November 2011
41 posts
My friend from the USA wants to know if her Samsung Android something phone will work in Iceland. I think making and receiving calls will probably not work but do you know if Wifi and 3G will work? I'm not very knowledgeable about these fancy smartphones, haha, any tips would be appreciated!
Most cellphones should work in Iceland without any problems. Iceland uses the 900 and 1800 MHz bands for 2G traffic like most of the world. US phones generally use the 850 or 1900 Mhz bands and might therefor not work in Europe. However lots of phones can handle all of the bands.
3G is I believe more universal, so there should be no problem there. Iceland is pretty well covered with 3G reception. I guess the thing most likely to stop your friends’ phone from working is if her carrier does not have an agreement with an Icelandic carrier. Then you could of course get an Icelandic sim card and number. Unless the phone is locked. The two largest Icelandic phone companies have information in English: Síminn and Vodafone.
Hope that helps.
Draft of New Icelandic Constitution (English) →
stjornlagarad.is
Just something we’ve been working on together on google docs.
“My advice to everyone out there, photographer or not, is simple… You MUST visit Iceland sometime during your lifetime. You will never regret it.”
—Joe Capra on his amazing Iceland video.
When it start snowing in Reykjavik? I love your blog :)
Thank you.
The weather in Iceland is extremely hard to predict and you can get all the year’s seasons in a single day anytime of year. There are winters during which almost no snow falls in Reykjavík and there are winters when we get a lot. Typically we’ll get the first “hausthret” or fall snow/sleet sometime in October. However it is unlikely that snow will cover the ground for more than a day or so at a time until late December. But even in the coldest month, January, the average temperature is just below freezing. This means that it can rain any day. In my experience Reykjavík rarely stays snow covered for much more than a week or so at a time.
Last year we had a couple of odd days of snow in mid June. This is very unusual, but as I said, weather in Iceland is unpredictable.
Reykjavik Mayor wants the right to wed gays
Iceland has received a lot of attention from the world’s gay and lesbian community for several reasons. In 2010, with a unanimous parliament vote, Iceland was one of the first countries to fully legalize same-sex marriage. Registered partnerships had been allowed for some time before that. Iceland’s prime minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the world’s first openly lesbian head of government, was one of the first to marry under the new law.
Following this stunt, Jón has repeatedly received requests from gay men asking him to wed them. Unfortunately he has had to deny them all, since mayors in Iceland have no such right. Currently it is only religious leaders, heads of police and captains at sea which have the right to wed couples.
He is now advocating for the law to be changed so that mayors and perhaps others can also do the service. He would then be happy to fulfill these wishes.
WOW air open for business
Hope WOW air will give both the older airlines Icelandair and Iceland Express a run for their money and Easy Jet which plans to begin operations in Iceland.
Hi! My uncle is from Iceland, where his family owns a riding tour business, and for Christmas I want to surprise him by making an Icelandic horse for him (I make art out of paper collages). I was wondering whether you could post some pictures of Icelandic horses, especially pictures that show details of the face. I already saved most of your pictures from this tumblog to use as models. Thank you so much!
That’s interesting. You should be able to find all the pictures I’ve posted of horses under the tag “Icelandic horse”. Perhaps to make it clear that it is an Icelandic horse, you could make it wear a lopapeysa.
Hi! I'm a photographer planning a trip around your beautiful country for fun and not so much profit, probably in late March or April of 2012. However, I am not really a fan of freezing to death or anything like that. Do you have any advice for the completely unprepared and foreign novice hiker as far as necessary equipment for the weather or general physical preparations, if I was actually intending to hike? (in case you can't tell, this plan is in the very basic stages.)
There is no such thing as bad weather in Iceland, only improper clothing. That said, things can get a bit extreme and it is possible to literally freeze to death.
Iceland is not as cold as many might think. However, we have strong winds and plenty of rain. You should therefore get yourself familiar with layered clothing. You’ll want a good waterproof outer jacket and pants, goretex or similar. As inner layers you might choose a wool or synthetic base layer and a midweight fleece sweater in the middle. March and April can be quite cold, so a permaloft or similar jacket is very useful. Don’t skimp on the shoes. Proper hiking boots are very useful as soon as you leave Reykjavík.
There are several “foreign novice hikers” which have made not so positive headlines in recent years and I’ve spent many hours searching for them, not always with success. So be careful. Plan your trip thoroughly, get local info and always leave a detailed travel plan with a trusted contact when you leave civilization. The Icelandic Search and Rescue has created a great site about planning safe trips in Iceland.
Have fun and stay safe.
