5 Reasons I Want to Visit Iceland

1. Vatnajökull

See that white splotch in the lower right? That’s Vatnajökull, the biggest glacier in Iceland. The national park dedicated to this beast covers more than 10% of the country. And get this: there are active volcanoes under the ice. If you’re not excited about seeing a volcano glacier then I don’t know what to tell you.

2. Hallgrímskirkja

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Largest church in the country. Named after a poet. Took 38 years to build. Designed to look like a lava flow. What’s not to like?

3. Aurora Borealis

I’ve seen the Northern Lights once before, on a cruise to Alaska, but they were faint and blurry. I’d like to give them another shot, and Iceland is the place to do it.

4. Geysir

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This is it: Geysir, the original geyser, the one that all the others are named after. I don’t know anything else about it, and I don’t need to. It’s like nature and etymology had a baby, and it shoots boiling hot water into the sky.

5. Íslenska

Speaking of which, the Icelandic language – Íslenska – is legendary. Literally. It’s changed so little from Old Norse that Icelandic speakers today can still read the old legends in their original language from a thousand years ago. The alphabet has thirty-two letters, including thorn (þ), ash (æ), and eth (ð). All three of those letters once belonged to English, too, back before the Norman Invasion, but were later kicked out for being entirely too badass.

I’m looking for plane tickets. Who’s with me?!