Sprinter Van Owners

PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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What I notice is if there a lot of people around, I usually hate them.

If I'm in the middle of nowhere and there no humans around, I'm happy to see them.

This happened in Peru but it wasn't humans it was Brazilians.

There is a Brazilian guy who lives around here and he is like a super human. So much a better human than I, in all measures.

I'm just saying.
:roflmao:
Well their entire day is self-care because so few seem to have jobs.

Can we try an analogy? Sprinters are to public parking as Brazzos are to the lineup. (@brukuns I mean no offense) I did have to fight my way through a pack of Brazzos the other day to get waves. One tried to paddle underneath me to get a wave that was clearly mine (Lowers-style) and I went anyway.

If we we all felt as entitled to public resources as Brazzos and Sprinter van owners, it'd be a huge problem.

We had this EXT Sprinter for about 4 years, sold it around 70,000 miles. Retired and go for milk and return 3-4,000 miles later. 16-18 mpg, fully self-contained. Retired from surfing at 65, retired from work at 67. So far, haven’t run over any whiners.View attachment 97756View attachment 97756
Don't get me wrong: sprinter vans are cool I just want to see sprinting dun right and introduce this concept of "other people" to sprinting Millennials.

I had a Millennial friend who went the "rape van conversion" route. He drove all the way to LA County to have the top cut-off and basically an upside-down boat installed on the top. I was always worried about him asphyxiating from the carbon monoxide of his space heater or catching his man bun on fire.
 

r32

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Apr 1, 2005
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Want to get one of these and drive across Alaska, Canada, Nova Scotia and then ship it to Iceland. Seen so many of these on my trips to Iceland, I keep thinking holy sh!t, how do people in Iceland afford these things?

 
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PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Why not get an old Unimog? My friend who used to live in AK says tons of people up there have them.

Icelanders have high per-capita GDP just like the other Nordic countries AFAIK.
 
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r32

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I want to take my sons to iceland next year.

what can you teach me?
Ok, let me try to sum up without writing a book.

Been 3x. Last trip was 8 days and nearly drove around entire island. The only place I didn't cover was the West Fjords northwest of Huna Bay. Ran out of time. I took Highway 1, starting from airport and went counter clockwise. Also split off from '1' many times to drive out to the fjords.

1. First and foremost, for the love of god, make sure you have a PIN number for your credit card. This fvcked me on one of my trips. My CC's don't have pin numbers. Instead, they have usual zip code. But there, you need PIN number or it won't work at gas stations. Then you'll be forced to buy a gas card at an upped rate. Gas is already $8-9 per gallon, so a trip around the entire island will cost you a ton of money in gas, especially if you have to buy the gas cards. If I recall correctly, my last trip where I rented a car, I spent over $600 in gas in 8 days. Each fill up was roughly $110 (for a car!).

2. Don't run out of gas. There are some stretches where you can go a ways before you see the next station. I actually rolled into a gas station one time on empty. It was not a good feeling. This must happen often because at the car rental counter, they have maps that show where all the gas stations are at. Get that map.

3. Consider a sleeper van. I've not tried one yet but saw them all over the island. Very popular choice. You can pretty much pull over anywhere and go to sleep. https://www.kukucampers.is/ You can also AirBnb your way around entire island. Seems like almost everyone there has turned their house into an AirBnB. lol

4. When you rent, get gravel protection. Roads are all made from crushed volcanic sh!t that can rekt the underside of the car, and much of the roads that looked paved on the map are not. They will give you some trumped up bs charge if you do not get this 'protection' insurance.

5. Tell your CC company you will be traveling to Iceland. Make sure they allow purchases in that country. Many CC's auto block foreign countries for security against scams, etc. If you have layover in another country, be sure to tell your CC to allow that country as well.

6. Go during summer solstice and you will get to see the sunset at midnight, and then watch it come up again about 1.5h later. Depending on weather, it can create the most awesome sunset/sunrise/twilight you will ever see in your life. I'll have to dig up some pics of my last trip.

7. Plan for little sleep. The crazy thing is you can pull up at a glacier or waterfall at midnight and you can see everything in the twilight, and there will be other people there too. You can hike at night. You can do everything at night. There are no parking lots closed. Everything is just pull up and there is something spectacular in front of you. I tended to go to sleep around 2am each night, and woke up around 7:30 or 8.

8. Buy food at Nettó: https://rb.gy/pmhqpd Big grocery store with everything and better prices than the airport grocery store (yes they have full on grocery store in the airport). Buy for as many days as possible. Many times I found myself traveling through little towns after everything had closed already, so plan ahead with food.

9. Bring your best rain gear, from head to toe. Weather is insane. It can downpour rain at any moment, and be sunny the next, just like Scotland. It's not cold in summer, but damn you can be soaking wet hiking on the trail. My last trip, I wore board shorts every day, but constantly switched in/out of my rain gear from Walmart, that I got for about $40. Cheap jacket and pants did me as good as $500 setup from Northface but my feet and hands were soaked.

10. See it all. Entire island is mind blowing. Like nothing else I've seen in the world. Sensory overload and almost end-of-world- spiritual in a way. Hard to describe. 7-8 day trip would be ideal. By the time you lay eyes on the 1000th waterfall, you'll be like, ok I guess I can stop saying 'Wow, look at that waterfall!'. I'm not joking, there are over 10,000 waterfalls.

So, how much time do you plan for?

Goddamn, I should just change my name to Rick Muthafuckin Steves.
 
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sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
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San Diego
Your first trip to Iceland will feel like you’re on shrooms. I don’t know any other way to describe the first couple days beyond sensory overload.

I didn’t have issues with the credit card without a pin but that is common in most non-US countries I’ve been to so good to be ready for it.

also, buy a local SIM at the airport duty free. It won’t get more convenient than that almost everywhere on the island i went had signal.

be ready for a paved roads to turn to dirt all of the sudden.

gray midnight is a sight to be seen. dusk lasts forever and you can’t look away. Sleeping pills + eye mask are your friend.
 
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One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
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33.8N - 118.4W
I think this whole discussion is indicative of a kind of a surfer snob thing- anything that becomes popular with the masses (what was Dora's term for them? Uninitiated? ) becomes the object of ridicule, no matter how valid. Even I will trash SUPers, but at the same time, I saw Laird on a big day at Dume on a foil one, just surfing at a whole new level, doing things no one else on a regular board could dream of.

Also, it is a basic human flaw to stereotype. So all Sprinters owners are this and that. They are probably as diverse as surfers themselves. Just so you know how we are stereotyped, my sisters were surprised to learn there were right wing surfers. They thought we are all pot smoking aging or wannabe hippies. Keep that in mind . That's how you are perceived.
 

r32

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Apr 1, 2005
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Your first trip to Iceland will feel like you’re on shrooms. I don’t know any other way to describe the first couple days beyond sensory overload.

I didn’t have issues with the credit card without a pin but that is common in most non-US countries I’ve been to so good to be ready for it.
My last trip a few years ago, most of EU had just switched over to some new security protocol for CC's and it changed everything. All my previous trips to Europe and Iceland I never had a problem.
 

VaB

Michael Peterson status
Nov 14, 2004
3,075
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Virginia Beach, VA
I think this whole discussion is indicative of a kind of a surfer snob thing- anything that becomes popular with the masses (what was Dora's term for them? Uninitiated? ) becomes the object of ridicule, no matter how valid. Even I will trash SUPers, but at the same time, I saw Laird on a big day at Dume on a foil one, just surfing at a whole new level, doing things no one else on a regular board could dream of.

Also, it is a basic human flaw to stereotype. So all Sprinters owners are this and that. They are probably as diverse as surfers themselves. Just so you know how we are stereotyped, my sisters were surprised to learn there were right wing surfers. They thought we are all pot smoking aging or wannabe hippies. Keep that in mind . That's how you are perceived.

It's easy. It's us against them. Sports teams, political parties, even punks. You are an insider or outsider.

We won!!! really you won? Didn't see you out on the field there marge.

I think Neitchze wrote about that and how music and tradition reinforce cult behavior. pretty interesting.
 

sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
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San Diego
My last trip a few years ago, most of EU had just switched over to some new security protocol for CC's and it changed everything. All my previous trips to Europe and Iceland I never had a problem.
Yep. i travel with so much plastic now, just in case. My hard lesson was learned in western aus.

They laughed at me when I told them I sign instead of using a secret pin. At the same time they were on the chip and we were still on magnet strips.

Denmark is getting aggressive with bank cards only, I believe. Visa is no longer everywhere you want it to be.
 
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ghostshaper

Phil Edwards status
Jan 22, 2005
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Want a unimog to drive to the tip of Patagonia. Wife isn't into the idea. She wants to go to Iceland to see the aurora borealis. Renting a Defender 110 would be awesome.

On the way to Alaska, the Canadians were making fun that we still have to insert the chip and sign. Everything there is touch your card to the screen. How are we so far behind? Aren't Visa/MC 'Murican?
 

littlewave

Michael Peterson status
Nov 15, 2009
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Want a unimog to drive to the tip of Patagonia. Wife isn't into the idea. She wants to go to Iceland to see the aurora borealis. Renting a Defender 110 would be awesome.

On the way to Alaska, the Canadians were making fun that we still have to insert the chip and sign. Everything there is touch your card to the screen. How are we so far behind? Aren't Visa/MC 'Murican?
Seems like the tap technology has been popping up more places, but with covid, noticing it almost everywhere now :shrug: