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Iceland Was Made for Time-Lapse Videos

With the threat of winter also comes the drop of tourism to Iceland, unless you enjoy having only several hours of a sunlight each day. In New York, Iceland Tourism is plastering the interior of subway cars with ads attempting to attract travelers to come spot the Northern Lights, but we're not fooled; it's going to be dark and cold the rest of the day too! Thus, in a sort of ode to the change in seasons, we're enjoying this time-lapse video of one traveler's three-month-long driving trip around the country.

In it, there's the standard panning across breathtaking views, but also a few surprises, which causes it to stand out; he time-lapses his own packing (1:05) and setting up his tent waterfall-side (5:00), plus other tourists enjoying the sights (see especially around 2:00 for that).

This may perhaps be the last chance to smile at the beauty of Iceland, since another of the country's volcanoes may erupt and cause what's becoming an annual international travel meltdown. So...yeah. Enjoy!

Big Ash Problems / Volcanoes / Delays / Iceland Travel / Travel News / Weather / Katla / → All Tags

There's Another Iceland Volcano to Worry About This Winter

If you remember back to the not that long ago time known as yesterday, we mentioned how there’s one of those pesky volcanoes causing a little trouble on the bottom half of the earth. Well back up on the top half there might be some problems too, and once again we’re ready to blame Iceland.

At least this year it’ll be a little easier to pronounce and discuss, as the problem child is the Katla volcano. This pesky little sucker is located towards the country’s southern coastline, and unfortunately it’s much larger than the Eyjafjallajokul that we remember so well from last year. Some scientists even think that if Katla gets a little feisty that it could make last year’s ash problems seem small by comparison—oh boy.

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Travel Tweet of the Week: Iceland is for Hipsters

We love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because the day brings many travel tips and quips as "Travel Tuesday" on Twitter, and we're going to share our favorite with you. Got an avid travel twitterer we should follow? Let us know.

And winner of the newest, most creative Twitter account in recent weeks is: @hipstericeland. Seriously, although HipsterIceland doesn't tweet a whole lot, what she (it sounds like she) does deem worthy of putting out there is pure genius. Imagine the stereological hipster...now apply all those traits to an entire country with an already hilarious Twtter feed (@thisisiceland).

Don't believe our praise? Here's a few HipsterIceland gems to demonstrate:

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File Under 'Good to Know': Iron Maiden Has a 757, and the Band's Frontman Flies It

Yes, this airplane totally exists and yes, we feel kinda late to the news since it's actually been tooling around the world since notorious heavy metal band Iron Maiden customized an Astraeus Airlines Boeing 757 in 2008 to fly around on their world tours. It wasn't until this week that we really learned what we were missing, when Lonely Planet's US Editor Robert Reid hopped onboard "Ed Force One" for a tete-a-tete with Iron Maiden frontman (and the plane's Captain) Bruce Dickinson. You can read the first bit of Reid's adventures here.

What the what?! It just seems too awesome to handle. Heavy metal man Dickinson goes from flying high on stage to champion fencer to flying high literally, as a part-time pilot with Astraeus. Iron Maiden is still touring, believe it or not, but Bruce makes time to jet. And—here's the real news—the plane is now on a somewhat regular schedule flying to the US from Iceland, with international low-cost carrier Iceland Express.

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Know Your Erupting Icelandic Volcanoes: Grimsvotn 101

As you're probably already well aware, the Icelandic volcano that blew its top this weekend was one with which we're not yet on cursing terms. It's name is Grímsvötn, and it's not even neighbors with good ol' Eyjafjallajokull.

The good news is that the ash cloud isn't big enough to majorly threaten European air travel such as Eyjaf's did in 2010, and Iceland tourism is about to take off again. The bad news is that the ash cloud already closed Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport for a short period, canceling flights, and it could do the same in a small way to Scotland soon.

Now for the big three things you need to know about the volcanoes: Pronunciation, Location and Identification...

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How to Quickly Check If An Icelandic Volcano is Erupting Right Now

If it can be said that the second half of 2010 belongs to the controversy over full-body scanners, then the first half of the year definitely goes to the flight-cancelling powers of the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano and its resulting ginormous ash cloud. Because this natural event so disrupted air travel for most of March and all of April, the traveling public now has it branded into their minds, so naturally there should be an easy website to quickly check whether or not an Icelandic volcano is erupting right now.

The isanicelandvolcanoerupting.com site comes from the good people at Reykjavik-based budget airline Iceland Express, but it's for everyone.

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Would You Pay $8 to Rent an In-Flight Entertainment Gadget?

When we first saw that low-cost international airline Iceland Express was going to begin service between Orlando and Reykjavik in October, we got pretty curious about what sort of in-flight entertainment they offer for such a lengthy flight, if any.

Imagine our surprise when, while idly flipping through the online version of their duty-free catalog (check that out here), we happened across an ad for exactly what we were looking for—IFE of some sort. Like Alaska Airlines and their little "digEplayer" rental united, Iceland Express has a handheld option available onboard.

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Iceland Express Will Get You from NYC to Europe for $399 Total

Believe it or not, it's already been since the beginning of June that low-cost airline Iceland Express began flying between Newark-Liberty International and Iceland's Reykjavik-Keflavik Airport. The route has done well for them and they're extending the seasonal service through the end of October, as well as throwing in a totally new route—Orlando to Reykjavik—specially for the month of October, but we're guessing it'll return for summer 2011. The Orlando flights begin October 2 and end October 26, chiefly for Icelanders to get a last bit of sun.

If you're looking to squeeze in a last taste of Europe in summer, the airline is also throwing a huge sale on flights from New York to their European mainland destinations. For $399, taxes included, you can get from NYC to Copenhagen (we found $399 for a Sept 6 departure, Sept 13 return), London-Gatwick ($399 for Sept 2 departure, Sept 6 return), and Luxembourg (Sept 1 departure, Sept 9 return). Surf around for more dates, but remember not to try later than October since the airline will leave NYC for the winter.

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The Five Most Humbling Photos of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano's Ash Cloud

Are you trapped far from home due to the massive volcanic ash cloud covering Europe? Relief is on the way, but for now, you can only rest up and prepare for the final slog.

Since we're several days into the mass flight cancellations now, hopefully everyone has realized that this is the eye at the center of the storm. It's the period just after widespread confusion and before flights get back up even to half-power, when a rush on airports and available seats will begin. We suggest understanding what exactly is keeping you grounded, and so we kept our noses to Twitter and news and dug up the Five Most Humbling Photos of the Ash Cloud, just to put things into perspective. Yelling and crying at the airports won't help, because no airplane wants to fly through this.

Check out the snaps, after the jump

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Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano Causes International Flight Delays

We may not know how to correctly pronounce the name of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that just exploded in southern Iceland, but we do know that any volcanic activity in an area with air traffic means potential delays, diversions and worse. And this is exactly what's happening in Iceland now, since the volcano caused a temporary stop to all domestic flights in Iceland yesterday and turned around three Reykjavik-bound flights originating in Boston, Seattle and Orlando. Additionally, flights from Iceland to London, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Frankfurt were cancelled.

Volcanic dust not only subtracts from visibility, but too much dust and ash can clog a plane's engines. leading to engine failure and we don't want to talk about what could happen after that. So if you're heading out for a lovely little spring trip to Iceland soon, be sure to check up on the volcanic forecast and take out whatever trip insurance you can that covers volcanic explosions, and hope for the best. A non-volcanic day is a good day.

Related Stories:
· Air travel to Iceland disrupted by volcano [AJC]
· We Can't Imagine a Worse Flight Delay Reason than Volcanic Eruption [Jaunted]
· Travel Alerts [Jaunted]

[Photo: Garry DeLong]

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Can Iceland Express Save Iceland's Economy?

If you thought that 2009 was the year to grab a cheap package to Iceland in order to take advantage of the country's floundering economy and inexpensive prices because of the pesky bank failure, then just wait until 2010 really gets a move on. Flights to the cold island nation are about to get cheaper, more plentiful and even hipper thanks to LCC airline Iceland Express flooding the country with tourists when they add all sorts of new routes in June.

Currently, Iceland Express flies from Reykjavik to two of London's airports and five other European cities; all routes which truly helped shovel tourists and their money into the country during 2009. Come 2010 though, the LCC will expand like gangbusters! In addition to throwing in another Iceland city (Akureyri) on flights to London and even Copenhagen, the airline is starting direct Reykjavik flights to Newark, Winnipeg, Barcelona, Basel, Frankfurt, Krakow, Luxembourg, Milan, Oslo, Paris and more.

What this means for Iceland's economy, after the jump

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Tsa The Season / Holiday Travel / Celebrating In The Skies / In-Flight Meals / Iceland Travel / Iceland Express / Christmas Travel / Airline News / → All Tags

Celebrating In The Skies: Imps And Vikings On Iceland Express

Welcome to our new feature on the ways that the airlines are making you more comfy and less cranky this holiday travel season—"Celebrating In The Skies." Some airlines just want you to sit down and shut up, but these—thanks to extra treats and smiles—will show you how much they appreciate your flying with them.

Can low cost carrier Iceland Express just hurry up and fly to Newark already? They've already got several Europe routes and Newark won't start until summer 2010, so we're jealous that it'll be only Euros enjoying the magical holiday surprises in store onboard Iceland Express flights this week.

If you are lucky enough to be flying to Iceland for their four daily hours of sunlight at this time of the year, where's what you'll find onboard your flight:

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