Safe & Sound

While traveling and exploring Iceland, I never felt unsafe. Unlike other European countries, pickpocketing is uncommon and there isn’t much crime. It was rare when wandering the downtown to see a police car because of the low crime rate; however, we could always call if need be. Same with the university. At Northeastern at least one police car can be seen everywhere you walk, but at Reykjavik University, I didn’t see any in the month I was taking classes there.

Since I felt safe the entire time, most of the safety rules I followed were pretty simple. Whenever I went anywhere: to the university, downtown, going to the bathroom, I consistently went with someone. I always follow the buddy system. Not just worried about myself but I also tried to make sure that no one was left alone. At the hostels, I paid a few extra dollars to get a locker where I could keep my camera, laptop, money, and passport when I didn’t need them. Even though the doors to the hostels locked, some of them had cleaning staff come in to remove the trash and I wanted to make sure that none of my valuables were taken by them. On the weekends, I made sure to only bring the amount of cash that I was willing to spend that night. I only brought cash and my license to make sure that I didn’t spend more. I left the rest in the locker at the hostel. I also didn’t put anything in my back pockets in case a tourist liked to pickpocket.

I usually overpack when I travel. I brought a giant suitcase for a month when I didn’t need it. However, I forced myself to pack lighter on the weekends and in a backpack to limit what I could bring. I learned to not care about wearing the same clothes two days in a row, since everyone else I was traveling did the same thing.

Before arriving in Iceland, I knew I wanted to go out and explore all that the island had to offer, so after meeting the other people in my classes, I found four others who had the same mindset and wanted to do the same things as I did. This made it easy to travel on the weekends instead of just staying in the city. While this separated us five from the rest of the group, I had a great time camping, exploring, and getting to know them. The biggest travel tip I have is to find others that want to do the same things and it will make your trip much more enjoyable!