Thursday, July 23
Travel time: 1 hour (car), 13 hours (ferry)
Distance: 75km
Destination: Seyðisfjörður and beyond
Time to start the long journey home.
It will take four days and cross two time zones, but it’s a more leisurely transition than the stress and sudden wrench of flying from an airport. This is almost a necessity when coming back from somewhere as magical and otherworldly as Iceland, allowing you to reflect, relax and readjust, like deep-sea divers avoiding the bends.
The shipping forecast has warned me that the first part of the journey is going to be more tempestuous than the inbound crossing. We are moving from Southeast Iceland through Faroes to Fair Isle, Viking and South Utsire, names that take me back to nights at university when I’d get ready to sleep by listening to Sailing By on my alarm clock radio. The forecast is “moderate to rough” seas; the captain speaks of four metre high waves as we set out across a deceptively calm fjord. A few hours later the water has become choppy, if not quite rough, and the colour has drained from my younger son’s face. At this point we make a long overdue discovery: the anti-seasickness tablets they sell on board are a miracle cure. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried them in half a century of crossing the North Sea, but within half an hour of taking one my son is reborn, and the rest of the crossing is uneventful. My elder son spends the afternoon watching Supergirl in the on-board cinema. It looks as if he’s going to have his second exclusive screening in a fortnight, but just before the lights go down two other people appear to spoil his solitude. Thankfully the waves die down as we move into the evening and after a buffet supper we sit quietly in the library with a drink, playing card games like Victorian travellers.
It’s challenging to travel to Iceland on a budget, but there are certainly ways to offset some of the expense. If you really want to rough it you can book a couchette on the boat and go round with a tent and a backpack: travellers on foot are allowed to camp on open ground, as long as they move on the next morning. For the middle-aged, middle-class traveller who’s grown used to comfort (i.e. me), it’s still possible to make economies. The ferry prices are quite a bit lower in April and May, when the seas are mostly calm (and the seasickness pills really do work – at around £5 for a pack of 25 they could be your best investment of the whole trip.) You can skip lunch on board and get by on breakfast, the excellent evening buffet and snacks in between; the sea view cabins are only marginally more expensive and come with a fridge. The internet has improved the range of self-catering options and brought down the cost. Independently run holiday homes offer much better value than hotels and holiday parks.
The real sting in Iceland is the cost of dining out. Nobody goes to the country for its cuisine, so my one piece of advice would be to pack as many supplies as you can fit into your car and book a place with good kitchen facilities – though be aware that there are tight restrictions on how much alcohol you can bring in. Petrol is the one thing you will save money on, even taking the road tax into account, so rack up the miles and fill your tank before you leave. With a bit of planning and flexibility, and tolerance of the spring temperatures, Iceland only need be twice as expensive as other European destinations, rather than three or four times, as it is in high summer.
