September winner Cécile Singer
After yet another hard battle for the winner of a free rental car here in Iceland, Cécile Singer came out as the winner with their wonderful on the road in Iceland video. We were curious about her and her friends trip around Iceland so she kindly answered a few questions for us
For how long had you planned your trip to Iceland and who where on the trip with you?
We had planned our trip since April. Marie and I always travel together once a year. We really have the same way to travel so our trips are always amaaaazing !
We also met Florian the “auto stoppeur” on our seventh day ! We became great great friends so he stayed with us for a week !
Tell us the route you chose to drive and how did you come down to exacly that trip?
We had 2 weeks so we did the classical tour : N1 circular road. It was unthinkable for us to do a return trip! But you know , we never plan anything in advance… so we just took a look at the map and “bam” we knew we wanted to drive all around the country !
Why Iceland?
First reason : All our friends who went there told us this country was magnificent with a stunning diversity of scenery !
Second reason : We wanted our trip to be a real “nature therapy” , like you take your plane , drive 20 minutes and there you are : lost into the wild
Finally it was the best place to try for the first time the combination Road trip/Wilderness camping!
It‘s obvious you spent some time editing the video, did you get the idea imediately to do a video or was that something that was born during the trip?
We were really excited by the competition because we thought it was really fun !
Before leaving , we had the idea of doing a video with a funny dance in front of all the great panoramas (like the video “Where the hell is Matt“) but we didn’t know how …
The Great Auk gave us the inspiration for our dance step !!
When you initally was handed over the Great Auk, what was your response?
“Can we have two of them ??!!”
Tell us about the best part of the trip.
There were so many … walks, views, laughs on the road, breakfasts in the middle of nowhere
But one of them was crazy :
We were on the hot spring at Landmannalaugar after a long walk, it was almost dark and we came closer to hear 3 german guys singing in chorus :
Then they told us
-“Ask us if we came by bike”
-“What?”
-“Ask us if we came by bike”
We were suprised : -“Okay… euh … did you came by bike ?”
And then they started to sing-along , like tenors, on an traditional Irish tune ;
-“yo , YO , YO… Yes we came by bike….etc lalalaa ”
It was so unreal and mystic with the mist in the dark !
So we ended up singing with them in the hot spring all night ! It was the best !
Was there anything on the trip around Iceland you ddin‘t like too much?
The whale tour on a speed boat because it was windy and there were no whales and mostly because the guide was very unpleasant…she turned back to the harbour 40 minutes in advance and there were no repayment… ! shocking !
Was there anything that you were suprised to discover here?
Sheeps everywhere, sheeps anywhere !!!!!
If you could do the trip all over again, what would you do differently?
More days to do the northwest fjords ! So we’ll have to come back !
What advise do you have for people coming here to drive around Iceland?
Book a 4X4 ! The best roads and places are just accessible with a 4X4 ! Landmannalaugar, Þórsmörk (Thorsmork) , Hekla…. !
Bring warm clothes and don’t forget your bathing suit !
Try the fish soup at Hellnar , it is the best on earth !
Iceland ->Connect withe nature
Thanks Go iceland Car rental !
Cécile and Co !
Thank you guys for your fun story and again, congratulations for winning the September contest. We look very much forward to seing you again! 🙂
So the October contest have started and we have already getting contributions. Just use your camera, your video recorder, your phone and take pictures of the Great Auk while you drive around Iceland. Maybe YOU will be the winner in October! 🙂 Be safe out there. It’s getting wet and dark there so take your time.
You are in no rush. You are on a holiday! #GoIceland