Renting blankets is more expensive than renting a room.
The incident occurred during a trip to Iceland in late 2025, when Thao Van (from Hanoi) rented a room in the capital Reykjavík through an online booking platform.
She said that Iceland is a country with a high cost of living, so when looking for accommodation, she tried to choose a room that was affordable.
The room she chose cost around 2 million VND per night, was about 10 square meters, and was furnished with a bed, a chair, and a mirror. The interior was quite simple, with not many decorative items.
The room in Reykjavík is approximately 10m² in size, with simple furnishings and no blankets provided for guests (Photo: Provided by the subject ).
However, upon checking in, she was surprised to find there were no blankets on the bed. Initially, Thao Van thought the accommodation hadn’t fully prepared the necessary items, so she messaged the owner to inquire.
“The answer I received stunned me. According to the announcement, if guests wanted to use the blankets, they had to pay an additional 12,000 Icelandic krona, equivalent to nearly 3 million Vietnamese dong at the exchange rate at the time,” Van shared.
This fee surprised her, as the cost of renting a blanket was even higher than the price of a night’s stay. Meanwhile, Iceland has a cold climate, and using a blanket to stay warm while sleeping is a basic need that many people assume will be met when renting a room.
“I’ve traveled to many places and experienced various types of accommodation, but this is the first time I’ve encountered a situation where I had to pay a significant extra fee just to use a blanket in the room,” Thao Van shared.
The female tourist said the weather in Iceland was quite cold. To adapt, she had to wear many layers of thermal clothing even when indoors.
Despite being surprised by the extra charge, Thảo Vân insisted it wasn’t a fraudulent act by the accommodation. After checking the information again, she realized the room name on the booking app included the phrase “BYO,” short for “Bring Your Own,” meaning guests bring their own necessary items.
Thao Van during her nearly two-week trip to Iceland at the end of 2025 (Photo: Provided by the subject).
This term commonly appears in self-catering accommodation models, budget guesthouses, campsites, or vacation cabins, where the establishment does not provide all the amenities of a traditional hotel.
Depending on the regulations of each establishment, guests may have to bring their own blankets, pillows, bed sheets, towels, or personal toiletries. Some establishments still offer rental services for these items at an additional fee.
The exclusion of certain amenities also helps accommodations reduce operating, laundry, and cleaning costs, thereby allowing for lower room rates.
“This is a detail I overlooked when booking online. It’s also a lesson I’ll never forget. I stayed for two nights, and on the second night they only charged me an extra 30% for the blanket,” the female traveler shared.
An unforgettable experience eating shark meat.
Thao Van’s trip to Iceland at the end of 2025 lasted nearly two weeks, taking her through many different regions and offering her many new experiences. One of the things that impressed her most was Iceland’s diverse landscape, from turquoise rivers, majestic waterfalls, volcanoes to black sand beaches and ice-covered lands.
In Iceland, Thao Van had her first opportunity to try hakarl, a traditional local delicacy made from fermented shark.
The fermented shark dish hákarl, a traditional Icelandic delicacy, surprised Thảo Vân with its strong ammonia smell (Photo: Provided by the subject).
“Before tasting it, I had heard warnings about the strong ammonia smell of the dish. However, when I opened the box, I was still shocked by the pungent odor that spread around. The smell was overwhelming and made my eyes sting,” Thao Van described.
Nevertheless, Van decided to try the dish, believing that the initial discomfort might stem from not being used to the flavor. She likened the experience to a foreigner trying Vietnamese shrimp paste for the first time, a dish that might make those unfamiliar with it hesitant.
However, fermented shark meat remains a dish that Thao Van finds difficult to get used to. According to Van, the fish meat is chewy, slightly fatty, and has a distinctive salty taste, but the smell is very strong and lingers on her hands and in her mouth until evening.
Thao Van added that food costs in Iceland are quite expensive. Because restaurants are not common in some areas, tourists often encounter small stalls or food carts along the roadside.
A small crepe at a roadside bakery can cost up to 500,000 VND. A hamburger can also cost over 400,000 VND.
The sandwich costs over 400,000 VND in Iceland (Photo: Provided by the subject).
During the trip, Thao Van also had a memorable aurora hunting experience. She spent many late nights and drove long distances to find areas where she could see the aurora borealis. However, unfavorable weather conditions prevented her from observing this natural phenomenon on several occasions.
On the last night before returning home, the female tourist unexpectedly received information that the aurora borealis had appeared about 10km from her location.
“For two weeks I chased after the aurora borealis. Finally, just before returning home, I got to see it,” Van shared.
After much anticipation, the moment the moving streaks of light appeared in the Icelandic sky amidst the cold night became a memorable conclusion to the nearly two-week exploration journey of this female traveler.