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nwhikerWorking with a travel agent: it was great. Would I do it again? I don't know. It fit this trip because of some of the constraints: David working a lot over the past few months, me busy/stressed with my mom, and most importantly a winter trip in a format that was very different from our usual "get car, get out of city" pattern.
Which brings me to my next point: I prefer the flexibility of a road trip. Indeed, as soon as we got to Iceland and got a car, things felt more... comfortable. We were on our own schedule, not tied to trains, buses, or whatever, when I felt like crap, we were able to leave later in the day, something that wasn't possible on the days David felt ickiest. I think an additional thing is that because of it being winter and the amount of cold weather stuff we needed to bring, our bags ended up heavier than we'd like, so that's another thing where having a car or a campervan would have made life a bit easier.
Winter travel: would 100% do again, though, again, the problem with road tripping in the winter! But it was wonderful in many ways. I would get some YakTrax or some such. But this was also not a trip on which we were planning on doing any hiking or even much out-of-city walking, and that was something I definitely missed. BTW, I was very happy that I managed the whole trip without ending up on my ass a single time, since that was a source of concern for me! Anyhow, our gear held up to even the worse cold with one exception, and in most of the photos of me I'm wearing two coats with a rain shell on top. Total Michelin man time!
Gear exception: my cold weather boots. I tried on every single wide width pair I could find, and the pair I bought were the best of the bunch. They felt ok when I wore them inside to do some minimal breaking in, but OMG, one day of walking in Tromso and the night we were walking and standing on snow waiting for the Northern Lights made me realize that no, nope, not happening, they're going back. They fit nicely at the wide part of my foot, but the heel was waaay too big, and after some walking, my socks migrated uncomfortably. They had no give at all, I've worn leather boots before (my regular hiking boots are full leather) and these were beyond that, like flat pieces of 2x4 strapped to my feet. In addition, they weren't even warm enough. Back they go to REI. I hate returning stuff that I've used, but these were just too awful.
Last long trip we took, I was a lot heavier than this time. I was walking regularly then too but losing the weight this year made for a better trip. I cannot fathom how uncomfortable I would have been with two coats and a rain shell at my larger weight, this was bad enough.
Which brings me to my next point: I prefer the flexibility of a road trip. Indeed, as soon as we got to Iceland and got a car, things felt more... comfortable. We were on our own schedule, not tied to trains, buses, or whatever, when I felt like crap, we were able to leave later in the day, something that wasn't possible on the days David felt ickiest. I think an additional thing is that because of it being winter and the amount of cold weather stuff we needed to bring, our bags ended up heavier than we'd like, so that's another thing where having a car or a campervan would have made life a bit easier.
Winter travel: would 100% do again, though, again, the problem with road tripping in the winter! But it was wonderful in many ways. I would get some YakTrax or some such. But this was also not a trip on which we were planning on doing any hiking or even much out-of-city walking, and that was something I definitely missed. BTW, I was very happy that I managed the whole trip without ending up on my ass a single time, since that was a source of concern for me! Anyhow, our gear held up to even the worse cold with one exception, and in most of the photos of me I'm wearing two coats with a rain shell on top. Total Michelin man time!
Gear exception: my cold weather boots. I tried on every single wide width pair I could find, and the pair I bought were the best of the bunch. They felt ok when I wore them inside to do some minimal breaking in, but OMG, one day of walking in Tromso and the night we were walking and standing on snow waiting for the Northern Lights made me realize that no, nope, not happening, they're going back. They fit nicely at the wide part of my foot, but the heel was waaay too big, and after some walking, my socks migrated uncomfortably. They had no give at all, I've worn leather boots before (my regular hiking boots are full leather) and these were beyond that, like flat pieces of 2x4 strapped to my feet. In addition, they weren't even warm enough. Back they go to REI. I hate returning stuff that I've used, but these were just too awful.
Last long trip we took, I was a lot heavier than this time. I was walking regularly then too but losing the weight this year made for a better trip. I cannot fathom how uncomfortable I would have been with two coats and a rain shell at my larger weight, this was bad enough.
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