We’re with the family just back from Iceland. I could show them my love for the wilderness. We camped at remote & stunning places, far from civilization. It’s amazing to see all the smoke and water coming out of the earth, bath in the pools heated by volcanoes and experience all four seasons in 24 hours. It’s a 24/7 holiday destination. Officially the sun is gone between 23:00 and 3:00 but it’s never dark. I liked it. No constraints when to do what. And it’s nice that no lamps are needed while camping.
Only 322.000 people live in Iceland. And I heard that there are 1,6 million tourists expected this year in a country 3 times as big as the Netherlands (where 16 million people are living). But most of those tourists drive to the same spectacular spots. After a few days that starts to be annoying. Why do we all flock here? We decided to dive into the back country where hardly anybody is. What irritated me though is that the Icelanders have discovered tourism as a primary source of income. The prices are at least three times of what the ‘actual value’ is. 80 euros a person for group accommodation, sleeping with ten in a room and sharing toilets with many? I can’t share what a whale excursion costs since I didn’t want to convert currencies. I don’t know if they want to scare tourists away or just take advantage of the opportunity. Traveling there it reminded me of the (too) high interest rates they were providing before the financial crisis. It lead to the bankruptcy of many institutions (and losses for many individuals in the Netherlands and beyond).
Concluding: a beautiful country but wait 2 years when the prices will have come down. The experience is over-priced nowadays.
