The first swing and a miss was in 2008, when it was a scheduled port on a trans-Atlantic cruise I was working on with my mom, teaching arts and crafts classes.  Somehow, we made it into Qaqortoq, Greenland – a rarity, due to the frequency of high seas and/or winds making it dangerous for operating the tenders.  Our captain said we were extremely lucky, so I was grateful.  It was a wonderful experience.

Our next port, Reykjavik, Iceland, was supposed to be a sure bet; however, a storm brewed in the North Atlantic, and we had to change course.

It wasn’t until 2020 when I took another swing, and it was a BIG miss:  COVID.  Don’t even get me started…

As you know from my last post, this swing yielded a home run!  Forget the ships; our small group land tour was the way to go.

Why Iceland?  I had been intrigued by Iceland since learning about their progressive country as a teenager; and, as time went on and I grew up, Iceland continued on that positive course.

Iceland is one of the world’s most feminist countries and ranked among the top three countries in the world for women to live in.  It is the first country to have a political party formed and led entirely by women, and nearly half of parliament members are women.  They were the first country to have a female president.

Icelandic women are more likely to get university degrees than men, up to the PhD level, and the country has the world’s highest proportion of women in the labor market.  As an extra bonus, they have the smallest overall gender gap.

More favorite facts: 

Iceland’s literacy rate is among the highest in the world, ranking #3.  Books are the traditional gift exchanged at Christmas.

Iceland ranks in the top five happiest countries in the world—and, the 2008 – 2011 financial crash did not affect that ranking.

Iceland is ranked 3^rd in the world for median wealth, and it is nearly a classless society.

Iceland is ranked 1^st on the Global Peace Index; and, there are no murders and very little crime.

Iceland has a stellar environmental record.

Iceland is an open, tolerant, and prosperous society with a strong safety net of social welfare programs.

What’s not to like?

Well, there are those cold, dark Iceland winters…

Traveling to Iceland during the summer was a joy, though!  The days were long; and, the high 50’s and low 60’s (Fahrenheit) temperatures during our 13 days was a welcome respite from the miserably hot and humid temperatures down here in Georgia.  We even had a couple of days that reached 64 degrees.  So much for the multiple pairs of Hot Hands I packed for the trip.  I only needed them on one cold, rainy day and during our whale watching trip.  Those suckers work!  I stuck them in my gloves, and my hands were toasty!

As an English-speaking American, Iceland is an easy country to navigate.  Thankfully, nearly all Icelanders speak English fluently, because studying the language is mandatory in Icelandic schools.  What a relief!  I tried to teach myself some Icelandic phrases, but their language is extremely difficult, and I was unable to pronounce the words correctly.

Besides Iceland’s progressive culture and (awesome!) society, there were so many other reasons to travel to this wonderful country.  Hopefully, in the coming blog posts, my photos will do the natural wonders we saw some justice.  At times I wondered what planet or moon I was on, because the landscape was so visually foreign to me; but, it was always beautiful, even if in a strange way.

Until next time, I will leave you with some photos I shot out the bus window during our drive from the airport to Selfoss (our base for three nights) as well as a few from around our hotel.  After our morning arrival and breakfast, we had the afternoon free before convening for our orientation and welcome dinner, so after a quick look around town, I headed straight to the community pool for a jet lag-combating swim.  Ahhh! 

(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)

Coming up next:  Circumnavigating the Golden Circle

Note: If small group travel is of interest to you, I highly recommend Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). Although Bruce and I travel together, they do not charge a single supplement for those who travel on their own. Singles also get their own room at hotels. If you book, you can get $100 off your trip by providing my name and customer number (Elaine Krugman, #3018126) as the person who referred you. I will also get $100 off future travel– a win-win!