The Country That Feels Like Another Planet
Out of my Top 25 countries, Iceland sits firmly at number one, so it felt right to begin this story here. Not because it was easy, but because it was cinematic.
Long before I landed in Iceland, the country had already been living in my imagination. Hollywood had planted that image in my mind through James Bond’s icy chases, dramatic glacier landscapes, and the kind of raw scenery that makes the world feel almost science fiction. In many ways, it was those James Bond scenes that first made me dream about visiting Iceland.
Some places become famous because of tourism. Iceland became famous because it looks like another planet. Filmmakers quickly realized that if you want to show Mars, a frozen fantasy world, or some distant alien land, Iceland can do the job without trying too hard.
That is why productions like Interstellar, Game of Thrones, Batman Begins, Thor: The Dark World, Prometheus, Oblivion, and Star Wars: Rogue One all found their way here. And once Bollywood arrived, millions of Indian travellers quietly added Iceland to their dream list. Bollywood added its own dream with Shah Rukh Khan walking through glaciers and waterfalls in Dilwale’s Gerua.
But Iceland’s story goes far beyond cinema. Long before drones, film crews, and Instagram reels, Vikings were already exploring these brutal seas, sailing across the North Atlantic with little more than instinct, courage, and wooden ships.
They reached Greenland and even North America nearly 500 years before Columbus, proving that exploration is not a trend here. It is part of Iceland’s identity. Maybe that is why this island never feels like a tourist destination. It feels like a place built for explorers.
The Lost Mumbaikar says
“Some countries impress you. Iceland quietly rearranges how you see the world.”
“The Scandinavian Journey Before Iceland”
Iceland was the final stop of our Scandinavian journey in December 2018, after we had already explored Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. By then, I genuinely believed I understood winter. I was wrong.
Finland welcomed us with reindeers, Christmas magic, and snow-covered silence, followed immediately by my legendary €4,000 RV mistake in Rovaniemi, where I rammed the RV in a parking area while we were out chasing the Northern Lights. The full story deserves its own place in my Finland diary.
The mood was shaken, but travel has a strange way of healing itself. Sweden softened the blow with elegance and warm cafés, Norway stunned us with fjords so dramatic they looked unreal, and Denmark slowed life down with hygge, cinnamon, and calm winter light.
Somewhere between that financial pain and those Nordic roads, I learned something important and passed it on to Julius and Jordan: money lost in travel is temporary, but moments collected in travel stay forever. By the time we reached Reykjavík, the mood had changed.
Then came Iceland. The grand finale. The showstopper.
A country where nature doesn’t just exist — it performs
“A Country That Keeps Changing Its Face”
Within a few kilometres, Iceland changes personalities. One moment you are looking at red Martian-like land, then suddenly black volcanic beaches, then blue icebergs, then green valleys, then mountains wrapped in silk-white snow.
It feels as if someone is quietly switching realities outside your RV window. One moment it is a science-fiction film set, the next it looks like a winter fairytale.
That is what makes Iceland so unforgettable. It does not feel like a normal destination. It feels like a cosmic interruption, something that quietly resets your sense of scale and reminds you how small you are in front of nature.
“The Ring Road Journey”
Our Iceland trip was a 7-day road trip around the famous Ring Road, and for that week our home was a caravan. After the Finland RV disaster, I drove this one with far more humility, caution, and respect.
Each of us had our own Iceland wishlist. Julius wanted Game of Thrones locations, I wanted James Bond glacier landscapes, and Sunitha wanted the full Dilwale mood — waterfalls, black beaches, and the famous DC-3 plane wreck at Sólheimasandur. She even wanted me to pose like SRK near the plane.
The goal was simple: drive, explore, watch the sky, and chase the Northern Lights. The temperature was below zero, the nights were silent, and the conversations inside that caravan often became as memorable as the views outside.
Jordan was 6, Julius was 9, and their imagination became half the trip. During the entire Scandinavian journey, Jordan’s biggest mission had been to prove that Santa Claus really comes from Rovaniemi, so at times I let the boys “navigate” the trip as if they were expedition leaders.
“The Northern Lights That Never Came”
Every night we waited for the Northern Lights. Every night we checked the sky. And every night, nothing happened.
One evening, after sitting inside the caravan for hours, the boys kept peeking out every five minutes as if the sky had personally promised them something. Then Jordan looked outside and said,
“I think the Northern Lights saw our caravan and decided not to come.”
Julius, without missing a beat, added,
“Maybe they come only when you sleep… like Santa.”
That one line said everything.
People say Iceland is dramatic enough to be called a country of contrasts. But according to the boys, it was not a country at all. It was a planet. A moon. A completely different world. And honestly, they were not wrong.
“Julius, Geography, and Þingvellir”
Julius had one place he really wanted to see: Þingvellir National Park. For him, this was not just another stop on the map. It was one of the very few places on Earth where you can actually walk between two tectonic plates.
Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate slowly pull apart by around 2 centimetres every year. So when you stand there, you are standing between two continents — one foot in North America and one in Europe.
For a 9-year-old who loves geography, that was not a small fact. That was a moment. And for me, watching him connect textbook knowledge to the real world made Þingvellir even more special.
“The Plane Wreck Adventure”
Sunitha had her own mission in Iceland: the famous DC-3 plane wreck on Sólheimasandur. Reaching it meant walking nearly 5 kilometres one way across black sand, and then doing the same on the way back.
Doing that in freezing Icelandic wind with little Jordan made the walk feel far bigger than it looked on a map. In fact, it felt more adventurous than some of our mountain walks in Sölden, Austria.
By the time we reached the wreck, the plane looked exactly as dramatic as people describe it. But the real memory was not the wreck itself — it was the freezing wind, the endless walk, and Sunitha leading the mission while the rest of us followed like reluctant soldiers in a romantic Bollywood expedition.
“A Country That Changes Every Few Hours”
Driving through Iceland feels like moving through a series of completely different worlds. One moment you are standing on the black volcanic sands of Reynisfjara Beach near Vík, with powerful Atlantic waves crashing against basalt columns and the legendary Reynisdrangar sea stacks rising from the ocean.
A few hours later, you are at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, where giant blue icebergs drift silently through icy water. Just across the road is Diamond Beach, where pieces of glacier ice wash onto black sand and sparkle like crystals scattered by nature itself.
Add to that the giant waterfalls of Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss, the volcanic landscapes of the Golden Circle, and the icy beauty of Vatnajökull National Park, and Iceland stops feeling like a country. It starts feeling like an entire planet compressed into one island.
“Seven Days That Stayed With Me”
So this was our seven-day Iceland journey in December. We did not see the Northern Lights. We froze in the wind, chased film locations, walked to a plane wreck, drove through volcanic emptiness, and watched the boys turn geography into imagination.
And yet it became one of the finest trips of my life. Because Iceland does not need to give you everything you came for — even what it withholds somehow becomes part of the magic.
This is also why I know I want to return. I have seen Iceland in winter, under snow, silence, and dramatic skies. But I want to come back in summer too, when the valleys turn green, the waterfalls run fuller, and the island shows a completely different face.
In my next Iceland blog, I will share a more practical side of this journey. The 7-day Iceland itinerary, Ring Road stops, best places to visit, and even where to stop for lunch after the Blue Lagoon.
But this first story had to be about something else. It had to be about why Iceland is not just my favourite country.
It is the country that reminded me what travel is supposed to feel like.
“Your Turn”
- If you were planning a trip to Iceland, would you travel in winter for the Northern Lights or summer for the midnight sun?
- Which Iceland experience excites you the most. Glaciers, black sand beaches, volcanoes, or waterfalls?
- Would you take a caravan and drive the entire Ring Road, or explore Iceland slowly from Reykjavík?
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