So how much in total did my Iceland trip cost?
I'm a little nervous to add everything up because there's always the amount you expect
to spend, and there's all the little things. It's always the little things.
But let's find out.
I actually made a completely separate video covering all the different things I did in case you're
wondering what this trip and budget entails.
The link for that is in the description.
So I live in East Los Angeles, if you have some friends that you can bribe into taking
you to the airport, then you can exclude this price.
Unfortunately, I have no friends, so that wasn't really an option for me, I just, unfortunately,
like none of my friends are, not real friends.
So our flight we booked about 2 months in advance, and it was $339.98 per person.
So if you think about it, that's only about $170, one way, to go really far!
This was with WOW!
Airlines.
Before going in I thought WOW!
Airlines was going to be absolutely terrible and the plane's going to be powered off rubber
bands, but it actually, it was fine.
So in the flight, you have to buy your own food, buy your own water, when I was looking,
WOW!
Airlines was like half the price of everyone else, so what do you expect, right?
The one thing is that WOW!
Airlines only includes one backpack.
So you'll probably need to have at least one check-in item.
Between the two of us, we could have probably just shared one check-in item, but we both
just kind of overpacked.
So for two pieces of luggage, round trip was $283.96.
Oh yeah, and in the flight we spent about $18 in water and snacks.
Someone needs new breaks, can you hear that?
So I'm calculating everything out in US dollars.
I flew into Keflavik airport and that's where I made my first big mistake: If you like to
drink, like I do, buy alcohol before you leave the airport!
As you're leaving the airport, you're going to pass through this big store, and that is
your last chance to get alcohol at a decent price.
Iceland has a lot of weird restrictions on alcohol and at a grocery store you can only
get beer that's 2.25% alcohol.
Anything past that needs to be purchased at a bar, restaurant or liquor store.
These liquor stores are owned by the government and they have really restrictive hours, especially
if you're out all day exploring Iceland.
Here are some prices of liquor at a liquor store.
After being shocked at the liquor prices, I went and looked over at the beer and was
like, "Oh, this isn't so bad!"
Then I realized these prices are for individual beers, not 6 packs.
It's a little strange how Icelandic beer is way cheaper in Los Angeles than it is in Iceland.
Like this is how much it is for Smirnoff, like the, you know the budget vodka.
What the f#%*! Drinking at bars is also kind of pricey but, I guess it's a little bit more
reasonable because you're at a bar.
By the way the legal drinking age is 20 there and the legal B.A.C. to drive is 0.05, compared
to the 0.08 here, so be extra responsible.
By the way, for all the bars we went to we spent a combined $105.23.
So I got my rental car from Lagoon Car Rentals, but they're not actually in the airport, you
have to take a shuttle after you arrive and it's about a 5 minute drive from the airport.
Four wheel drive will raise the price of your rental a little bit and a stick shift will
lower the price a little bit.
So what I got was kind of in the middle, not the cheapest, not the most expensive, they
actually talked me into getting gravel protection, which I probably didn't need.
I was this close to putting gas into my rental car, because nobody told me it was a diesel,
because there diesel is so common, they just like, assume that you might figure it out.
And if you take gas and put it into a diesel car, that can really f*%# %!^@$%^@. $17 in
bridge tolls, the only toll that I encountered was going north in this little area here.
I think they actually go underwater.
We booked an Airbnb just right outside of downtown Reykjavík, and that was about $100
a night.
My habit every time I go to a new country, the first thing I do is go straight to an
ATM and pull out some cash.
Every little restaurant, every food stand, bridge toll, everything, they all took card.
You might just wanna pull out a little bit, just in case, but you most likely won't need
it.
One thing that's interesting that I encountered was that some of the gas stations require
a PIN number for your credit card.
So you might want to call your credit card company about that to figure out what number
that is.
Personally I use Capital One credit cards every time I travel because they don't have
any foreign transaction fees and I think they're pretty good.
Now I'm not sponsored to say this, but Capital One, if you're listening, I always hear that
I highly resemble Samuel L Jackson.
You're probably confused by now, at which one is the real Samuel L Jackson, well, that's
Samuel L Jackson, call me Capital One! By the way you can completely get by by only speaking
English there.
Most of the time we just ate out wherever we wanted to eat.
We're not really fancy people, so we didn't really go to like, the high-end places, but
most of the meals are anywhere from $30-55 for both of us.
Occasionally we'd go to this store called Hagkaup, or however you say it.
And that kinda seemed like the local big chain grocery store there.
But if you're trying to stay really on a tight budget, you can go to Bonus.
They're also like a chain grocery store, but everything seems to be a little bit cheaper.
I don't know how much I approve of their logo design..
But from what I saw, that seemed to be the cheapest way to get food.
Also the tap water is really good in Iceland, so don't buy bottle water, just drink straight
from the sink.
Although there is salt from the water, so it's going to smell a little bit.
My least favorite part was probably showering, because the water smells so bad that I just
like..
But it's clean though, I guess.
We didn't end up booking any of the tours, but I really wish we did, because some pictures
of people ice caving and snowmobiling looked really awesome.
The tours definitely take you to a lot of places you definitely can't get to with a
car.
You need a massive zombie apocalypse van that has 50 inch tires and has gun turrets on the
front.
So Blue Lagoon was $161.64 for the both of us, pretty good.
We also spent $58.07 on gifts.
But realistically, it was more gifts for myself, like this Icelandic vodka.
"This is traditionally distilled and filtered through ancient arctic lava rocks."
I really don't know what that means, but that sounds so cool.
I was actually there for 5 nights and didn't get to see the Northern Lights.
So hopefully when you guys go you see it, but there's just no guarantees.
One thing you could to do raise your chances of seeing it, is to book a seat on the plane
that's facing north on your way there or on your way out, because then at least you're
over the clouds, so that's not going to be as much of a factor.
There are some websites out there that have like a three day forecast on how likely you
are to see the Northern Lights.
Another website you should definitely check out is a site called Mustsee.is, it's a pretty
cool and informative locals guide to Iceland.
Like this is kind of cool, must see for Game of Throne fans!
How to drink in Iceland on a Budget, Iceland is the only country in Europe that bans strip
clubs..well..
And if you look here, oh what's this?
My drone footage made it on the page!
I'm kind of a big deal, like first this, then next I'm expecting a call from Capital One...just
uhh, any minute now..Just Capital One..come on..
And if your on Reddit, check out VisitingIceland, comes with super helpful people there and
lots of information.
Oh, and I'm on Verizon, so for my international plan it cost me $10 a day to use as much as
I want.
My friend has T-Mobile, so for her it's free, but the internet is kind of slow, I still
prefer my Verizon.
So with all in mind, it was a total of $1,549.45 per person.
Totally worth it.
Anyways, hopefully this information was helpful in budgeting out your trip, if you're going
to Iceland, you're going to have a blast, thanks for watching!