Many of Tafari’s travel partners have left their cushy corporate level jobs to pursue their passion in travel. The founders of Iceland Encounters are no different. Husband-and-wife team Kristín Björnsdóttir and Erling Aspelund, both native Icelanders, moved to New York to complete their graduate studies. In the early nineties, they settled in Seattle to work in the software industry—Kristin at Microsoft and Erling at Bill Gates’ Corbis Corporation—and enjoy the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest. However, in 2007, when their twin children reached school-age, Erling and Kristin returned to Iceland to start their own adventure travel company.
Iceland Encounter offers exclusive active adventure tours in the Icelandic wilderness. Their itineraries cover dramatic highland areas, scenic beaches and everything in between. Activities include hiking, horseback-riding, kayaking, caving and glacier-walking. We offer both private and scheduled tours all year round.
During the summer months of June through August, they feature active tours throughout all of Iceland. However, don’t fooled into thinking that Iceland is only a Summer destination. In the fall, winter and early spring, trips tend to stay closer to the capital city, Reykjavík, and the southwest corner of the country, emphasizing on spa trips to the Blue Lagoon, the Northern Lights, Icelandic design, and study tours on geology, renewable energy and Iceland’s Viking heritage.
I had asked Erling what his most memorable moment on the job was and here is his response:
One of my more memorable experiences occurred this past August, when I was guiding a small group from St. Petersburg, Russia, along the south coast of Iceland. Early on the fourth day, we set out on a hike in the foothills of Europe´s largest glacier, Vatnajökull. Everyone was relaxed and in good shape. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny. Visibility unlimited. We hiked up through fragrant birch trees, past scenic waterfalls, picking berries along the way. After crossing a small heath, we arrived at the edge of a 300 ft. cliff, below which flowed the outlet glacier, Skaftafellsjökull, an enormous mass of craggy ice that goes on for miles.
There we stood at the edge of the cliff, taking it all in: Iceland´s highest peak above us, glistening in the sun; the south coast behind us, with its black-sand beaches as far as the eye could see; and the glacier below. We felt really big and really small at the same time.
And then, all of a sudden, my guests broke out in poetry. One after another, they recited lines and whole verses in Russian that they had learned over the years, in some cases as far back as in grade-school. This went on for quite a while; one person picking up where the last one left off. Translation was difficult, but common themes were nature, time, and man‘s place in the universe.
Even though I couldn´t understand a word, translation wasn‘t really necessary. I knew what they were trying to say. Nature‘s effects are universal.
For more information on how you can experience Iceland with Erling, please contact Leah@TafariTravel.com.
During my graduate school days there was one website that I swore by and it was Campusfood.com. At least once a week I ordered takeout from my favorite restaurants around campus through the Campusfood.com website. Little did I know at the time, Graham Dickson, founder and CEO of Arctic Kingdom Expeditions, had helped establish Campusfood.com among other websites in a past professional life of his. Graham holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering and Economics and has worked at Lockhead Martin, Morgan Stanley, Microforum, Moore, and Clayton & Co before deciding to focus solely on his passion, which was diving with the arctic animals.
I recently read an article in National Geographic Traveler where a travel writer confessed to a deep, dark secret pleasure of hers. She confessed to her most favorite travel activity, which was…sleep. Instead of scheduling hours of endless activity and sightseeing, she scheduled hours, often 12 hours+, of sleep. For many people, sleep is a guilty pleasure when traveling. We hate to admit that some of the most enjoyable moments of our recent vacation was sleepy time. The reality is, sleep is a huge aspect of any travel itinerary. Great sleep is a travel experience in itself and heavily affects how you remember your vacation.
