Thank You All! Stuck in Iceland Reaches 100 Thousand Readers

We hit an important milestone last night when the total number of unique users on our site reached the 100,000 mark.

The best part is more than one thousand people find articles on our site through Google search every week or some 150 – 200 each day. We have to admit that we are a bit taken aback by these numbers since we only launched this indie travel blog in September 2012. We are extremely busy in our day jobs and have strictly worked on the site when it does not interfere with our day jobs or our personal lives. We are thankful to all the people who have visited our site over the past two and a half years. We hope that the content here inspired you to visit Iceland or helped you to find great places to visit or fun things to do. Indeed, if you did, please let us know by emailing us. We would love to hear from you.

We agreed that we weren´t happy with how Iceland was represented to tourists. For example, on travel websites and in travel brochures, there is always great weather and a high summer. This is, of course, a misrepresentation. We know from experience that often if you go hiking, the weather will sometimes be s****, and Thingvellir has a dark history of inexplicable cruelty, especially towards women of low social status. We found some horrible ideas that Icelandic travel operators have had, like offering bicycle rides where a husky sleigh dog (or dogs) pulls the helpless and screaming you around Akureyri. We also agreed that there is a lot more to Iceland than the Golden Circle (although it is there is nothing wrong with it, Gullfoss, Thingvellir and Haukadalur Geyser field are all cool places) and that there are museums and archaeological excavations that debunk the notion that early Icelanders were warlike Vikings but clearly show that they were clever and tough people adept at surviving and thriving under difficult circumstances. We could also tell people about the caves they carved out for themselves way back in the distant past, and try to explain the sheer evil of the creatures that used to terrify children before Christmas back in the day.

158 articles? Seriously?

So we got started by setting up our Twitter account, Facebook page, Pinterest account, and even a page and community on Google+. Time has flown by, and we have published 158 articles since September 2012.

The “real” Iceland we know and love

We started out with a lot of ideas for stories we wanted to tell about the “real” Iceland we know and love. We knew about raging rivers for river rafting, hidden waterfalls and troll baths (!) that most people miss, we knew about vantage points for seeing seals and of course we knew where to take our significant others for a nice walk in Reykjavik and how Grótta on the western edge of Reykjavik is perfect for a romantic walk and bird watching by the seaside. We had both been in the highlands a lot and been in all kinds of different weather on the Kjölur hiking trail and the fantastic Laugavegur trail.

We visited Flatey and Vigur in the Westfjords. We had experienced the thrill of scaling the Hrutfjallstindar peaks during the Eyjafjallajokull eruption of 2010, we had trekked to the top of Iceland at Hvannadalshnjukur peak, and endured the grueling military-grade 24 peaks challenge in the mountain range just north of the town of Akureyri, where you can arguably get the best ice cream and Sushi pizza in Iceland (but fortunately not served together!).

We knew that Reykjavik on New Year’s Eve totally rocks, and we have, of course, hiked up Mount Esja more times than we can count. At the time, there were no really great bars in Reykjavik where you could have a conversation and decent craft beers, but fortunately, this has changed as Reykjavik is quickly being gentrified, mostly due to the tourism boom. We didn´t want to forget families with children traveling to Iceland, so we have, of course, included articles about a petting zoo, Videy Island, and a rather challenging maze.

Glögg er gests augað – “the guest has keen eyes”

Pretty soon, we started to get feedback from people from abroad who love Iceland to bits, people who know the country even better than we do. And for some reason, they were generous and kind enough to let us share their stories, wonderful pictures, and videos from their journeys here in Iceland. A lot of this content is from semi-professional or professional photographers who are nothing but artists in their own right. We are just blown away by the quality of the material these friends of ours have shared with us, and we are grateful for their generosity.

Here are a few noteworthy articles 🙂

• See how Kirkjufell Mountain and Bruarfoss Waterfall is different throughout the season of the year and check out the rather sparkly and pretty ice diamonds of Breidamerkursandur
• Here is some delightful Thingvellir night-time magic for your viewing enjoyment
• Read about how this writer got great life advice in a shady bar in Reykjavik
• Watch the video from this young couple from the US that drove around the ring road
• See this couple getting engaged in Iceland
• A father and son drove around Iceland in their Land Rover Defender
• Experience this photo-journey in the remote and magical Westfjords
• Check out how the Jazz-Folk band November Pearls from Seattle liked it in Reykjavik
• Discover how to photograph Iceland and read about the photographer that has produced eight photographic book on Iceland
• See why you should visit Iceland in winter, complete with a penis museum and dangerous camera killing beaches
• Read about this German family that drove around the Iceland and had a wonderful time
• Check out how a wildlife photographers experienced Iceland
• Read about the making of the video “Lágnætti” from the legendary Icelandic metal Sólstafir which took place in a remote fjord in the Westfjords
• See an incredible picture from the Jokulsárlón glacial lagoon with volcanic glow in the background and epic images from the eruption at Holuhraun
• Read about the totally insane festival where an whole Icelandic village offers thousand of guests as much fish as they can possibly eat
• Photography in the Snaefellsnes peninsula
• Learn about the movie Heild
• Find out what makes Iceland the “El Dorado” for photographers and adventurers
• Read about a group of women who retrace the final steps of Agnes Magnusdottir, the protagonist in the novel Burial rites by Hannah Kent
• Learn about the project involving taking pictures of one in every thousand Icelanders
• Read about a young Englishman who crossed numerous things off his bucket list
• Check out this V-Logger. He is a bit mad and that´s why we like him

The great thing about this content is that it is authentic; these are real stories from real people who have enjoyed traveling in Iceland. We feel privileged to share that with you all. Feel free to let us know if you want to share your adventures in traveling around Iceland.

Thank you all.