What we packed for 8 days in Iceland
When I found out where we were going, I quickly joined a couple of facebook groups of travelers to Iceland and started looking for suggestions. Some I followed, some I did not, and wish that I had! One word is the KEY to packing for Iceland- LAYERS!
The weather, similar to Oklahoma, changes within miles and hours frequently. Most mornings, we woke up in the high 20s or low 30s (F) with a damp fog hanging in the air. Highs were only in the mid to high 30s, and to the surprise of this Oklahoma girl, the wind was way MORE than I bargained for.
Sarah's Packing List
Fleece Lined Leggings – 5 pair
Lightweight Hiking Pants- 2 pair
Heavyweight ski pants- 1 pair
Knit Sweaters – 3
Wool Socks – light weight – 10 pair
Wool Socks, Heavy – 1 pair
Wool Mittens, Wool Gloves and Lined Stocking Cap
Waterproof Puffer Jacket with Hood
Base Layer Top and Bottom
Thin, Long sleeved Tees – 5
Ray's Packing List
Lightweight, Quick Dry hiking pants – 3 pair
Jeans – 4 pair
Long Sleeved Tees- 2
Flannel button up -1
Duluth Trading Button up Sweatshirt, heavy weight
short sleeved Tee- 4
Base Layer top and bottom
Columbia rain jacket
Stocking Cap, gloves
Button Up shirt for nice dinner
What we WISH we had brought:
I had counted on several days of driving in the car, and we didn’t plan on hiking more than 1/2 a mile to any attraction, so I had planned on my fleece leggins being sufficient. They were no match for the freezing cold wind. I ended up borrowing a pair of Ray’s hiking pants over my leggins a couple of times. My ski pants were great for night shooting the aurora where it got really cold, but during the day, were way too sweaty! I wish I had brought a couple pair of jeans and maybe some midweight hiking pants. My mittens got wet on day 2, and really didn’t dry out very well. In retrospect, I wish I had packed some thinsulate waterproof gloves, because in October, all the handrails to everything were damp, and wet wool doesn’t smell the very best. I took a pair of Sperry waterproof insulated boots, which were handy on the whale boat, but were heavy and I could have done without. I did not take hiking boots (didn’t plan on hiking) but a few of the waterfalls had a thin covering of ice and wish I had more traction than my Hoka’s provided.
Ray – I wish I had brought warmer gloves, and I only brought liners.
Gear we brought:
Iceland is a photographer’s dream, and if you’ve followed me at all you know that I’m going to try to take ALL the pictures. The gear I packed includes
- my Nikon D750
- my 600mm Tamron Telephoto,
- My 20mm 1.2 Art Lens
- the stock lens.
- Travel Tripod
- 6 128g camera cards
- 3 charged batteries
- 1 dual battery charger
- EU Plug converters
- waterproof camera cover
- Photographing Iceland Version 1 book
My tripod was ok, but the winds had me missing my SLIK tripod. On another trip, I’ll likely look to rent a slik or heavier tripod once I get in-country, as its really too big to travel with. One one scene, I had to give up a shot because I could not keep the camera still.
