Earth, Wind, and Fire (with Cold Water)
Our second day in Iceland began with a simple plan: drive the Golden Circle, observe the forces that shaped the island, and avoid falling into any boiling holes in the ground.
Spoiler alert: we survived.
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Glaciers, gales, and a magnificent black beach.
We awoke to the gentle silence of the countryside and the unsettling blink of a partially charged camera. The power went out at Efra-Sel sometime during the night, robbing our electronics of their dreams of waking up completely refreshed.
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Drizzle, Diamonds, and a Day That Would Not Quit
As is customary in Iceland, the day began with a gray sky and a persistent drizzle. The car was loaded outside Vík Hostel, with wet windows and damp gear from the previous day. It wasn’t exactly a cinematic departure, but it felt authentic. The weather in Iceland is not a backdrop. It is a character.
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SV Bagabonda
