Tropical Iceland

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Don't be fooled by the standards of Air France, British Airways and certain others if you fly them first class across the Atlantic and assume all European carriers are quality. Icelandic Airlines is one of the few airlines flying into Reykjavik (I flew JFK--->Keflavik), in fact I didn't see any other airlines parked at the very small single terminal of KFK. I don't have time to go into details now and i'll try and post some pictures later so just the quick run down: "Saga Class" is Icelandic Airlines First class and it is somewhere between a domestic carrier's idea of Coach and 1st class on Sub-3 hour flight; it's not comfy when you're on the plane for 5+ hours. Even though Mighty Ducks II taught us all that Greenland is covered with ice and Iceland is green, it still isn't warm. It's probably 55 degrees and overcast, yesterday it was near 70 which allegedly was a record high...it's August...the cab driver said this is part of the "heat wave" which has been the hottest week in Iceland since they started recording temperatures. If a 55 degree day in August is part of a heat wave and they have been recording temperatures longer than 2 weeks, then that's pretty odd. There are roughly 313,000 total inhabitants of Iceland, 75% of which live in the Reykjavik metro area (if it can be called a metro area). The 35 minute ride from Keflavik to the hotel was over a barren expanse that looks like a slightly greened over moonscape. Much of the country is barren flat and desolate. We'll see what Reykjavik itself is like, so far it seems to have an odd vibe, A bit like an overgrown fishing village as the people have a certain naiveity and the city itself is compact and makes Belfast seem like a metropolis by comparison. In contrast to their seemingly simple dispositions, most of the Icelandic people seem hipsterish in that "I wear quirky sunglasses and tight clothing from American Apparel" way. Roughly 90% of the Icelandic people believe there is a secret race of gnomes that lives under Iceland and protects them. They don't just give this lip service, road construction projects are diverted when they think it will disturb the gnomes. Earlier I looked over a map which in addition to normal points of interests, included symbols for ghosts and trolls that are meant to indicate which areas of the country are haunted and which are inhabited by trolls, presumably so you can avoid them; there is also mention that a certain lake in the northeast portion of the country should be avoided because a monster lives in it. It should be an interesting time, tonight while drunk I am going to have to ask some people what the deal is. I'll try and get into more detail when I have time and post some pictures of Reykjavik as well as any gnomes/trolls/lake monsters I can capture on film.

-Jared

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Comments

[deleted_84896]

Just a few things
Well, I don't know what you were expecting. With a name like Iceland it should give a just a little bit a clue about what sort of weather you will be expecting. Also, the geographical location would suggset that you're not going to be experiencing tropical weather. Really, if you think about the far north location, the temperature is remarkably high! I am taking a little offense at your sarcastic despcription of my country,although I agree with your view on Saga Class seats onboard Icelandair flights, although to their defense they classify it as Business class and not 1st class. But what you can expect from a country in the middle of the north Atlantic ocean, inhabited by roughly 300,000 people is a country full of beautiful landscape, pure air and water and unspoiled nature. Which is more than you can say about most places you can visit nowadays. If you want more information, you can check out my nifty site of www.icelandtravelvacations.com and find out more about the local customs and money saving tips (I guess the pricing will be a nice surprise to you also).

[doc]

trolls?
trolls? watch out. i bet fat-katie is lurchin somewhere around there (probably near some food)