Iceland-- What I packed and what I wish I'd packed

Yay Iceland!
I just got back from my trip and it was great.
Iceland is green and outdoorsy and bright and friendly.
I highly recommend you go if you get the chance.

 

This is me at the Thingavellir national park standing in front of the geologic rift! Note that it is cold and raining and I am glad to have my coat and boots.

I'm planning on writing a few posts about what I saw there, but I'll start with what I brought of my own.

In general, I pack light and I think I packed pretty well for this trip. We knew going there that the weather was going to be 40s-50s and that we were going to do some city stuff and some hiking stuff.

When I pack, I always start with the shoes.
I knew I would need boots to walk around town and the countryside in, so I took my Target Katherine engineer boots. I ended up wearing these almost every day.

$59.99 Target Katherine Engineer boots, brown leather
A++ would pack again.

For hiking and more active days, I brought my Saucony sneakers.
For the hot pots and pools, I brought flip flops.
I heard that people really dress up for the weekend bar crawl nights (called "runtur") so I brought walkable 2" red suede heels.
I also brought gray lace ups (kind of like converse) that I thought I might want for town, but I ended up hardly wearing them at all.

Overall, I could have been fine with just the boots and sneakers, and maybe one more pair of ankle boots with heels. I only wore the red heels once and then I realized that not everyone was super dressed up so I wore my boots the other bar nights. People go barefoot in the hot pots, and even in the places we stayed with shared bathrooms, so the flip flops were unnecessary.

The clothes I brought on our 8 night trip were:
-hooded warm gray coat
-thin windbreaker
-open cardigan
-3 tank tops
-3 tee shirts
-3 long sleeved layering shirts
-2 3/4 sleeve sweaters
-fancy shirt
-10 pr socks
-10 undies
-scarf
-one piece bathing suit and bikini
-short gray dress with long sleeves
-2 hats
-pajamas
-leggings
-jeans
-track pants
-workout shirt

Since it was so cold, I mostly used the gray wool coat that you see in the first picture in this post. The windbreaker didn't get much use, but also that probably had to do with the fact that I forgot another cardigan that I was going to bring as a layering piece.
The open cardigan was nice to have, and the long sleeve tees were crucial.
I didn't end up wearing all the tee shirts or tank tops. Instead, I mostly wore the 3/4 sleeve sweaters and the long sleeved tees and the coat.
I wore the dress once but probably didn't need it. I didn't wear the fancy shirt at all.
Instead, I wished I had brought more long sleeved options.

Clothes I'm glad I brought:
-cardigan
-warm coat
-scarf
-long sleeve tees
-extra socks and underwear (we got wet and exercised and showered at weird times of day since it was always light out)
-hiking pants
-exercise top
-one piece bathing suit (teenagers were wearing bikinis but most adult women at the public pools wore one-pieces, so I am glad I brought one)
-hats
-brown boots
-thick hiking socks

Other things I am glad I brought:
-2 cameras, one film and one digital, and extra battery for the digital camera since it did run out.
-Clinique super city block with SPF 40

 $19 Clinique super city block
The sun was shining literally non-stop and it was great to have a one-step lotion to put on block and also feel moisturizing and normal lotion-ish enough to use in the morning.
- ipad. I love this thing and it was so much easier to type on and look at airbnb posts on this than on our little phone screens when we were in a place with wifi.
The app I liked best was "Locals Recommend: Reykjavik" which was free and had videos of people talking about their favorite bars/shops/restaurants.
-Lonely Planet guide

Things I wish I had brought:
-More long sleeve options
-towel (many hot pots had towels for rent, but when we went on our kayaking trip and went to stay some places, they didn't have towels)
-Maybe another pair of jeans/pants (the ones I wore were pretty yucky by the end of the trip since I wore them almost every day)
-Another pair of boots
-crackers and peanut butter--Iceland was not easy as a vegetarian. There were things to eat in Reykjavik, but outside of it, it was mostly fish. And some very bad approximations of pizza.
-ipod and speakers (would have been nice for driving and time in the hotels/apartments)