How We Toured Iceland (On a College Kid Budget)

One request I get often is to write more about mine and Andrew’s international travels. Many friends (and even family members) have asked “how” we do it; “how” do you afford it? “How” do you figure it out? And the like. Well, luckily, it’s not as difficult as it may seem to travel overseas, and in 2016 Andrew and I even took on Iceland (one of our favorite countries) on a college-kid budget.

Traveling on a college-kid budget: how to afford it

The first (and most common) question I receive is: "HOW on earth did you afford it?” Well, luckily, budget airlines are abundant in the modern-era and that drives the largest cost (airfare) down quite considerably. Long story short, skiplagged.com is incredibly cool and shows you multiple flights at once in real-time as prices fluctuate, so you can compare, choose what works best for you, etc. That said, in 2016 our Iceland trip happened thanks to IcelandAir and Skiplagged (where we found round-trip IcelandAir tickets for literally $450 a person!)

Affording the $450, then, was just a matter of scrimping and saving. Andrew and I both worked multiple jobs in college (and, I have to say, we were privileged enough to be covered by scholarships and student loans in terms of living-situations), so saving $450 was a matter of committing to it, and doing basically nothing else until we made Iceland happen. A typical “date night” for Andrew and I was streaming TV on the couch and eating snacks— not going out to restaurants or bars. We rarely went out to eat, and only started doing so after we got our “big-kid” jobs post-college. In college, we saved money by doing nothing, pretty much (lol!) We would content ourselves just taking walks outside and watching TV, because we knew that if we could do even one big trip a year it was worth the scrimping and saving. And, as you can see, it was so worth it.

Hanging out in the popular tourist destination, ‘Blue Lagoon’, in Iceland, 2016. There are tons of less-touristy thermal baths and spas to visit, but for a quick, close-to-the-airport visit this place was great!

Traveling overseas: passports, getting around, etc.

The question I get asked second most often is, “how do I get a passport?” Well, that’s one of the easiest parts! Essentially, your country courthouse handles most of the work after you simply provide the correct documentation. You can follow the instructions here, and it’s pretty straight-forward.

*Note: you cannot book an overseas flight, typically, until you have a valid passport (passport # is usually required upon flight booking.)

The question I get asked third most often? “How do you stay there on the cheap?” Well, that’s almost as simple as booking flights via Skiplagged, and usually the cheapest part of most of our trips! We generally just use AirBNB or VRBO to book our stays, and in Iceland we stayed hella-cheap in a studio-apartment AirBNB in the center of Reykjavik (the capital city and where we branched out from each day as we ventured out.)

I’m talking less than $50 a night, $200 total for our four-night stay. What’s more? We didn’t spend much money eating out. We bought (cheap) groceries, like we would at home, and cooked for ourselves in the AirBNB! We try to make sure our AirBNB or hostel always has at least a kitchenette, that way we can save $$$ on food by simply buying regularly priced groceries and whipping up some budget food in the room. This part especially saves money— you wouldn’t even believe it. Not having to pay to eat out 2-3 times a day makes a WORLD of difference in the travel-budget department.

Last but not least: what do you do when you’re in a foreign country (like Iceland) and how do you get around? Well, luckily, this is also relatively simple and can be done hella cheap. Fortunately for anyone with a valid US Driver’s license, you can usually rent a car and drive legally in other countries. Andrew and I have never had any trouble renting and driving a car with a US driver’s license in a foreign country (when we weren’t relying on public transit, which you can do in larger cities like London, Paris, etc.) and Iceland was no different.

Once we had rented a car, anywhere we couldn’t feasibly walk to became accessible, and walking-to and driving-to most free, outdoor destinations became our trip itinerary! From driving around the Highway One in Iceland (doing part of the “Golden Circle” drive and just taking in the sights: waterfalls, mountains, and geysers, oh my!) to driving out to the edge of Reykjavik to see the Northern Lights and beyond, we spent most of our trip taking in free, natural sights and just enjoying the landscape. We browsed some shops and cafes in the city-center, sure, but that wasn’t the main focus of our budget-conscious trip, and we learned so much about the landscape and Icelandic lifestyle just by driving around and taking in the sights.

So, where are you trying to go? We’ve been all over— from Iceland down to Morocco, from Paris and London to Barcelona and beyond. Let me know where you’d like to go, and I’ll tell you any tips, tricks, etc. we’ve used in the past that might be helpful. Bon voyage!

Xoxo, MM.