FAQ

In my dreams! Unfortunately I’m not important enough to get paid for my opinions. Maybe when I become the ruler of the world this will change.

There are many different reasons why I manage this blog. I used to do a fair bit of writing in the past and got praised for my style and strange sense of humour. The only writing I’ve done in a while though has been copy writing for sterile corporate websites and I’ve edited most of my style out of it. I want to get it back and thought this might be a good way to do it.

I’m also a web nerd who reads unhealthy amount of books and articles on SEO, the social media and online marketing. There’s a lot of things I don’t get to do at work that I want to try, so I thought why not make myself a playground for all my experiments. Instead of just writing about myself, because who would be interested in that, I thought about topics that would also benefit others. And so the light bulb over my head was switched on: I’ll write about Reykjavík.

I also don’t work on Fridays and am bored a lot.

You sure can! I can’t pay you though… sorry!

If participating for the sheer fun of it appeals to you like it does to me, please send me an e-mail to info[at]iheartreykjavik.net explaining your talents or ideas.

Maybe! You’ll never know unless you send it over.

I do reserve the right to not answering if the question doesn’t agree with me.

Getting married in Iceland / Reykjavík can be quite the adventure and after helping Devon and Jon no one knows better than me how much time and effort goes into planning a wedding – even when the wedding party only consists of two people. But man was it fun! I even shed a tear or two at the actual ceremony.

So yes and no, I might be persuaded to do it again. Why don’t you just send me an e-mail and we’ll see where it goes.

Here are all the posts about Devon and Jon’s big day:

The trial and tribulation of an accidental wedding planner

Devon and Jon’s special day

Photos from Lalli Sig

No. It’s not dangerous. Of course you have to have enough common sense to not let just ANYONE stay with you but if the person who sends you a request has a good profile with a lot of positive references, it’s almost 95% certain* that they are not going to harm you.

The same goes for surfing. Choose people with filled in profiles and lots of positive references. I would recommend timid females to look for female hosts or couples – at least for the first time they surf.

* This statistic has not be approved be Couchsurfing.org and is not scientifically supported.

Legend has it that Casy Fenton or one of his co-founders was heading over to Reykjavík on a short notice and spammed the whole student network of the Univeristy of Iceland to see if anyone would let him stay for free. Apparently he got so many responses that the idea of Couchsurfing was born. Or so I read somewhere.

Icelandic Couchsurfers are somewhat proud of this urban-myth-like tale for some reason. Either way, there are A LOT of Couchsurfing hosts in Reykjavík. A lot!

Never! I’ve had some that I didn’t click with as much as others and  a couple that were lacking a bit in the politeness department but overall they’ve all been super duper nice people. I’ve learnt through life that you don’t have to like everyone and everyone doesn’t have to like you – as long as you treat each other with respect!

Here is some information from Eures on how to find a job in Iceland. If you are not an EU/EEA citizen you might find it hard to find a job if you don’t have a specific skill that there’s a demand for in Iceland.

There really is no good place for classifieds in English.

A question from Bruno from Sao Paulo, Brazil via e-mail.

A question I answered on Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Travel Forum

In Bónus  Pampers diapers – 32 in a pack cost 1829 ISK and Euroshopper – 27 in a pack cost 1498 ISK. (May -2011)

If you have more price related questions you could send them to bonus@bonus.is – they answer relatively quickly (I don’t have children that use diapers so I had to ask )

A question I answered on the Reykjavík Group on Couchsurfing.org

I’ve done it and I really liked it. I mean it’s only a day trip and there’s only so many things you can do there but there’s a guide who tells you a little about the history of the place and how people live there and then you get to explore a little. Then we took a boat ride back to the airport which was super nice.

I didn’t have to pay for it so I don’t know whether I would have been as happy with it if I would have had to fork out 450 Euros for it but people in general seem to like that trip a lot.

Bus tours like the golden circle, the south shore tours, the Blue Lagoon tours and all the less expensive tours like Whale Watching should be OK to book on arrival.

Everything that might have limited availability is better to book beforehand. Those tours are usually more expensive and might include flight tours, longer hiking tours, diving tours etc.  Some of the longer hiking tours that are scheduled in the height of the summer get sold out months before.

Question asked by Katia by e-mail