Route 42
Interesting country.
The cost of living is approximately that of NYC but with a few caveats.
Things that are cheaper, tourists don't use, like healthcare, schools.
Things that a tourists uses like transportation, gas, food are hugely expensive.
Gas is about $7.50/gallon
Food in restaurants is very high. A medium size pizza for one person might be $20, a hamburger, fries and a canned soft drink $18.
(We took our hosts and their wives out for a light but nice meal and it was ~$700 for the 6 of us with no desserts or hors d'oeuvres.)
The entire country is very, very clean with no industrial pollution, all the power is geothermal, all the water from glaciers and hot water from springs that warm all the buildings and furnish water for drinking. Very little crime and, outside of Reykjavik, no traffic at all.
Route 1 is the main highway that circles the island and is 2 lanes all the way with not much shoulder. When we were looking at the aurora, we stopped in our lane for 20 minutes and only put on hazards twice whena car passed. The
It is very much like an upscale town expanded into a small country.
Everyone lives near the coast and more than half live in Reykjavik.
The center of the country is unliveable lava fields and glaciers, passable only with 4 wheelers.
Icelanders are civil but not specifically friendly unless they know you.
The language is very, very difficult and sounds nothing like it is spelled.
Icelandic is kept pure of 'loan' words by government committees.
They are intensely proud of their heritage and like the image of being tough and hardy -which they are.
Weather is enormously changeable from sun to wind to rain to snow in a few minutes.
Vatnajokull (Vatna Glacier) is the second largest in area in Europe and the biggest in volume.
We drove as far as the northeast corner of the glacier where the melt water makes a strong river and it calves little icebergs.
Very impressive.
