Iceland with Kids

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Iceland update: November 2019. WOW Air? WAB? Play Airline!

Happy November everyone! We’re heading into winter in Iceland, which means colder weather, snowier roads, and the Northern Lights! Let’s take a look at new ways to see the Northern Lights, a new exciting airline announcement, and more.

WOW Air, WAB air, and now … Play Airline!

Some quick background: WOW Air was a discount Icelandic airline that started flying passengers to Iceland in 2012. They expanded rapidly, and offered cheap flights to Iceland. Some flights from the United States were as low as $99 US one way! But they expanded too quickly, and a sharp increase in oil prices in 2018 led to steep operating losses. WOW went out of business at the end of March 2019.

Two different companies are trying to emerge from the ashes of WOW. One has a lot of skeptics, but the other suddenly looks much more promising. [Read more…] about Iceland update: November 2019. WOW Air? WAB? Play Airline!

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7 tips for using AirBNB

A tiny seaside Airbnb cottage by Kristen Sloan is licensed under CC BY 2.0

For our trip to Iceland, I started by looking at hotels. Many were already sold out for the summer, or the rooms were too small. And getting two rooms would be prohibitively expensive.

Then I started looking for cottages and apartments to rent, and ended up at Booking.com. You can see my post about tips for using Booking.com.

But then I landed on airbnb.com, and ended up making more than half of my lodging reservations there. If you are traveling with kids, renting an entire house is very appealing. Here are some tips and tricks I learned along the way.

UPDATE June 2016: The Icelandic Government has passed a new law aimed at limiting Airbnb rentals. Homeowners in Iceland will only be able to rent out their properties for up to 90 days a year, unless they purchase a license. I believe this Icelandic article says the rules go into effect starting in 2017.

We’ll be watching to see how this impacts the market for home rentals. Presumably, though, if you find a place you like on Airbnb, you shouldn’t have any problems. But it may limit availability.

1. Don’t expect the same level of service with Airbnb.

First and foremost, remember that you are dealing with an individual person renting out their property to you. Property owners are referred to as “hosts.” Airbnb is just a platform that connects you to individuals who want to rent out rooms or houses to you. [Read more…] about 7 tips for using AirBNB