Mario is 30, unemployed, and currently volunteering on different environmental projects. He is passionate about animal rights and environmentalism. He likes getting out of his comfort zone while traveling, pushing himself towards rough experiences that have taught him a lot about himself. Mario feels the most creative when he’s hiking up in the mountains. You can follow his adventures on Instagram @1derlost.

What Inspired Me To Do The Ring Road

The diversified landscapes and natural elements that one can find all around Iceland. Encircling ice, rock, water, and fire, the ring road is an experience on its own.

How I Planned For The Trip

I booked the flight from Ireland (since it was a cheaper connection) about a month before. My flight to Dublin was less than 50 euros, so I decided to travel to Ireland for a week before catching the plane to Reykjavik. 

I did not book hotels, since my plan was to camp around the Ring Road. Campsites could be fully booked sometimes, so we had to wild camp at times. 

Same with rental cars, since we moved around by hitchhiking. Funnily enough, in one of our many treks around the mountains of Laugavegur, a nice Italian couple offered us to pick up their rental car and return it to civilization at their final trek destination. So we did have a rental car at some point but will elaborate on this later on.

For the trip I packed, a water canteen, sleeping bag, rucksack, mat, winter clothes, trekking clothes, camping stove, cookware, and food (rice, lots of nuts).

Our Itinerary For The Ring Road

We thought it would take us long so we did not plan at all. We would just depend on the kindness of other tourists who gladly picked us up on their way. But we did want to start doing a 4-day trek in Laugavegur, So we started going south from Reykjavik.

We did the whole trip in about 15 days. It can be done in less time, but we wanted to trek a lot. Some say you can do it in one day, but that would be a terrible experience. A week should be fine to enjoy it the most if you have a car!

I Met So Many Travelers On The Trip

I first met Ilana, a young Israeli backpacker, through Couchsurfing in Reykjavik. She was also willing to explore on a budget and we decided to travel together.

We met tons of travelers and locals every single day since we were hitchhiking. People from all over the world. I remember I was picked up by a Chinese family while crossing some rivers on the way to Thorsmörk. The rivers got so deep that they had to turn around and left me stranded in the rain. About half an hour later when I was contemplating crossing the icy waters on foot again, a nice rough Icelandic man with his two teenage boys decided to give me a lift. I ended up spending most of the day with them, on unknown treks that led to secret waterfalls. It was great.