Men sit on grassy ledge overlooking waterfall, Gullfoss Waterfall, Hvita River, Iceland.
(Volkmar K. Wentzel/National Geographic/Getty Images)
We figured the driver taking us to a New York airport didn't know much about our destination when we said we were going to Iceland and he asked us to spell it.
"Oh," he said. "The bankrupt country."
Yes, the bankrupt country. Not the volcanic island south of the Arctic Circle with the near-lunar terrain that astronauts once practiced on. Not the home of a swinging Reykjavik nightlife, and other-worldly native musicians like Bjork and Sigur Ros. Not the land with spectacular scenery and bubbling geothermal pools.
The bankrupt country.
Our plans to visit Iceland with five other couples in December predated the onset of the nation's most crippling economic problems. They didn't deter us, since we figured Iceland's beauty wasn't going anywhere. And, hey, the drinks might be cheaper.
We booked rooms two months in advance as Iceland's currency, the krona, was collapsing. It was a bet: perhaps we could book later and find better prices, but since other tourists were sniffing for bargains we worried good rooms might be snapped up. Had we waited, the rooms would have been about $20 cheaper a night.
We made it up in one of Reykjavik's finest restaurants, the Seafood Cellar. The gourmet meal had waves of dishes that included moose carpaccio, tiny Icelandic lobster tails, char, tender lamb and multiple drinks — all for about $100 per person.
Iceland had 48,999 tourists from North America from January through November this year, down 13 percent from 2007. That was primarily due to the loss of air service between Baltimore and Iceland earlier this year, according to the Icelandic Tourist Board.
But with the krona's value dropping, tourism began going up this fall, said Einar Gustavsson, the board's executive director for the Americas. One U.S. dollar was worth over 120 Icelandic krona at the end of 2008, double what a dollar was worth in Iceland in 2007.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
