Iceland is not dead. It’s just been hibernating. Due to its financial woes this past year, travel to Iceland has taken on a few curve balls. It has suffered a devaluation of currency - which has attracted the thrifty traveler, but it’s also weathered its fair share of political unrest - which has deterred many others. Yet slowly, Iceland is getting back on its feet and the rumble of Reykjavik as a thriving cultural center can be heard once more.

In case you forgot just how rocking Reykjavik is, the Nordic Company is here to jog your memory. Think: music and nightlife meets geysers and thermal springs all within the same small radius. As the northern most capital on Earth, Reykjavik never misses the mark in what it has to offer. Even back in 874, Ingolfur Aranson, the first to settle in what would later be known as Reykjavik, could see the potential of the area. He called the place “Smoky Bay” due to the ghostly vapors that rose up from the ground - a product of the geysers - but rather than fear, these smoke signals created an interesting ambiance.

Iceland remained a Danish sovereignty until their independence in 1944 which was largely brought about by their skyrocketing prosperity of during the World War II period. American and Brit troops were stationed in Reykjavik and significantly bolstered the community.

Iceland’s economy was largely supported by wool manufacturing, shipbuilding, and fishing until they took on the financial services sector with much gusto - the unfortunate cause of their most recent failure. However, Icelanders are not shy about returning to their roots and their roots run deep.

You take a walk through their famed Old City sector in Reykjavik where wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs line the streets. You can stop in and enjoy a traditional Icelandic meal at the oldest building in Reykjavik, the Fogetinn, built in 1751. Or you can catch a bus out to the bubbling Laugardalur hot springs, just 3 kilometers outside of the city. There are camp sites, hostels, open-air baths, botanical gardens, a zoo, and a sculpture garden for your amusement. This city is not going anywhere - it has too much to offer. So I guess the real question isn’t “Remember Reykjavik?” but rather, “How could we forget?”

• #8 Denmark is the 10th greenest country in the world
• #18 Denmark is the second most visited destination in Scandinavia with over 4.7 million visitors each year
• #32 Denmark hosts more than 100 festivals every year
• #49 Danes enjoy one of the highest rates of social equality.
• #71 Denmark boasts no less than 14 Nobel laureates
• #86 The Danish have  a 37 hour work week and six week paid vacation each year

These are only a few of the 109 reasons why Denmark is such an amazing place to live and to visit, given by an American Expat who has been living there for years. I recently came across his blog, “To love, work, study, and travel in Denmark” and it’s definitely worth taking a look. Whereas we at the Nordic Company can only manage to do personal site visits once or twice a year, here is the view of an individual who wakes up every day to the bustling city life of Copenhagen.  In fact, a quick blogspot search of Denmark blogs will offer nothing, but good praise and addicting insider perspective.

More often than not, our clients call with the explicit intent of traveling to Norway. Many have ancestors and others would like to experience the fjords. One of our favorite suggestions is for them to fly into Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days and then take the overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo to start their Norwegian journey. Our clients are never disappointed. They are always taken aback by Denmark’s charm, exclaiming, “I had no idea it was such a destination!” Get out into the countryside and there are lots of opportunities to stay in quaint cottages, play at Legoland, bike around, or spend time on the coast. If you’re still not convinced, here’s 103 more reasons.

America should scrap the car industry and take a thing or two from Copenhagen, a city widely known as a biker’s utopia. In Copenhagen, you will see young and old on bikes, carrying babies, cargo, mail, groceries, whatever they can possibly fit, and you will see them everywhere. There are traffic lights for bikers, special wide lanes, turn lanes, and just a general level of respect that bikers in the States could only dream of. Bike racks are almost always brimming over and when those fill up, the Danes simply lean their bikes up against the side of the building, not bothering to lock them to anything. I’m telling you - utopia!

It’s been awhile since I’ve witnessed the bike bonanza of Copenhagen, (though a biker myself, I dream of it often), so I want to direct you to a recent post by publisher of Spacing magazine, Matthew Blackett. He does an excellent job of analyzing just how bike savvy Copenhagen is in comparison to his own home city of Toronto. His pictures of the Copenhagen bike scene are also some of the best I’ve seen. Enjoy!

I was thinking a lot today about how to rejuvenate people’s spirits in such tough times. Taking a vacation has always seemed to be the cure-all, but in a recession, travel expenses frequently become just another form of anxiety. However, looking over our clientele this year, the rare exception to this rule is heritage travel. When the economy takes a hit and we are forced to re-evaluate our lifestyles, this soul-searching almost always leads to the desire to seek out our ancestral roots.

Many clients have to come me this year with the expressed need to “see where it all began” and “remember where we came from” in hopes of putting their current lives in perspective. Thankfully, due to the Nordic Company’s strong overseas relationships with transportation suppliers, hotels, and the genealogical services - heritage travel remains one of our more inexpensive Scandinavian options. Clients are able to travel to their family homestead and often times reconnect with relatives (many times removed) who still live on the farm. Hearing the retelling of this kind of reunion always sends shivers up my spine! People who have a stronger identity typically exhibit a stronger willpower and that kind of willpower is what sees them through a difficult state (such as our recession).

Our clients come home ripe with wonder at the simplicity of Scandinavia, its rich conversation, and its stupefying scenery, but most importantly, they come home with their hearts a little fuller and their heads ready to move forward. “It’s an experience I will definitely carry with me for the rest of my life,” one client told me. The Nordic Company understands that it is these kinds of heart-enriching (rather than pocket-book dipping) experiences that are in demand today and we do everything in our power to deliver the best.