The best adventures start beyond the familiar.
There are only 50 people who’ll ever be able to say they were here from the start. I’m genuinely honoured that you’re one of them. Welcome to Base Camp.
You're in the Founding Circle.
Snappytappy started simply as a place to share where I’d been and what I’d seen along the way. Over the years it’s taken me further than I ever imagined, to incredible places, unforgettable experiences and more than a few adventures I’ll be talking about for years.
Base Camp is the next part of that journey, and the fact that you’ve chosen to be here right at the beginning means a lot to me.
As one of the Founding Circle, you’re more than one of the first through the door. You get to help shape what comes next. Tell me what you love, what you don’t, what you want to see more of and where you think we should go next. I want this to become something we build together.
If Base Camp does one thing, I hope it inspires you to travel a little further, see somewhere differently, pick up the camera, take the trip you’ve been putting off, or simply discover somewhere you hadn’t thought about before.
There will only ever be fifty people who can say they were here from the very start. You’re one of them, and I couldn’t be happier to have you here.
Welcome to Base Camp.
Your founding benefits
You're one of the first fifty. Here's exactly what your place gets you, now, and for as long as you stay.
Iceland
A whole planet's worth of landscape on one island: waterfalls you can walk behind, black-sand beaches, glaciers meeting the sea, and a sky that never quite goes dark.
Pick your window first
Iceland changes dramatically with the seasons. Decide what you want to experience first, from the midnight sun to the Northern Lights, then plan your trip around the best time to find it.
The land never quite sleeps, and neither will you. Endless light, every road open and the island at its most alive.
- 20+ hours of daylight, soft light near midnight
- Highlands & F-roads open for the 4×4 routes
- Puffins on the cliffs through to August
- The warmest, driest weather of the year
- No true darkness, so no aurora, and peak prices
The quiet middle ground, when the crowds thin, prices dip and the light turns cinematic.
- Fewer people and lower prices than peak summer
- Autumn colour, or the first fresh snow
- The aurora returns from late August
- Most roads still open and easy to drive
- Weather is a gamble, but the light is superb
Short days, long nights and the island at its most dramatic. This is the aurora season.
- Northern Lights on clear, dark nights
- Blue ice caves you can walk inside
- Snow-blanketed, empty landscapes
- Only 4–5 hours of usable daylight midwinter
- Highland roads shut; storms can close Route 1
My 14 days around the Ring Road
I spent 14 days driving Iceland's Route 1 in the depths of winter, from Snæfellsnes and the frozen north to the wild Eastern Fjords and South Coast. Here's the route I took, the places I wouldn't miss and what I learned along the way.
Same clockwise loop, just trimmed of the slow days, so you drive more and linger less.
The stops, in detail
The eight I'd build a trip around, roughly in Ring-Road order. What each one is, what it costs and the thing most people get wrong.
What the trip really costs
Iceland's reputation for being expensive is earned, but a camper and a supermarket shop change the maths completely. Figures are per person for two sharing a campervan, unless marked per van. Switch between a week and my full fortnight below.
Indicative 2026 prices. Iceland costs vary significantly by season, exchange rate and how early you book.
How to travel Iceland
Almost everything worth stopping for sits just off the Ring Road, which makes Iceland one of the easiest countries anywhere to explore under your own steam.
I rented the Easy Viking from CampEasy, and having a warm bed, a kitchen and a heater with me the whole way changed everything. I could park up beside a waterfall, cook dinner with a glacier in the window, and wake up right where I wanted to shoot at first light.
What to pack
The weather turns in minutes, so you dress for four seasons in a day. Here's what actually earns its place in the bag, whatever the month.
- Waterproof shell jacket & trousers
- Insulating mid-layer (fleece or down)
- Merino base layers, top & bottom
- Warm hat, gloves & thick socks
- Waterproof hiking boots
- Swimwear & a quick-dry towel
- A sturdy, wind-steady tripod
- ND & polarising filters
- Spare batteries (cold drains them)
- Lens cloths & a rain cover
- Head torch & a power bank
- Type F plug adapter (230V)
- PIN-enabled card for fuel pumps
- Offline maps & the safetravel.is app
- Refillable bottle (the tap water is superb)
- A small daypack for day hikes
- Winter: hand warmers & ice grips
- Summer: an eye mask for the midnight sun
The photographer's playbook
Every shot in this dispatch was taken on an iPhone and a drone. No spare lenses, no tripod. This is how I come home with the shots, not just the memory of them.
Things I wish I'd known
The small, practical lessons no guidebook leads with, learned the hard way. Read these first, so your opening days aren't the ones you spend working them out.
What I'd skip
The honest half of a good briefing. Where the hype outruns the reality, and what to do instead.
The plan-ahead timeline
Iceland's best campers, tours and flights sell out months ahead, especially for summer and aurora season. Here's roughly when to lock each thing in.
Six feeds worth following
The Instagram feeds I turn to for Iceland: photographers and locals whose work maps out the best routes, the landmarks worth the detour, and the kind of light that has you booking flights before you've finished scrolling.
14 days in Iceland, chasing the aurora…
Fourteen days, clockwise around the Ring Road in the dead of winter, in a CampEasy 4×4. Snæfellsnes to the frozen north, the empty Eastern Fjords, and a South Coast of seven waterfalls in a single day.
This briefing gives you the shape of the trip. The journal is the whole story, in my own words: the days that didn't go to plan, the roads that nearly beat us, and the quiet moments under the aurora that made every frozen morning worth it. Come and travel Route 1 with me, one day at a time.
Read the full journal
One frame, one story.
I’d waited a year for this shot. After rupturing my Achilles, I had to postpone Norway altogether, so finally standing on the edge of Trolltunga felt like much more than reaching another viewpoint.
Getting there meant a two-day adventure through the fjords, including my first Via Ferrata, three hours of climbing and a final hike to the rock itself. We were incredibly lucky with the weather and spent a few hours at the top making the most of it.
Standing out on that ledge, with nothing but the fjord and mountains stretching out behind me, was one of those travel moments I’ll never forget.
Trolltunga · NorwayTaking your drone abroad
A recurring Base Camp resource. No. 01: everything I check before I fly in another country.
Flying a drone at home is easy. Flying one abroad is where people get caught out, kit confiscated at customs, a fine, or a spectacular location you legally can't touch. This is the checklist I run before every trip, in the order I actually do it.
- Check the country's drone laws first, not last. Rules vary wildly and change fast. Some countries ban drones outright, some need a permit, some are fine. Confirm it before you build a trip around aerial shots.
- Registration & pilot ID. Check whether the country needs your drone registered or you licensed to fly it, and whether your home registration counts for anything there.
- Insurance & battery rules. Confirm your cover works abroad, and remember LiPo batteries fly in your carry-on, never checked, within the Wh limit your airline sets.
- Charged batteries (carry-on), plenty of SD cards formatted before you leave, and ND filters for bright snow, water and long-exposure waterfalls.
- Ask for landowner or on-site permission. A quick ask is often the difference between getting the shot and getting moved on.
- Check wind & take-off spots. Wind, cold and terrain change how the drone flies and where you can safely launch and land, often more than the law does. Cold coastal gusts, or wind screaming off a glacier, will ground you faster than any rulebook. In Iceland, the wind was the thing that stopped me flying, not the regulations.
25 essential travel apps we can't live without.
The maps, tools and photo apps that actually earn a place on the home screen. Downloaded, tested and trusted on the road, and yours to keep as a founding member.
- My Top 5
- Maps & getting around
- Flights & stays
- Connectivity & language
- Money & itineraries
- Camera & editing
- Weather & outdoors
Where I'm heading next
Base Camp is here to help you find the next place worth going, plan it with a little more confidence and get more from it when you’re there.
Each Dispatch will bring together first-hand travel, routes you can actually use, places worth the detour, photography and drone advice, useful finds and the lessons I wish I’d known before I went.
And as a Founding Circle member, I want you to help shape what comes next. Tell me where you’re thinking of going, what you’d find genuinely useful or what you’d like me to dig into for a future Dispatch.
There’s a lot more to come. I hope some of it takes you somewhere you never expected to go.
Help shape what comes next.
Base Camp should be shaped by the people who actually use it, so I’d love to know what you want to see more of.
I read every reply, and your ideas will help shape what appears in future Dispatches.