Nov 4th, 2009 at 2:30PM: I'm kind of obsessed with Iceland. Ask me about the country and get ready to endure my lengthy soliloquy on why I love it so much. It's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that even as I travel to more destinations, I'll always consider it so.
Drive a few minutes away from Reykjavik and you'll see mountains topped with snow, former lava ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Iceland posts
Iceland Express will offer low-cost flights from Newark to Reykjavik
Nov 4th, 2009 at 2:30PM: I'm kind of obsessed with Iceland. Ask me about the country and get ready to endure my lengthy soliloquy on why I love it so much. It's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that even as I travel to more destinations, I'll always consider it so.
Drive a few minutes away from Reykjavik and you'll see mountains topped with snow, former lava ...Iceland ditches McDonald's
Oct 27th, 2009 at 8:00AM: It's been a tough year for Iceland. Thanks to foreign money, crazy lending and borrowing practices and a real estate bubble that amazed the world as it grew and when it popped, the small northern country has suffered severely through the global financial crisis ... which was predicted by a walking tour guide prophetic viking. Now, a year after Iceland went bankrupt, it's losing something else ...Photo of the day (8-27-09)
Aug 27th, 2009 at 8:00PM: I've always wanted to visit Iceland, and this picture from LoriGoldberg only adds to the temptation. She captures a geothermal area with boiling mudpools and steaming fumaroles called Námafjall in the northern part of Iceland. Thanks for sharing this with us, Lori! Nice shot. Are you a Flickr user who'd like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to ...Gadlinks for Monday 8.24.09
Aug 24th, 2009 at 5:00PM: One of summer´s last weekends has come and gone. Enjoy the warm sun while it lasts! ... and take some time to enjoy these travel tales as well.
What´s more fitting when visiting tragically romantic Italy than catching a great opera -- or a opera festival! The Verona Opera Festival ends August 30! (via Intelligent Travel)
I love sweets and I love the idea of Iceland sweets. ...Tourism helping Iceland weather their perfect storm
Aug 22nd, 2009 at 12:00PM: If you think the recession in the US has been dreadful, I recommend reading up on how Iceland has been coping. This nation of just 320,000 people let its banks pull the country into a total financial disaster. Their three national banks had debt equaling over three times the countries gross domestic product. Their government collapsed, their currency lost a third of its value, they had to take ...Travel sans visa coming for European, Caribbean, Mauritius, and Seychelles nationals
Feb 13th, 2009 at 2:00PM: A mutual agreement allowing Europeans, nationals from four Caribbean countries, and citizens of two island nations in the Indian Ocean is expected to be passed and approved by the end of March, which will allow for hassle-free and smoother travel. If you hold a passport from any of the following countries, it means you're that much more free to travel between those listed sans visa: Austria, ...Tour the world's vandalism
Feb 9th, 2009 at 9:00AM: Eyesore or art, graffiti is part of any culture's public dialogue. Vandalism is visual profanity, and we all swear in our own f---ing ways. I've been drawn to these wall scrawls for a while, probably since I read Holden Caulfield's concerns about the subject in Catcher in the Rye. My fascination gained momentum while I was stationed in South Korea. A soldiers' bar in Tong Du Chon (the Peace Club, ...International Value Destinations
Jan 17th, 2009 at 8:30AM: USAToday has put together an interesting list of 10 great international places to go for a value on your vacation. These places were specifically picked to allow us to get more bang for our buck when traveling abroad this year, something that seems to be on every traveler's mind at the moment. The list of locations really does span the globe, and there is something for everyone on the list. Want ...Keep busy with 44 travel ideas
Jan 10th, 2009 at 2:00PM: If the entire world is too much from which to choose, take a look at The 44 Places to Go in 2009 suggested by the New York Times. Some are obvious, such as Reykjavik, which was been on everyone's mind 2008. Others are easy, including Washington D.C. Our nation's capital has plenty of hotels (including the funky Hotel Helix, photo at right), great public transportation and access via two major ...Iceland by the numbers
Jan 4th, 2009 at 1:30PM: After reading Brenda Yun's piece on Iceland (the most recent Photo of the Day), memories of the Blue Lagoon's warm waters rushed back to me ... as it did yesterday, when I saw Slate's coverage of the country's economic collapse. When I came home from Iceland back in June, I joked that its population was roughly the size of my neighborhood's. Thanks to Slate, I have confirmation. Thanks to Nathan ...Photo of the Day (1.3.09)
Jan 3rd, 2009 at 5:00PM:
Iceland may sound a bit cold to you, but this photo says the complete opposite to me! I have long dreamed of bathing in the healing waters of the Blue Lagoon (pictured here), but will likely wait until it's a bit warmer to venture north. With its economy in shambles, it is a great time to visit this country. This and many other fabulous photos from around the world comes to you from t3mujin. If ...Iceland with a prophetic viking
Dec 17th, 2008 at 2:00PM: If you're going to walk around Reykjavik, Iceland, do it with Jonas Thorsteinsson. A guide on the GoEcco walking tour of the city, he knows more than which Viking killed who, where and how. In fact, the only word to describe Thorsteinsson is "prophetic."
I took his free walking tour backing June. The most insightful moment came when Thorsteinsson showed us one of Reykjavik's oldest houses, which ...Weekly Euro watch: we're still making ground
So what's up with Iceland's 'national bankruptcy'? A possible explanation
Nov 4th, 2008 at 10:30AM: Hidden far away in the North Atlantic, Iceland may seem like one of the last outposts for globalization to reach. One economist stressed that a century ago, Iceland was essentially Ghana in terms of economic development. And even as late as the 1970s, Iceland still remained one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, with a major portion of its economy reliant on fishing. Yet today, Iceland ...November Iceland roadtrip: "You're an idiot"
Oct 29th, 2008 at 2:00PM: A lot of foreigners are taking advantage of the ridiculously depreciated Icelandic krona and flying there this winter. Which is a bit weird because it's Iceland. And winter. As one Icelandic native said to me, "The nation is surviving right now on foreign journalists and tourists." I'm in the middle of figuring out the logistics of my trip. My top priority is booking a rental car and hopefully ...Iceland on the cheap: Am I the worst person in the world?
Oct 16th, 2008 at 9:30AM: So I just took advantage of Grant's tipoff last week to $400 roundtrip airfare to Iceland. I'm flying out of Boston the weekend before Thanksgiving, and staying for a week. And I believe my flight came out to something like $550, not bad at all for a departure on Saturday and return on Sunday. Now I'm trying to scoop up some dirt-cheap hotel rooms, a rental car, and hmm, maybe a mid-sized bank ...Iceland's economy turns away from finance to ---- tourism!
Oct 9th, 2008 at 5:00PM: With the financial sector steadily imploding, Iceland is in a bit of trouble. As Aaron wrote about earlier this week, much of the Atlantic island's economy was built upon credit and finance, and now that those industries are failing, the country needs extra income to keep up its highbrow status. And where else can you quickly reap foreign investment but in tourism? Iceland Air, long one of the ...What do they call John Doe in Iceland?
Mar 13th, 2008 at 8:40AM: In the US legal system, parties who wish to remain anonymous or are otherwise unidentified are often given the names "John Doe" or "Jane Doe." Other titles, like "Average Joe" or "Joe Sixpack" or "John Q. Public," are used when referring to the typical American man, and some names, like "Bobby Teenager," are used only in very specific circumstances. [A million bonus points if you know where that ...Woman held in shackles at JFK for overstaying visa
Dec 17th, 2007 at 4:12PM: Officials at JFK might have some 'splaining to do after they shackled a detained an Icelandic tourist for days -- all because she had overstayed her tourist visa 10 years ago. Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, is not happy about the treatment she received upon arriving at JFK -- she's even called the experience the most humiliating of her life. Lillendahl was arrested at JFK and interrogated ...Icelandic Teen pranks the White House
Dec 13th, 2007 at 5:47PM: How's this for wacky news: An Icelandic teenager managed to convince several officials that he was the president of Iceland, and even was scheduled for a call with George W. Bush on December 1 until he was found out at the last moment, as this recent article reports. The boy posed as Iceland's president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, and called the White House using a number given to him by his friends. ...
