Iceland – 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. 

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 travel bucket 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 Scandinavian Journey Before Iceland

Iceland was the final stop of our Scandinavian road trip in December 2018, after we had already explored Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

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. More story on my Finland blog.

By the time we reached Reykjavík, Iceland, the mood had changed. 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 travel 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 in Iceland

Our Iceland trip was a 7-day road trip around the famous Ring Road, one of the best road trips in the world, 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 travel wish list. Jordan wanted to explore Game of Thrones filming locations while Julius wanted to dive into his geography lesson on tectonic plates at Þingvellir National Park. I wanted James Bond glacier landscapes, and Sunitha wanted the full Dilwale Iceland experience. Waterfalls, black sand 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. 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.

The Northern Lights That Never Came

Every night we waited for the Northern Lights in Iceland. 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 reminded him to be grateful, and promised to take him to Strokkur where the earth suddenly roared, boiling water exploded into the frozen sky, and snow began falling, turning the moment into something almost unreal.

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.

Þingvellir National Park – Walking Between Continents

Julius had one place he really wanted to see: Þingvellir National Park.

For him, this was not just another stop on the Iceland itinerary. 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. For a 9-year-old who loves geography, that was not a small fact. That was a moment.

The Plane Wreck Adventure in Sólheimasandur

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.

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 the effort it took to get there.

Iceland’s Landscapes – A Different World 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, with powerful Atlantic waves crashing against basalt columns.

A few hours later, you are at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, where giant blue icebergs drift silently.

Just across the road is Diamond Beach, where pieces of glacier ice sparkle like crystals on black sand.

Add to that Skógafoss, Seljalandsfoss, the Golden Circle, and Vatnajökull National Park, and Iceland stops feeling like a country. It starts feeling like an entire planet compressed into one island.

We did not see the Northern Lights.
We froze in the wind.
We chased film locations.
We ate hotdogs every single day and with excitements. 

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.

Your Turn

1. If you were planning a trip to Iceland, would you travel in winter for the Northern Lights or summer for the midnight sun?
2. Which Iceland experience excites you the most? Glaciers, black sand beaches, volcanoes, or waterfalls?
3. Would you take a caravan and drive the entire Ring Road?