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From One Cold Spot to Another, Icelandair to Seattle
If there's one good thing that's come of the bank collapse in Iceland, it's that Icelandair seems to be putting themselves out there and making the rounds in order to seduce frugal travelers to their hurting homeland. First, we noticed the advertisements popping up on the New York subway, reminding those with wanderlust that Iceland is only five hours away, and now Icelandair is letting more of the west coast in on their action.
Freshly announced yesterday, the news that the airline will add fellow cold climate city Seattle to its list of destinations is great for both ends. Flying four times a week direct from Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport to Seattle-Tacoma Airport, Icelandair will launch their first US west coast route on July 22. Although booking doesn't look to be open for the flights yet, we're hoping that these fares feature into the frequent Iceland specials.
For reference's sake, the press release does give a sample direct roundtrip price of $822 plus taxes. If they were to make inclusive of taxes and throw in a few nights' hotel stay, then we may yet be tempted to personally inject some cash into Iceland's economy.
Related Stories:
· New Seattle Service [Icelandair]
· Is it Icelandair? Seattle to announce new international route [Today in the Sky]
· New Routes Coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: wicho]
Tags: Iceland / Iceland Travel / Icelandair / Budget Travel / Meltdownomics / → All Tags
Iceland Invites You to Take Advantage of its Economic Misfortunes
While pretty much the entire world took a bath in the financial markets last week, few countries got hit harder than Iceland. The elf-filled North Atlantic island saw its currency plummet, its three biggest banks fail, and its stock exchange close due to "unusual market conditions." But while the acute economic meltdown represents one of the biggest challenges the country has faced in generations, it also creates a great opportunity for travelers who had heretofore been dissuaded from visiting Iceland due to its notoriously lofty prices. Better still, rather than viewing opportunistic tourists as vultures swarming over carrion, the nation is welcoming them - and what little cash they have in their pockets - with open arms.
Tags: Summer Travel / Iceland / Iceland Travel / → All Tags
Iceland Travel: Fun in the Summer Sun
If the summer heat has already gotten you down, then why don't you consider a trip to Iceland? Even in the capital of Reykjavik you'll be treated to coolness--expect temperatures in the 50s--as you experience a great deal of urban cleanliness--not to mention the country's green initiatives.
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Who Says Icelandic Museums Aren't Interesting?
If you're one of those travelers who thinks museums are boring, you obviously haven't swung by the Icelandic Phallological Museum, 300 miles northeast of Reykjavik. It's admittedly a bit out of the way, but this is the world's largest collection of phallic specimens.
Wherever you look in this museum, you'll see a penis. They have samples from whales and walruses, hamsters and seals, but as yet, no humans. However:
It should be noted that the museum has also been fortunate enough to receive a legally-certified gift token for a future specimen belonging to Homo Sapiens.
Apparently the guy who gave the gift token is a 93-year-old and a plastic replica is standing in until he's ready to hand over the real thing.
Related Stories:
· Iceland's Penis Museum Pulls in the Crowds [Vagabondish]
· Icelandic Phallological Museum [Official Site]
· Iceland Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Ollie Palmer]
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Concert Travel: Chill the Summer Away in Iceland
You might remember that Robbie Williams is particularly unpopular in Iceland, but they certainly love their own pop stars. Sure, they don't have too many, but the eccentricity of singer Björk alone makes up for that.
If you love Icelandic singers too, you might want to check out a big event on June 28, when Björk and Sigur Rós will play a free outdoor concert for anyone who happens to be in Iceland at the time.
Iceland Express will have extra-cheap flights over the week of the concert, so getting there from other parts of Europe will be easy--and relatively cheap, with return tickets from €195 ($300), all in. If nothing else, spending a summer vacation at an Icelandic pop concert is different from what you did last year.
Related Stories:
· Iceland Express Hates Robbie Williams [Jaunted]
· Iceland Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: Straight Lines]
Tags: Iceland / Iceland Travel / Golf Travel / Golf / Contests / Summer Travel / → All Tags
Arctic Travel: Land of the Midnight Golf
It's less than a month to go until the big Arctic Open Golf Championship so you'd better practice your swing and get used to playing at midnight.
Yep, up in Iceland they like to do things a little differently, and from June 26 to 28 you'll be able to take part in--or be a spectator for--the world's only golf tournament that takes place in the middle of the night, thanks to the almost endless daylight they get in northern Iceland in the summer.
The Akureyri Golf Club is the host for the unusual event, and we're thinking this might be the only time in our lives when we have half a chance to play well: Since the game's held at midnight, maybe our opponents will have trouble too.
Related Stories:
· Arctic Open [Official Site]
· Land of the Midnight Sun [Jaunted]
[Photo: Arctic Open]
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Iceland Express Hates Robbie Williams
Another birthday today, this time for Iceland Express, our favorite Icelandic airline. It's just turned five, and the carrier's got a special offer to entice people to Iceland to celebrate.
If you live in or are traveling through London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Barcelona or Alicante, you can get tickets to Reykjavik for just £53 (around $100). At Iceland Express, you can even book the kind of seat you want--window or aisle, for example--at the same time as you book your ticket.
We've been big fans of this airline ever since the How Do You Like Iceland? blog started giving tips on getting an Icelandic boyfriend. Right now they have a post about being an official Friend of Iceland, an honor so far bestowed upon Harrison Ford, Ryan Philippe and Damon Albarn.
What caught our attention is the fact that Robbie Williams is an Enemy of Iceland, after a scandalous visit when his bodyguards shoved Icelandic journalists and Robbie himself walked out of his own show after twenty minutes because a water bottle had landed on stage. So if you make it to Iceland on the cheap, don't expect to see Robbie there.
Related Stories:
· Iceland Express Impresses [Jaunted]
· We Come From the Land of the Ice and Snow [HDYLI?]
Tags: Jaunted Field Trips / Iceland / Art / → All Tags
Reykjavik: A Photo Essay
Reykjavik is the most populous city (and overall area) in Iceland at 114,800 residents, which is over a third the national population, and probably the easiest place for visitors to relate to. It's also been a magnet for the young as the rural farm life has waned post WWII, and a magnet for national development. Though there are McDonalds' and a major shopping mall (which we avoided like the plague), US brands are not quite as pervasive here as in other countries; a walk down Lagurvedur (the main shopping street) to the city center shows more local shops than international franchises. Reykjavik is definitely a coffee culture, but so far as we saw, the only chains are local, making latte and a kleina a somewhat authentic cultural experience and mercifully affording the opportunity to go several days without seeing a Starbucks (though bizarrely there are a couple of KFCs).
It's easiest for first-time visitors to focus on the city center as downtown Reykjavik is totally walkable. Places you'll want to check out are the Lagurvedur to Austurstraeti stretch (running roughly east-west), Austurvollur Square and Tjornin and its' surrounding area.
Here and here are some views over the Pond at City Hall. Here we see the native pink-footed goose in a bread-related feeding frenzy, and the Icelandic cat, the pink-footed goose's natural predator. Now I wonder whose cat we are making meta-famous.
These are some views of Laekjarkgata, running roughly north to south to the northeast of the Pond. Other sights of note include the Höfði "summit house" and the Viking ship sculpture (off Klapparstigur) both facing the bay on the northern edge of downtown.
Tags: Jaunted Field Trips / Iceland / Art / → All Tags
Icelandic Graffiti
Perhaps surprisingly to Americans, urban Iceland is filled with grafitti. And not just the equivalent of "Ragnar Was Here" scrawled in Sharpie marker; there are creative tags, stickers, cartoons and intricate spraycan piece works. Maybe it's just that our associations are with African American hip-hop culture, "the hood", and visions of densely-populated terminal urban sprawl, all of which are decidedly lacking. It probably shouldn't be a shock, as graffiti is huge in Europe...though other major European cities feature the ethnic ghettos, overpopulation, restlessness and economic uncertainty that Americans associate with "outlaw art."
Grafitti is a common sight in alcoves and alleyways in Reykjavik and on barns and other buildings en route to Keflavik. It often even crops up in odd places on residential buildings. Some of the most interesting "graff" in Reykjavik is in the center city area, off Lagurvedur in passageways, courtyards and parking lots and on the backs of buildings, where sometimes whole walls are covered in murals Brooklyn or Queens style. We were not there for a graffiti phototour, so documentation is sparse, but it's worth a look for hip, ex-tagger types in the city.
We're not sure who we're about to make meta-famous, but one of the more amusing tags we repeatedly came across was this cat. This one was spotted on the side of a building north off Lagurvedur. Here's another at Tjörnin ("the Pond"). Here is an actual Icelandic cat spotted near the tag at Tjörnin. Compare and contrast.
Tags: Jaunted Field Trips / Iceland / YouTube / → All Tags
The Timeless Wonder of the Icelandic Countryside (Part 2)
Here's footage of another natural wonder: Gullfoss ("Golden Falls") waterfall, where the Hvítá river plunges south down a staircase-like drop to a 2 km long canyon. It's been called one of the natural wonders of the world, and is arguably the largest volume falls in Europe.
Unlike more tightly-controlled national parks in other places, you can also get right up to the edge of the falls, walk narrow trails on the edge of the canyon, get soaked by spray and watch rainbows dance over the falls. It's beautiful, breathtaking and invigorating, but as there were no park rangers visible and at points the only barrier between visitors and the falls is a shin-level rope or chain, you need to use your own discretion to avoid mishaps. Too many fences will spoil the natural beauty as well as the process of natural selection.
There are also ravens. A Viking settlement worth it's salt has got to have some ravens.
Tags: Jaunted Field Trips / Iceland / → All Tags
Icelandic Money
Once again we'll scrutinize minutiae for a glimpse into a nation's character: Iceland's currency is the króna (plural krónur), a separate but similar currency to the Danish krone (Iceland was for quite some time a dominion of Denmark). Interestingly Denmark used a loophole in the EU treaty to preserve its' own currency rather than adopt the Euro, whereas Iceland has still not opted to join.
As you can (maybe) see from this poorly shot, lit and focused video, the krónur coins pretty much all have fish on them, a dead giveaway of just how important fishing is to the national economy (see also the "Cod Wars"). Also telling are the one to four "guardian spirits" residing on the flip side, including figures such as giants and bulls, holdovers from the Viking settlement and the so-called Saga Age.
Here's a better image courtesy of Wikipedia.
If you consider the buying power of ISK 100 to be about equivalent to US $1, the exchange rate still stinks on ice at about 73-78 krónur to the dollar. And like other island nations heavily dependent on imports, prices are high. Save your pennies if you plan to visit.
Related Links:
The Central Bank of Iceland
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Things to Do On National Day When You Are Not a National
From what we hear, when it's time to party Icelanders will always party hard. Nowhere is this more evident than the national festival (not to be confused with Iceland's independence day in June) held along with a Bank Holiday on the first weekend of August. The Vestmannæyjar Islands "Þjóðhátíð" festival attracts a huge crowd each year and has also become a rite of passage involving colossal amounts of teenage drunkenness. Other folks go camping, which also allegedly involves colossal amounts of drunkenness.
Coinciding with this year's August Bank Holiday was the Innipúkinn rock festival in Reykjavik, "innipúki" being the term Icelandic moms used to nag kids who preferred to stay inside. Implying "This is for those not wanting to deal with the cold and wet of hitting the countryside."
Headliners featured the US avant-garde of yesteryear, Television and the Throwing Muses, as well as a truckload of Icelandic bands. It looked like there were about twelve performances per day. Iceland, remember, has a pretty sizeable rock scene for a small country, going back to the Sugarcubes/Bjork era, and currently manifest in international sensations like Sigur Ros.
Of course if you're looking for colossal drunkenness, it can also be achieved every Friday and Saturday as young Reykjavik hits the bars on a 12 PM to 5 AM schedule after substantial front-loading. More on that later.
The festival? Yeah, we arrived on the tail end, having already missed Television and experiencing colossal jet lag (not to mention that it took 24 hours to be able to physically locate club Nasa amongst many confusing Icelandic street names) so we decided to forgo the 2600 kr cover. Sorry.
Related Stories:
· Iceland Field Trip [Jaunted]
