One week left…

When I planned this trip, I suspected that, no matter how many weeks I put aside for it, I would most likely start wishing I could just turn around and head home about a week before schedule.

That’s probably true even if I had only set aside a single week!

Now I have a week to go and, honestly, if I could head home today I would do it.

Luckily (or not), the ferry only sails on certain days, and changing my ticket, even if I could, would require extra payment, and that’s enough incentive for me to tough it out.

Although I’ve done laundry several times on this trip, each time has presented annoyances and difficulties. I’d rather not do so again, but I will run out of clean underwear and socks on my last day, which means I need 2 or 3 more of each to make it home (it’s a 2 day ferry trip).

Therefore, I am currently sitting in a mall in Reykjavik (I had to backtrack an hour this morning to get back… I had completely skipped the city otherwise). My plan is to buy extra socks and underwear to get me home without additional laundry ordeals.

I’ve already found what I will buy, but I’m enjoying sitting in a comfy chair in a mall “rest area”.

Taking stock, I can say the trip has been very close to what I had expected. I’ve seen some beautiful locations (as the pictures I’ve shared attest). My driving plan has held up well to reality. I’ve done well to find roads with few other cars and held my driving to under 200km per day most days.

Another of my nerdy graphs

The last few days my driving figures have increased, despite, or maybe because of the nice weather.

I see my car as a bit like a sailboat. I’ve never felt drawn to sailing, but the few sailboats I’ve been on are quite small and cramped, and everything must have its place to utilize space efficiently. I’ve arranged Mai to work effectively with the amount of space available. So I actually enjoy spending time in the car when the weather outside is uninviting and I have no other options.

The main problem has been that sitting in the car for too many hours a day, either while driving or entertaining myself, is hard on my back. The seats and space are comfortable, but don’t have optimal ergonomics. Sleeping helps, as I’m finally able to relax my back, but I can obviously only sleep for so many hours in a day.

Finding a mall where I could stand, walk, and sit comfortably while not being exposed to the Icelandic wind, rain, and bugs is a nice break.

Perhaps the only other issue is that I find myself feeling like an outsider. I wondered if I would see other people sleeping in electric cars.

Nope.

One camp site manager claimed that she had once seen a woman who slept in her Tesla, but I have yet to come across anyone personally.

Sometimes people in huge campers park about a foot away from my door when I’m already parked at a camp site, assuming that this car must belong to someone with a trailer and is therefore empty. I’ve overheard confused conversations when I’m in the car with my privacy shields on my windows.

Last night, the manager ignored the car while doing rounds to collect payment until quite late, and admitted that it had not occurred to him that anyone would sleep in it.

Another time, a manager complained that where I was parked was not for charging electric cars but was for campers. I told her I would be sleeping at the campsite, would like to pay for electricity, and asked where should I park, and she was confused for a moment, then just took my payment and left.

Luckily, most camp sites have been fine with me staying and plugging in, and the few people I’ve explained how it works (that I have a full bed and I’m not sleeping in the driver’s seat), have actually seemed quite impressed with the idea. I just find myself wondering what the reaction is going to be each night.

I’m now driving through a part of Iceland that gets a lot of tourists, and I’m doing my best to find infrequently travelled back roads. The next few days I will mostly drive through the most popular areas (which I have already seen) to avoid the big crowds of tourists. Then I’ll spend my last few days in the south eastern part of Iceland, within a day’s drive from the ferry terminal. That part seems less crowded in general.

As with all good vacations, however, this has helped me to appreciate home.