Preparation - Iceland with Kids

December 12, 2015 By Eric 1 Comment

Using a cell phone in Iceland, Part 2: International Plans

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with cell phone plans. But it IS much more interesting … it was actually taken at the Reykjavik zoo.

Option 2: Use your existing phone with an international plan

In our last post, we mostly covered what not to do—don’t use data without an international plan! Here are some of the basic options for adding international plans to your current phone. Let me first warn you that this is a baffling process. Sorry. Take a look:

December 12, 2015 By Eric Leave a Comment

Using a cell phone in Iceland, Part 1: What NOT to do

If you plan to use any data at all, don’t just turn on roaming on your phone. Here’s why.

You don’t truly need to have a cell phone with a data plan when you’re in Iceland. You could just bring your current phone, disable roaming data (this is critical! see below as to why), make an occasional quick phone call, download some offline maps, and become a Wi-Fi nomad. Almost all hotels will have Wi-Fi available. If you are using Reykjavik as your home base for bus tours, most of the buses will have Wi-Fi as well. (For example, the 2 biggest bus tour companies in Reykjavik, Gray Line and Reykjavik Excursions, both offer Wi-Fi on the buses. See http://grayline.is/about/fleet/ and https://www.re.is/company-profile.)

December 6, 2015 By Eric 4 Comments

Golden Circle Add-ons

“Kerið” by Shaun Versey is licensed under CC BY 2.0

So you’ve read our post about whether you can skip the Golden Circle, and you’ve decided the answer is, “No way, I’m not skipping that!” The next question is how to actually do the tour. If you have a rental car, you can cover the Golden Circle with your own personal list of stops and timetable. If you are doing an organized tour, we’ll list some tour companies that offer stops at some of the places listed below.

[Update: See our Golden Circle tour with Kids!]

For the organized tours, you’ll have to choose the level of service you want. We’ll look at three categories: Large bus tours, small bus tours, and personal tours. Note that our advice here will generally mirror that found in the post about how to get from the airport to Reykjavik.

November 11, 2015 By Eric Leave a Comment

Can I skip the Golden Circle?

We have to see the Golden Circle, right?

When you plan a vacation to Iceland, remember that the Icelandic government requires that you participate in at least one Golden Circle tour during your visit, and preferably more than one. Okay, not really. But there is a clear view that no trip to Iceland is complete without visiting the Golden Circle. [Read more…] about Can I skip the Golden Circle?

October 28, 2015 By Eric 1 Comment

Tourism in Iceland

Tourism in Iceland is a booming industry. Take a look. The chart below shows the number of foreign visitors who flew into Keflavik airport in June of each year. I chose June because it allowed me to include 2015 in the data; note that July and August are actually even busier than June. As you look at the numbers on the chart, remember that the total population of Iceland is about 323,000. [Read more…] about Tourism in Iceland