Icelandic Explosion

Iceland! The first thing you may think of is a bitter cold place devoid of any life where only a handful of brave souls may live. But contrary to popular belief, Iceland is not devoid of life and enjoys a high standard of living. It also is not that cold thanks to the Gulf Stream, which makes the nation surprisingly warm during winter considering its far northern latitude.

So, wait a minute you’re thinking, why is Steve writing about Iceland when he’s going to Russia? Good question. My route to Helsinki takes me through Iceland and since I’m of Icelandic descent and been there several times I thought I’d weigh in on this suddenly fashionably cool nation with a blog post.

I’ve visited Iceland now four times excluding a stop over I made from Helsinki on my way back from Russia. Since I first visited in 1995 I’ve noticed Iceland evolve from an off the beaten track exotic tourist destination to a beaten down popular tourist destination. Back in the 1990s in order to reach Iceland you had to fly via New York JFK Airport and then onto Reykjavik. Now it is possible from Seattle where Icelandair operates up to two flights per day during high season.

Back even as late as 2009 you could visit the nation’s number one tourist attraction, The Blue Lagoon, and have a relatively pleasant experience. How the times have changed!! Now unless you have pre-booked a reservation you may as well forget about visiting this tourist trap. Just two years ago you could show up whenever you like and get in. In fact just this year it was closed for several weeks as they expanded and made it even bigger and better. When I visited in 1995 it was a small place devoid of all the fancy extras like a 5 star hotel, super VIP entrance, spa package, swim up bar. Instead you had a modest building, which served as the changing place and admission wouldn’t cost you your daily trip budget. And the amounts of tourists were only a tiny, tiny fraction of what it is today! If you have to visit then go on ahead, but instead avoid the crowds and go to “The Secret Lagoon” outside of Reykjavik.

Showing my Seahawk pride

Iceland has become so popular tourist wise that the locals are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. According to locals I spoke with, they cannot train guides fast enough. They’ve even had to look to other nations to hire guides to handle the explosion of tourists. One tour operator explained to me that she booked a several day off the beaten path relaxing tour for a man to the Icelandic highlands (a very remote and difficult place to get to) and upon his arrival he was absolutely freaked to find the place swarming with tourists. This now has become the norm in Iceland, a once peaceful places now swarming with tourists. Twenty-one years ago when I visited the world’s oldest parliament Thingviller, an outdoor amphitheater and Geyser, crowds were light and there was only one small tourist facility. Now it has turned into a giant mass production that would make the most popular US National Park Service even blush.

Iceland has survived famine, war, bitter cold winters, and an economic meltdown that spread throughout the world, volcano eruptions, mass emigration and a tyrannical government ruling them. To their credit they’ve survived it all and lived to tell the story coming out even stronger each time. But I sometimes wonder if they really can survive this mass tourist explosion. Will they become a victim of their own success? I guess only time will tell. Being Icelandic and knowing the history I would say it’s safe to bet on Iceland weathering this storm and becoming better for it. But I still have to wonder if Iceland may just become a victim of its own success!!