Due to a family emergency I unfortunately have had to postpone my trip. It kills me as Russia and Russian is my lifeblood. But I am holding out hope that when this giant wildfire in my life calms down and the smoke clears I can start thinking about going back to Russia. In the meantime I'll be picking up the pieces. Watch this space!
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.
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| 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!!
It Is Happening Again!!
After a four month hiatus I am back and ready to hit the
road again!! This time my journey is not quite as ambitious or as time consuming
as my last one! You could call it Russia Lite! Last time I started my travels in Shanghai and then flew via
Seoul to Vladivostok where I spent time teaching, sightseeing and meeting with friends eventually boarding the Trans-Siberian railway on a loooong
journey that took me all through Russia! After countless cities and a detour to the lovely college town of Tomsk topped off with many deep fried piroshkies and borsch along the way I made it to Moscow in fine shape.
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| Qolsharif Mosque inside Kazan Kremlin from 2011 |
This trip will take me by train through Western Russia starting in the Finnish capital of Helsinki,
then to the cities of: Moscow, the city of Yoshkar Ola in the republic of Mary-El, Kazan’, Tatarstan
(a city that is known as the Istanbul of Russia due to its mix of Islamic and
Christian traditions), then up to the most populist city north of the Arctic
Circle, Murmansk, which also serves as the home to Russia’s northern fleet.
After all that is said and done I will wind up in one of my favorite cities on
the planet, St. Petersburg. Overall, it should take me about three and a half
weeks to complete the journey.
So…….I look forward to keeping everyone up to date about my
latest travels and impressions throughout Russia! Watch this space!!
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