Iceland self-drive travails

My travel agent worked out the arrangements for me for a wonderful drive to the famous sites of Iceland, June 8-15, 2016. The morning after my arrival in Reykjavik, I was taken to Thrifty Car Rental (www.thrifty.is) to pick up the car I’d be driving ALONE for the entire trip. The rental agent gave me a new, full-size car with automatic transmission and all the bells and whistles.

The 7-day car rental was included in my total trip cost, but I paid an additional $319 for full insurance coverage so if there were any scratches or dents, I could just walk away.

I also was provided with a brand-new GPS unit; the agent made a big show of unwrapping the new device. However, it turned out to have no data or maps stored on it, so it was more of a detriment. It haunted me the whole trip by sending me in circles, wasting my precious time and causing me to miss some important sites.

For example, I manually programmed the car to go to the city of Vik, but the GPS tried to send me to Reykjavik, where I had started from. (It seemed to only be programmed so the car could be returned.)

In deserted areas, I stopped several times when I found people, and they were very helpful, sometimes plugging in local directions for me.

I had lots of paper maps, but it was too difficult to read while driving. The roads I took were narrow, offering few opportunities to pull off to check a map, and there were very few places such as gas stations to stop for instructions. Also, the city names in Iceland are long, with several syllables, so finding locations on a map wasn’t easy.

In addition, the roads were not well marked. 

Another time, I found myself in a gorgeous valley with one road leading me in and out. At the top were glaciers melting into small waterfalls. No one was around to ask, so I still don’t know where I was.

Here’s the lesson I learned: When getting a rental car, make sure the GPS is programmed for the area in which you’ll be driving.

JOYCE BRUCK

Boynton Beach, FL