A photographer tells the story of a last-minute detour to Iceland that turned into a solo multi-day hike with almost no gear, limited food, and no phone. He describes hitchhiking across remote landscapes, camping under a waterfall, crossing a glacier in normal boots, and worrying about getting stranded or falling into hidden ice holes. The conversation mixes humor with genuine tension as the hike becomes a test of improvisation and survival.
"So I was like, oh, I just try and hitchhike. And so the next morning I woke up and just walked out to the main road and started trying to hitchhike."
Hitchhiking means you ask strangers for a ride instead of taking a bus or tour. In places far from towns, it can be unpredictable and you may not know what kind of car or driver you’ll get.
Hitchhiking is relying on passing vehicles for transportation instead of using a scheduled service. In remote areas, it can be risky because you have little control over route, timing, or vehicle condition.
"And we just start driving for an hour and the landscape's changing and all of a sudden pretty remote and middle of nowhere."
When you’re far from towns, help is harder to find and you might not see many cars. If something goes wrong with the ride or the route, it can take a long time to fix.
“Remote” travel changes the risk profile: fewer cars pass, limited cell coverage, and longer distances between help. For vehicles, it also means breakdowns or wrong turns can become serious quickly.
"I told the girl at the restaurant because I didn't have a phone. Told the girl at the restaurant."
If you don’t have a phone, you can’t easily call for help. That’s why it helps to tell someone your plan and agree on what to do if you don’t check in.
Not having a phone (or not having reliable service) directly impacts emergency communication. In remote outdoor travel, this is why people use check-in plans, share locations, and arrange a clear “if I don’t respond, get help” trigger.
"I was like, hey, no one knows where I'm going. Can I can I write my details down and I'll call you in three days time. And if you don't call me, send for help."
They’re basically making a plan for what happens if they don’t show up or can’t contact anyone. It’s a smart safety step for solo trips where you might be out of reach.
The speaker sets up a time-based safety check-in: share details, wait a few days, and escalate to help if there’s no contact. This is a common best practice for solo travel in remote areas where help may be delayed.
Concept
camped under this waterfall
"And then I camped under this waterfall. And I was like, all right, well, I guess I'll start walking in the morning."
Camping under a waterfall means you’re choosing a spot that can be dangerous if conditions change. When you’re far from help, it’s especially important to plan ahead and be ready for unexpected weather or problems.
Camping in a remote, potentially hazardous location changes the risk profile of the trip—weather, visibility, and terrain can turn quickly. For hikers, it’s a reminder that route planning and contingency plans matter as much as the hike itself.
"And then when I went to sleep, I was like, having these thoughts. I'm like, I'm walking into the wilderness. Are there bears here?"
Wilderness means you’re far from towns and people. If something goes wrong, it can take a long time for help to reach you, so you need to be prepared.
“Wilderness” implies limited access to roads, services, and rescue. In solo travel, the key implication is that you must be self-sufficient for navigation, shelter, and risk management because help may not be nearby.
Concept
4WD Podcast
"Right. And so there's a few huts along the way you can stay out for safety and whatever. And yeah, walking along. And then all of a sudden I'm walking across this glacier..."
The show is about 4WD, which is basically about getting traction when roads or trails are slippery. In this story, the “slippery surface” problem is the same kind of challenge—just in a hiking setting instead of a car.
This episode is framed around the idea of 4WD (four-wheel drive) and how traction matters when conditions get extreme. Even though the segment is hiking-focused, the underlying theme is the same: when surfaces are slippery, you need the right grip and strategy to avoid getting stuck or losing control.
Select text to request an explanation
A.C.A.S. powers the world's best podcasts.
Here's a show that we recommend.
If you've ever dreamed of quitting your job to take your side hustle full-time, listen
up.
This is Nikala Matthews-Akome, host of Side Hustle Pro, a podcast that helps you build
and grow from passion project to profitable business.
Every week, you'll hear from guests just like you who wanted to start a business on
the side.
If you can't run a side hustle, you can't run a business.
They share real tips.
And so I started connecting with all these people on LinkedIn and I saw Target's supplier
diversity was having office hours.
Real advice.
Procrastination is the easiest form of resistance.
And the actual strategies they use to turn their side hustle into their main hustle.
Getting back in touch with your tangible cash and sitting down and learning to give your
money a job like it changes something.
Check out Side Hustle Pro every week on your favorite podcast app and YouTube.
ACAST helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
ACAST.com.
ACAST powers the world's best podcast.
Here's a show that we recommend.
Hello, hello, it's Brooke Devard from Naked Beauty.
Join me each week for unfiltered discussion about beauty trends, self-care journeys, wellness
tips, and the products we absolutely love and cannot get enough of.
If you are a skincare obsessive and you spend 20 plus minutes on your skincare routine,
this podcast is for you.
Or if you're a newbie at the beginning of your skincare journey, you'll love this
podcast as well because we go so much deeper than beauty.
I talk to incredible and inspiring people from across industries about their relationship
with beauty.
You'll also hear from skincare experts.
We break down lots of myths in the beauty industry.
If this sounds like your thing, search for Naked Beauty on your podcast app and listen
along.
I hope you'll join us.
ACAST helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
ACAST.com.
Is there a true story behind you almost slipping into a crevasse?
Yeah, I was in London on my way.
I went to London for a month to try and get in that photography game there and I was
on my way to New York and might have been two hours before I left London.
Someone goes, oh, you're flying over Iceland.
Why don't you stop there?
I'm like, that's a good idea.
What's in Iceland?
And so I started researching Iceland and all that kind of stuff.
It definitely wasn't on the map then, wasn't Chris Burkhardt or anyone shooting at doing
all those amazing shots.
And I just I was like, sounds great.
Like, you know, they've been in a place like this.
So talk to the captain.
Yeah, mate.
Yeah, just drop us in Iceland.
Anyway, got to Iceland, had no camping gear, no hiking gear.
I was pretty much just prep for New York.
So the converse is on?
Converse.
Seared, ready models with you.
Call it up the Russians and got there and then someone said, oh, yeah, my brother's actually
living in Iceland.
I was like, sick.
Like, he's like, just hit him up.
He might be able to like borrow, lend you some, you know, hiking gear or whatever, like
sweet, hit him up.
And he's like, uh, I guess you can borrow some stuff.
Like, who the hell are you calling me on a Tuesday night?
And, uh, and they also said that a lot of people in the Reykjavik, which is the capital
there, a lot of people leaving will leave their camp gear if they're not taking it
with them in the campground for other people to use and stuff.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, that's cool.
I grabbed a bunch of stuff from there and then grab whatever I didn't have from my
mate's brother.
And then just was like, OK, cool.
Now I need to get to this hike that I've found on the maps.
And it was like a three day hike and I had nobody get there.
So I was like, oh, I just try and hitchhike.
And so the next morning I woke up and just walked out to the main road and started trying
to hitchhike.
And no one was really speaking any English.
So I was like, you know, uh, I think I was saying like Thors Mork or Paws Thork or something
like that.
And they're like, hmm, yeah.
Yeah.
And we just start driving for an hour and the landscape's changing and all of a sudden
pretty remote and middle of nowhere.
And then he's like, yeah, I'm like, oh, OK, I'm looking around like this is a net.
This is a flat country.
So I jump out.
I guess like he had to turn off somewhere soon.
So I'm standing on the side of the road for an hour and there's all these horses over
there and they've all got full emo hair.
Like it's so funny, a real long, it's probably to keep them warm.
But these two just had this little bit of crosswind coming and I was standing there
straight opposite some horses, long road, nothing else around.
And these two just sitting here like this.
And so I went over there.
I just parted there, parted their hair.
I'm like, it must be emo.
It was like, it was funny at a time.
Funny now.
Yeah, I agree.
Just trying to find the beauty and the small things, you know, waiting for the next car.
And anyway, like about four more trips, four more hitchhikes.
And I finally got to this spot and, you know, I can't blow this insane waterfall.
Never seen anything like it in my life.
I told the girl at the restaurant because I didn't have a phone.
Told the girl at the restaurant.
I was like, hey, no one knows where I'm going.
Can I can I write my details down and I'll call you in three days time.
And if you don't call me, send for help.
And she's like, what do you mean?
I'm like, no, no, you know, just you're now my safety.
You're my best friend.
I'm not doing this.
And anyway, so she's like, OK.
And then I camped under this waterfall.
And I was like, all right, well, I guess I'll start walking in the morning.
And then when I went to sleep, I was like, having these thoughts.
I'm like, I'm walking into the wilderness.
I was like, are there bears here?
I was like, I didn't know.
I hadn't researched if there was bears in Iceland.
I know, in Greenland.
There's polar bears and stuff.
I'm like, shit.
Yeah, great.
Sure. Good research.
Yeah. Anyway, in the morning, day one.
Yeah, help, help, help, help.
In the morning, I walked off and and all I had with me was one packet
of wraps, jar of peanut butter and one little packet of muesli.
Don't ask me why.
It's just all I could get because in the in the supermarket there,
the only other food I could see was like whale.
Oh, and I was like, well, hmm, I'm not going to cook that.
Add that to the plate with your turtle and you've got everything.
Kimberly whale.
And so I started walking and yeah, walking along.
And then at point.
So I knew I was passing over the volcano that erupted in 2012 and you walk
right over the crater because it's all like filled with ash and snow
and everything now. And so you can feel the heat still under your boots.
And it was wild.
And you're walking over all these different kind of landscapes.
And I decided that I wasn't going to do it in one day in three days.
I was going to do it in one because I didn't have enough food
and all of the huts along the way, the trail had officially closed for winter.
And so I was about two weeks after it closed.
Right. And so there's a few huts along the way you can stay out for safety
and whatever. And yeah, walking along.
And then all of a sudden I'm walking across this glacier and it's like super
slippery and I'm just in normal boots.
Shit, like not ready for this.
I've got nothing like to hold myself in and I could see this water going past me
and then into just this black hole and you could just hear it like a waterfall.
And I'm like, all right, no one knows where I am.
I'm trying to walk across this thing.
I'm not going to go back. I have to go forward.
I've still got like a hundred and fifty metres across this glacier.
I'd seen more holes along the way.
I didn't know how thick the ice was.
Pretty stupid, but I was like, I'm here for it.
And then, yeah, at one point I'd slipped and it was like just
just fingers into the ice and just like sliding.
I was like, if I fall in here, like there's it.
I just freeze to death at the bottom or hopefully knock myself out on the way down.
And, yeah, managed to get myself or stop myself from sliding and then get up
and then keep walking across and then just try and like end up finding
the real softer kind of snow to walk on because it had a little bit more group
in the tread. And, yeah, there was a bunch of that.
Jeez. And then I'm getting sweaty.
Yeah, just like imagining that myself for a moment.
Yeah, that is like that's terrifying.
Yeah, and I've never had really had experience with ice or snow
except for Hawaii.
Sorry. On top of a monarchy in on the big islands.
The first time I saw snow.
Oh, right. It's a funny place to see something.
And then you're just slipping down this glacier. Yeah. Wow.
So true. True.
I knew it was true.
I don't know if there was a bit of male on it or not.
And it's not at all.
Yeah, it's pretty wild.
So it's male on there.
A.C.A.S. powers the world's best podcast.
Here's a show that we recommend.
What if you laughed all through your commute?
Or if you heard the funniest story while at the gym?
Well, now you can.
I'm Jameeda Jameel and guests on my new podcast,
Wrong Turns, share their most mortifying and hilarious disaster stories.
I'm talking people like May Martin, Bob the Drag Queen,
Catherine Ryan, Jake Johnson, Margaret Cho, Simon Pegg,
Penn Badgley and so many more.
So listen, wherever you get your podcast, Wrong Turns,
where dignity goes to die.
A.C.A.S.T helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
A.C.A.S. dot com.
A.C.A.S. powers the world's best podcast.
Here's a show that we recommend.
Do you love Beyonce, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Rihanna,
Charlie XCX and Lady Gaga?
I'm DJ Louis the Fourteenth and I host the podcast Pop Pantheon,
where each week, some of the greatest pop music minds from across media
and the Internet join me to deep dive on the careers,
discographies and legacies of all your pop faves before ranking them
in a system of tiers we call the Pop Pantheon from the icons
to the mere superstars all the way down to our most beloved flops.
We are breaking down the world of pop stars with a sharp critical eye
and the passion of an ardent stan.
Whether you're already a pop superfan who just wants to geek out
or a curious outsider looking for a new lens on the soundtrack to our everyday lives,
Pop Pantheon will help you reimagine the work and impact
of some of the most famous musicians on the planet.
Subscribe and listen to Pop Pantheon wherever you get your podcasts.
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
acast.com
Request an explanation for:
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
