Preparation - Iceland with Kids

December 2, 2018 By Eric Leave a Comment

WOW Air: Will the Icelandic Airline Survive? (Probably) Update: Nope.

(Photo by Eric Salard used under CC by 2.0 license.)

Even more important update, March 28, 2019: WOW Air has ceased all operations.

Looks like the last word of my title was wrong … WOW Air just shut down.

Icelandair is offering $100 tickets if you have a WOW Air ticket.

EasyJet, Norwegian, Wizz Air, and XL Airways are also helping WOW Air passengers. See all of the details here.

IMPORTANT WOW Air update, March 26, 2019:

In my post below, I predicted that WOW Air would survive for two reasons: One, that Indigo Partners would invest in them, as they have with many other discount airlines; and two, that low oil prices would keep WOW profitable.

Unfortunately, reason #1 has just vaporized. Indigo Partners just walked away from a deal with WOW. This is a big deal, since in my mind it means WOW Air’s financial troubles are much worse than I expected. (Oil prices are also rising, though they are still lower than they were through much of last year.)

Now it seems the only option is for the Icelandic government to bail WOW out. Will they? I can only guess, and I’ll guess yes. But note that I’m clearly not very good at making predictions about this!

Below I say that “But if it were my trip, I wouldn’t book with WOW until the deal with Indigo is complete.” That deal is not happening, and I’d still stick with this advice: Avoid booking with WOW until some sort of bailout is finalized.

UPDATE January 2019: Wow Air has cut its number of cities to just 4 in the United States: “By summer, WOW’s only gateways in the United States will be Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Boston, Detroit and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty airport.”

This is a “back to basics” move for WOW– BWI and Boston were their two original US airports.

This is bad news if you wanted to travel from their other US destinations, but I think it’s good news for the survival of the airline: A severe cut in destinations like this should help them stay in business.

January 3, 2018 By Eric Leave a Comment

Winter driving tips for Iceland: Snow, safety, and studded tires

Photo by Bailey Zindel on Unsplash

If you’re renting a car in Iceland in the winter, you may be worried about road and weather conditions. Most of the time you won’t have any issues at all, especially with a little preparation. Here are our tips for winter driving in Iceland.

Thanks to our friends at Blue Car Rental for many of the photos below. We rented from Blue on our Iceland trip, and recommend them. And we have a 5% discount coupon for Blue if you’d like to rent from them as well!

[Read more…] about Winter driving tips for Iceland: Snow, safety, and studded tires

March 26, 2017 By Eric 5 Comments

Icelandic words and phrases to learn (or not!)

If you’re planning to go to Iceland, you really don’t need to know any Icelandic– Nearly all Icelanders speak fluent English. But a few phrases and words will help you figure out what’s going on. For example, below you’ll learn you that “safn” as a suffix means museum or collection. Take a look at the picture above. Now that you know safn, it’s easier to figure out that Grafíksafn would be something like a graphics museum.

You most likely won’t be having conversations in Icelandic. What worked for me when speaking to Icelanders was the “sandwich” approach, which isn’t actually a real thing. Say a greeting in Icelandic, say what you need to say in English, and then say goodbye in Icelandic. For example: [Read more…] about Icelandic words and phrases to learn (or not!)

January 18, 2017 By Eric 4 Comments

Clothing in Iceland: What to pack and what to wear

There was a point in our trip planning where we realized we had no idea what we needed to pack. We had plane tickets and lodging figured out. But what did we need to bring with us?

First, make sure you know what the average temperature is for the time of year you will be visiting Iceland. Here’s a graph, taken from our Hours of Daylight in Iceland post. You’ll notice that it isn’t as cold as you may fear, at least in Reykjavik—average highs are above freezing year-round:

Source: http://www.holiday-weather.com/reykjavik/averages/ [Read more…] about Clothing in Iceland: What to pack and what to wear

July 17, 2016 By Eric 7 Comments

Our car rental recommendation in Iceland: Blue Car Rental

Last update: March 28, 2025

We’ve partnered with Blue to provide our readers a 5% discount on their rental. Read below to see why we recommend you rent from Blue. Then see the discount details here: Blue Car Rental discount.

I don’t know how many car rental companies there are in Iceland– 100? It’s tough to tell, since some of them are just agents and don’t have their own fleet of vehicles. Choosing one is really hard; there are a lot of horror stories out there.

After dozens of hours of research, we decided to rent from Blue Car Rental. Now, there are other companies out there that will most likely provide you with a positive experience. But here are the reasons we have been impressed with Blue (and some minor quibbles); you can use this to judge them against other options.

July 6, 2016 By Lora 4 Comments

Sick in Iceland? How to find the medicine you need

NOTE: This post does not cover COVID-19! For information about Coronavirus in Iceland, see our post about Covid-19 testing in Iceland, or the official Icelandic government page about Covid-19.

One thing parents worry about on vacation is the prospect of sick children, and worse, sick children in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. Fortunately, we have not had to deal with any doctors’ visits yet here in Iceland. We have, however, had to buy medicine at a pharmacy. (Look for the big sign saying “Apotek.”)

The first thing you need to know is that you are not going to find a 24-hour pharmacy. Like grocery stores, pharmacies in Iceland have very limited hours. [Read more…] about Sick in Iceland? How to find the medicine you need