Southwest Travel Blogs

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Central America Caribbean

Travel Blog » Europe » Iceland » Southwest

Links: Southwest Travel Blogs (171) | Southwest Travel Photos | Iceland Travel Forum | Iceland Facts | Map of Iceland

Southwest Travel Blogs

Background: Settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D., Iceland boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930. Independent for over 300 years, Iceland was subsequently ruled by Norway and Denmark. Fallout from the Askja volcano of 1875 devastated the Icelandic economy and caused widespread famine. Over the next quarter century, 20% of the island's population emigrated, mostly to Canada and the US. Limited home rule from Denmark was granted in 1874 and complete independence attained in 1944. Literacy, longevity, income, and social cohesion are first-rate by world standards.

Iceland

Map of Iceland

Iceland's Flag

Recommended Books:

Latest Southwest Blog Entries
Southwest Photos

By LTD Passport
June 19th 2008

A Fond Farewell to Iceland

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Blue Lagoon
This image was taken near the power plant, down an unmarkd road where few torist venture out to.

We have lived the dream in Iceland and completed the first chapter of our epic journey around the world. Iceland is a land of distinct geological regions offering a wide variety of sights. The entire country is clean—very clean. The people are very resourceful, hardy and sincere people. Although Icelanders may appear to be distant or rude, it is there nature to be weary of strangers until they get to know you. We have completely enjoyed our time in this island nation of the north. Our entire experience in Iceland has been much better than either of us could have asked [View Full Entry]

By I Get High On Mountains
June 17th 2008

Iceland!

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

My planes didn't crash on the way here! Yay! It was actually a relatively tolerable trip over, although I'm almost convinced to start up an airline company for tall people. I first flew Calgary to Toronto via Westjet, which seemed to have more legroom and was therefore the more comfortable flight. They also do that personal-TV-in-the-back-of-the-seat-in-front-of-you thing, and one of the channels shows a map of the plane's current location, speed, and altitude, which is vital information for a geography geek like me. The Toronto to Keflavik flight, after a 3 hour stopover where I beca [View Full Entry]

By zerogirl
June 13th 2008

T minus 17 days

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

So... InterRail pass - check! Flight reservation to Berlin - check! A teensy backpack - check! Money - ch...er...no, no checks for that one. But, hey, at least I managed to get the Evil Forces of Taxation to agree not to take my entire salary, but rather a small portion of it. Stupid tax people. It doesn't matter that the "overused discount" was so incredibly not my fault, but rather my employers' (since they pay the taxes directly) or that I can honestly not recall having any more money than before or after this supposed "crime". No, what matters is that [View Full Entry]

By LTD Passport
June 7th 2008

Hallo from Iceland

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Marco earns his wings
Marco poses with Christiana

Hallo from Iceland This is just a quick update to let everyone know we have arived in Iceland. We were projected to depart fro New York's JFK Airport at 8:25 PM on Friday, but we were delayed by an excessive backup on the cue to take off. We finally took off at 10:00 PM. The flight was uneventful. We sat in an exit row, so we had a little extra leg room on the flight. Marco got busy with meeting people and had a great time on the flight. Before we knew it, he was flirting with one of the flight [View Full Entry]

By Kylie H
May 26th 2008

Booooooring

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Reykjavik was the base for our 3 day trip to Iceland over the last bank holiday in May. We arrived in late, but of course it was still very light; we only had 4hrs of darkness, very strange experience. On our first day we got up early and headed to the modern huge concert church, but unfortunately it was covered with scaffolding. I suppose like most churches in capital cities all round Europe. We did manage to get up the top of the sprier and get a great view across the city. Interestingly there are only 300,000 people in Iceland, so [View Full Entry]

By diamond_ace
May 21st 2008

Best water ever!

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Iceland is such a beautiful, unspoilt country. The views are spectacular since there aren't really any trees to get in the way! The water is delicious and it's just natural phenomenon after natural phenomenon. Alice and I did the Golden Circle Tour with Iceland Excursions. The hot chocolate at the Geysir café was the best deal. 200kr but free refills! I just wish I knew that beforehand so I could’ve bought it at the beginning of the stop rather than the end! Nuts. I don’t know how Icelanders survive there with the extremely high cost of everything but they do. I [View Full Entry]

By itchyfeet08
April 30th 2008

Iceland

Europe » Iceland » Southwest

Blue Lagoon
bathing in the geo-thermal waters

A few days visiting the beautiful country of Iceland. This was honestly one of the most interesting countries i've ever seen for it's natural beauty. One minute we were snowmobiling on top of a glacier resting on the crater of an active volcano, and the next we were scrambling along high cliff edges consisting of basalt rock resting on volcanic black sand....such a brilliant trip! Can't wait to go back! [View Full Entry]

By dan n haze
April 24th 2008

The Iceland Scuba Dive

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

The Silfra Dive - Dan in the crack

A glorious trip to Iceland with a group of friends consisting of 4 South Africans and 4 Aussies. Iceland, it seems, is a brilliant place to go for a swim - Silfra and the blue lagoon. Local food is another story entirely! The most spectacular moment was the Silfra dive - a dive in a crack between the American and Eurasian continents. The plates are drifting apart, apparently, at 2cm per year and the lake is made of melting water from a glacier so the visibility is unbelievable. It also proved to be useful when we were thirsty. The dive was [View Full Entry]

By stotti
April 7th 2008

Bless Bless Iceland (icelandic for Bye bye iceland)

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

Hey all, Today i just arrived back from iceland, it was probably the best place i have been to so far on my travels. We flew in late last wednesday night, and checked in to our little guest house, was a really good place, nice and close to the city centre. Iceland is the most expensvie country in all of Europe, and it really hurt the pockets! but was well worth it, juts to give you an idea, a pint of beer was approx £5! Our first day there we woke up early and decided to walk the streets of the [View Full Entry]

By zerogirl
March 22nd 2008

Crashy crashy!

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík

So. Iceland is crap. Now is a good time to come though, since the krona is at an all-time low! What that means for us on the skerry is higher prices - the US dollar is now at around 80 krona - a few weeks ago it was around 60, so that's 30% right there. The euro is at 125 - bfore it was around 90. Over 30% there. What this means for me is a huge fucking increase in travel costs this summer (unless the euro dips again -please, oh please let it dip). I had written down info on [View Full Entry]

Links: Southwest Travel Blogs (171) | Southwest Travel Photos | Iceland Travel Forum | Iceland Facts | Map of Iceland

Travel Blog » Europe » Iceland » Southwest