Iceland

Hey Mell. I was wondering about how much Icelanders earnt and while I was there I had heard that they earned a decent wage. I have since found out that although standard and costs of living are high, Icelanders enjoy high disposable incomes. It makes me wonder though, why with this high disposable income, have I never run into another Icelander while travelling. Is it because there aren't many of them? I know they travel a lot, every Icelander I talked to had travelled quite a bit and to far flug places. Reply to this

ConMel, I agree 100% that part of the issue with meeting an Icelander out backpacking is the total population for the whole country is somewhere around 300,000 people (a little more than that but not much). That's about the same number of people residing in the not particularly large city of Tampa, Florida in the states.

It seems the chance of running into someone from Iceland is pretty low based on statistical analysis and probability. Reply to this

What Camo said to inspire this thread about Iceland.

The most expensive I've been has to be Iceland. I'll give the prices in British pounds since thats the currency I was earning at the time.
A beer, depends on where but generally £5-6 (I also paid a rediculous price for a standard Johnnie Walker and Coke at about £9)
A hostel room in Reykjavík £30
Short 10 minutes taxi ride £15-20
A packet of crisps £3
Things are so expensive that after a while, you just end up laughing at how much you're spending. Although most of the attractions in Iceland are natural ones and free so I guess the expense can be offset a bit. Reply to this

Iceland has a surprising amount of greenery although I still wouldn't've thought it would be good soil for crop growing. I also have another theory on why you dont run into many Icelanders while travelling. Sure there aren't many of them but the people who have been to Iceland would know, Iceland is a beautiful and fascinating country to travel around. So while there maybe many Icelanders out travelling, I believe many of them are travelling their own country.

aspiringnomad, its interesting you mentioned their names. The naming system in Iceland is called the patronymic system which is just how you explained it. Apparently it used to be commonplace among all scandinavian countries but now Iceland is the only one that still uses it. Its really wierd too because its very strictly enforced. So much so that if you want to use a given name that has never been used in Iceland before, it has to be approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee. They will be refused if they can not be easily incorperated into the Icelandic language and must use only letter used in the Icelandic alphabet... No I'm not making that up. Reply to this

Hey Mel

I actually surprised myself in Iceland. I had heard of the rediculous expense and had some previous experience in Scandinavian countries before so was well prepared for a spend fest. I took £600 for the 5 night trip ready to not come back with a penny. I came back with a bit over £230, I was quite impressed. That didn't include the pre booked hostel in Reykjavik or the pre booked car hire. The thing was, even though things were very expensive, all the attractions we went to see were natural ones which are all free. We didn't take tours or anything like that. So really the only things we spent money one was food, drinks, fuel and accom out of the capital. The Blue Lagoon of course costs a fair bit but you wouldn't go to Egypt and not see the pyramids would you? The same applies here. Reply to this

This may be too much info for a post, but besides the whole "Iceland is green and Greenland is ice", the island has lost a lot of really incredible soil due to deforestation over time. With the loss of trees and whatnot a lot of the very rich soil was washed or blown into the sea. Fortunately, they seem to be trying to replant the forests, though the damage done is going to take an incredibly long time to recover. Longer than any of us have left, but it's still an admirable goal. I'm not surprised about the possibility that the soil might be suitable for growing, but I would be surprised (about the whole banana thing) due to the far northern latitude and length of the day/growing season. Reply to this

Hey Mel

I went to Iceland in the first few days of September last year and it was amazing. I cant compare it to any other time of the year since I've only been once however, I know that right in the height of summer you can have middnight sun which you dont quite get in September. You also get the bulk of the tourists and trying to cram in the Blue Lagoon or something wouldnt be nice for me. So its great for me, not as many people, you really do feel like one of only a handfull driving around the country.

The biggest problem with that time of year is that its when all the accommodation outside of Reykjavík starts to close up for the winter. Apparently most places close at the end of August. We were still able to find some places although it came close one night when the woman was closing the place 3 days later. What we did was the unadventurous thing and pre book all hostels along the path we we going at a tourist information centre in Reykjavík. It's not the way I travel but we thought that since we were in the country less than a week and we knew excatly where we would be and when, we felt comfortable knowing there was a bed for us and were'nt going to be stuck. The thing is, in Iceland, if a place if full or closed, there is nothing around and its a 40 - 50km trip to the next accommodation.

So personally if you we thinking about going then, I would suggest and very very beginning of September. Also if you're flying Iceland Air book as early as possible to get the good price. Prices skyrocket pretty much hour by hour the closer it gets 😉 Reply to this