On an Icelandic road trip without Google Maps

Búðakirkja church is famous as a wedding spot among European Americans because it is midway between the two continents

- Shrenik Avlani

There are 8.2 billion people in the world. Of them, 300,000 are Icelandic, of which very few are photographer-authors with a big social media following. But I got lucky and ran into Gunnar Freyr Gunnarsson, the writer of Stunning Iceland: The Hedonist's Guide, on a far-flung Thai island in March. The next roll of the dice that went my way was Iceland Airwaves Festival announcing Lambrini Girls and Anish Kumar, two upcoming British bands whose music I enjoy, as part of its line-up. So, I landed in Iceland on 7 November all fired up for the festival and met Gunnarsson at Reykjavik's popular bookstore-café Penninn Eymundsson.

The day after Iceland Airwaves Festival's final act—Kumar's high-energy set—my Australian friend and I trudged to a bakery to buy some snacks before collecting our rental car. At the bakery, we ran into a solo traveler, another Aussie, and asked her if she would like to join us for a road trip. After initial hesitation, she said yes. The three of us picked up the car at 10 a.m. and drove east. We were following an itinerary Gunnarsson had given.

After two hours of driving through vast stretches of stunning landscape, we reached the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, where strong winds seemed to forewarn us against visiting the main attraction. We should have paid heed to the warning because once we got there neither of us could resist the temptation of walking behind the waterfall. Of course, neither of us had done any research and were under-prepared. By the time we came back out from under the waterfall, we were soaking wet. We spread our wet shoes and clothes on the car floor and empty seats in the hope that they would dry while I drove barefoot towards the Kvernufoss waterfall.