Iceland is Our Land: Before You Go to Iceland

Iceland's official language is not English, they don't take the American dollar, and most cell phone plans do not work in Iceland (or are SUPER expensive to activate). So I thought I'd give you a few tips and tricks to save you money and worrying before you head out to Iceland!

• Internet and phone usage. If you have access to an unlocked smart phone, buying a SIM card in the Keflavik airport is the way to go. 1 GB of data cost us 20,000 ISK, which equated to about $18 USD, which was far less than the GPS rental for the week. Waze worked wonderfully in Iceland and helped us find our way from place to place.

• Walkie talkies. We were traveling with a group of 18 people, so communication was at a premium. One of our group members brought four Walkie talkies, one for each rental car, and they were AWESOME to prevent having to buy SIM cards for everyone. Walkies obviously aren't necessary, but if you have more than one car traveling together, they can make your life so much easier.

• Credit cards vs. exchanging cash. Credit cards were accepted literally everywhere we went, so we never even exchanged the first USD for ISK. From gift shops to grocery stores to food stands, chipped credit cards were the gold standard for transactions. That said, you will need a debit card (or some sort of PIN on your credit card) to use the gas pumps at most stations. With the exception of one station, the pumps at most gas stations required a PIN with a card transaction and would not let us simply bypass this step like in America. Seeing as our credit card had no PIN, the pumps kept declining the transaction and we had to use someone else's debit card. Another option would have been to pre-pay inside the station (but keep in mind most of them are NOT open 24-hours), and I believe most chain gas stations had pre-paid gas cards to purchase, though we did not end up using them.

• Food (or lack thereof). Keep an eye on the time for food and plan ahead, as we didn't find a single 24-hour grocery store or restaurant. Most closed by 9, which sounds late, but when it stayed light until 10 or 10:30, we often kept hiking and missed dinner. Stock up at a BONUS early in the trip, because it's way cheaper than any food around! We were sad to find our first BONUS (and see that we paid double the prices at a local grocery store in Laugarvatn) on the very last stop of our trip.

• Respecting the land. Icelandic culture places a very high value on preserving nature, and they consider it disrespectful to ignore posted signs warning visitors not to cross roped areas. That said, many places we went had an open policy when it came to exploring on the land, so you just have to feel it out and note if the signs are meant to warn of potential danger or simply to preserve the land (if the latter, stay off). Also, Iceland's safety standards are obviously lower than the U.S., so it's always up to you to keep yourself safe.

• Emergencies. The emergency number is 112.

• English. Nearly everyone spoke some English, but the locals did seem to appreciate our attempts to use basic Icelandic words, like saying "takk" for thank you. Overall, we didn't feel like the Icelandic natives or the international tourists had a particular liking for Americans, so try to avoid the stereotypes that we are loud and rude and ignore rules (see "respecting the land" above). Also, just FYI, the words "stupid Americans" are cognates in many languages, so it's pretty easy to tell when they're mad at you.

• Gluten free. Eating gluten free can be a challenge in Iceland, particularly when you are stuck eating food from a gas station on long days, but most restaurants at least knew what it was (although they use the word "celiac" to describe a wide array of food intolerances). Some restaurants had marked gluten free dinners, and our local grocery store did carry one option for GF bread. That said, I absolutely did not regret packing a loaf of GF bread from home.

• Drinking the water. Our shower and taps were fed by local hot spring, so all of our water smelled and tastes like eggs. Sulfur water is safe to drink, but we learned to let the cold water run for 3-4 minutes before drinking to make it more palatable.