Comment by bmelton | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bmelton | Hacker News Reader

Took a vacation to Iceland for this past new year's, and am thrilled to hear any news that might allow me to stay there for longer. When I left Iceland, it felt very much like I was leaving a fairy tale.

I was delighted by the whales off the coast, and the northern lights felt like a spiritual event, but (at least according to lore) the Vikings invented the modern new year celebration by considering it a good enough time for everyone to dispose of their old flares and replace them with new, and so new year's in Iceland was better than the greatest fireworks show I'd ever witnessed, despite exactly 0% of the fireworks having been municipally provided. It felt like every member of every home had spent their life savings on fireworks and were setting them all off for hours. Impossible to describe, but here's some drone footage (not mine) that captures about 10 minutes of what went on for hours, and the experience from the city center on the ground was even more encompassing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAnQ7ECC2LA&t=245s

Been on Iceland on NY21/22 as well, NYE from the Perlan was absolutely mindnumbing. Vik was absolutely beautiful. Polar Lights left me completely speechless.

Most beautiful country in the world. Even though the winter was harsh. Perfect if you love photography, the whole day Golden Hour basically.

Interesting people describe outdoors as sort of best thing for digital nomad. I live in NZ and really disliked visiting Iceland, but I can see how it would be nice as a developer - stay indoors because it's cold and dark, people kinda introverted, not much to do overall.

Iceland was absolutely fantastic. Iceland Air started doing direct flights from Vancouver and my wife and I got on the inaugural flight, despite her being several uncomfortable months pregnant.

Some highlights:

* We saw geysir, the first geyser known to modern Europeans and the source of the name "geyser" [0]

* We went inside of a volcano [1]

* We did not get fooled by Icelandic polar bears [2]

* We (well, I) ate an average of two hot dogs per day [3]

* We saw a viking home which they unearthed during construction and then built a museum around [4]

* We boiled ourselves like happy lobsters [5]

* We had te og kaffi, which smelled and tasted like the best cafe I'd been to in years [6]

We went in April and were really glad we'd bought sleeping masks for the flight as the midnight sun did throw us for a loop. We were walking down the street one day wondering why all the stores were closed already, then saw a group of young women in glittery dresses and platform heels walking down the street. Checked my phone and it was 11 PM on a Saturday. Oh, okay, clubbing. Right, it's bedtime. Okay.

When we got back from Iceland, my wife was starting a new position at her company where she had to show up at 6:30 AM, so we ended up keeping the same sleep schedule and getting up at 3:30 every morning to have breakfast and commute together. Working in tech meant I had about six hours alone in the office before anyone else really showed up, which was quite peaceful.

Highly recommend Iceland, even if you don't go for New Year's!

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geysir

[1] https://insidethevolcano.com/

[2] https://fooledbyiceland.tumblr.com/

[3] https://theculturetrip.com/europe/iceland/articles/how-this-...

[4] https://reykjavikcitymuseum.is/the-settlement-exhibition/exh...

[5] https://www.bluelagoon.com/

[6] https://goo.gl/maps/QCDLW6DPyLSeKumF9

I did not go inside of a volcano, but did climb a glacier. Otherwise, while I thought the hot dogs were pretty neat, the wife didn't care for them, so we stuck to the one and then engaged in more of their fine dining options.

Dill and Ōx were phenomenal. One of them has a Michelin star, but I can't remember which. Kol was also pretty great. Otherwise, it was great snacking on stupid gift-shop snacks like smoked salmon and capers as a dramatic contrast to the typical American gift shop snacks of corn chips.

The settlement exhibition we saw as part of a walking tour, and absolutely adored, but somewhat overshadowed by the "Bureaucrat" statue across the street from it[1].

Didn't have te og kaffi, but did enjoy Skyr (which is a cheese that you can DRINK).

On the whole, I enjoyed it more than I could have thought possible. You mentioned Iceland Air, and one thing I thought was really smart was that they've positioned themselves as a destination layover going from North America to Europe. We usually travel to Europe for vacations, but this time we "punted" and chose Iceland as our preferred accommodations in London were unavailable, and now I am keen to make a tradition of stopping over in Iceland everywhere I can.

[1] https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monument-to-the-unknown-...

I was sold when you said "direct flights from Vancouver". One of the biggest pain points for me is having to get connecting flights in the east coast for most destinations we plan to go to.

Nice, glad to hear you went to Iceland as well! I went in 2020, not sure when the YVR<->KEF direct flights started though! We just snuck in before COVID got crazy, and in fact our flight home got canceled the night before we were due to leave -- ended up getting booked a replacement flight through LHR though it required a bunch of stressful calls to Iceland Air.. that was an interesting finale to the trip. On the upside, all tourist attractions were basically empty and we had an even more "isolated" and otherworldly experience than planned! A+++ would visit Iceland at the start of a pandemic again :)

What is the temp on a winter night? I once spent NYE in NYC and froze my butt off... much preferred my time in Rio DJ. :-D Would love to try Iceland in the summer.

Depends on the night, obviously, but "very cold" is a safe assertion.

The first day there I had a hard time, thinking that my casual cold-weather gear would keep me comfortable was a mistake I learned the hard way tracking the northern lights on a mountaintop at 2 in the morning on the coldest night they'd had in 50 years.

But, the next day I picked up a pair of (expensive) sweatpants to act as a third layer, and I was just fine. Toasty enough that at night times I'd casually take off a hat or some gloves.

If you absolutely hate cold weather, maybe check it out in summer time. If you're willing to layer (and not just throw on dumb layers like I did) then it's totally manageable.

I found the magic combo to be:

  * Thermalsilk top and bottom base layer
  * An intermediate layer for very cold nights (https://www.icewear.is/us/fodurland-wool-underwear-baselayer)
  * I got away with those two and a pair of Amazon Basics chinos, but a hard shell outer layer is probably smarter if you're trekking through snow

Otherwise, normal layering rules apply. Have a scarf and gloves (ideally, with liners) and a good hat, then Thermalsilk and a winter coat were all I needed, but I would often have a niceish sweatshirt layered in there as we often had dinner plans and I didn't want to violate any dress-code norms.

Pretty similar to NYC in winter (because Gulf Stream). But then, I don't consider NYC especially cold for the most part; it's basically mid-Atlantic relative to New England much less northern Midwest.

Was a bit colder than normal now that I think of it. Big jacket wasn't enough because the legs got cold without long undies.

It's not the temp, it's the wind. So much so that the car rental insurance has special coverage for doors being damaged and/or torn off by wind gusts.

In fact, there are areas of Iceland (generally long stretches of road where the wind can funnel through valleys) where the wind can knock cars or buses clear off the road.

Generally, they issue weather advisories for that sort of thing, but that would have been handy to know in advance to check for.

Special coverage as in, doors are excluded from the insurance with the rental I got :D

Yep, we too refused it along with the insurance against car paint being stripped off by volcanic ash. A reckless gamble, granted, but it worked out :)

It's cold. The temp is cold, but the wind is rough. Expect lots of layers, gloves, and hats pretty much all the time in the winter. I lived in Denver for a couple of years and Iceland felt much colder.

Wear wool underwear and a "shell" like outer layer and you'll be ready for anything.

https://www.google.com/search?q=reykavik+weather+by+month

January is the coldest month with average highs of 37° F and average lows of 27° C.

> average lows of 27° C

That's quite warm for Iceland, I'd have thought. Presumably that's 27ºF.

It is called ICEland for a reason.

But somewhat ironically, Greenland is less green and more icy and Iceland is more green and less icy. :)

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