“Meet in the Middle!” That’s Iceland’s slogan for promoting conventions. Geologically, it literally is the meeting point for Europe and North America — as this is where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates do the bump. Reykjavik is technically part of America, the eastern half of the island is the edge of Europe, and the line down the middle is a fault with plenty of geological indigestion.
Tourists in Iceland are famously jet lagged. You can’t fly in here without having to deal with it. Europeans and Americans face several hours of jet lag, both coming and going. Flying from St. Petersburg to Iceland to Seattle, I was being dealt 4 or 5 hours of jet lag twice. While splitting it seemed like a clever idea, I think I’d rather have nine hours’ worth to adjust to once.
Comments
5 Replies to “Iceland — Meet in the Middle”
So the Norse who first arrived in eastern Iceland actually discovered “America” without having to sail all the way to what’s now Nova Scotia!
It’s sad to hear that Icelandic horces can never go back and visit the Old Country, but at least they’ll never be jet lagged.
Happy travels.
Corry – my C key ceems to be cticking — how fructrating!
Good entry Ccott. Thankc.
Western Iceland is on the North America plate, but it is not on the continent of North America.
I was there as a geology graduate student on a field trip >20 years ago. I’ve always dreamed of going back with my family. It was wonderful! There were a some campgrounds with showers and facilities, but generally we camped off road. Are all lands in Iceland still open to the public? I remember we could camp almost anywhere – as long as you could not be seen/or see the road. True “leave no trace” camping. I’m wondering if it’s still that way?
So the Norse who first arrived in eastern Iceland actually discovered “America” without having to sail all the way to what’s now Nova Scotia!
It’s sad to hear that Icelandic horces can never go back and visit the Old Country, but at least they’ll never be jet lagged.
Happy travels.
Corry – my C key ceems to be cticking — how fructrating!
Good entry Ccott. Thankc.
Western Iceland is on the North America plate, but it is not on the continent of North America.
I was there as a geology graduate student on a field trip >20 years ago. I’ve always dreamed of going back with my family. It was wonderful! There were a some campgrounds with showers and facilities, but generally we camped off road. Are all lands in Iceland still open to the public? I remember we could camp almost anywhere – as long as you could not be seen/or see the road. True “leave no trace” camping. I’m wondering if it’s still that way?