Akureyri

...

Akureyri or something like that.

And also Reyka Vodka.

Yeah, speaking of, uh, yeah, they're, they're, they're made up in, uh, Borgarnes.

It's up near Skagafjörður in the north.

And the farm is called Þorvalldalur, which is not far from a city, a town called Akureyri, which some people may know up there in the north.

And what's going on in this farm in the north?

Well, he has a problem.

but it requires a little more planning and a willingness to accept that winter conditions can have a major impact on travel.

Akureyri is a natural base for exploring the north, and the region offers geothermal experiences, dramatic landscapes, and access to areas such as Lake Mivat and the Diamond Circle.

A North Iceland itinerary focuses around Mi Vat, Akureyri, the Arctic Coast Way, and the Diamond Circle, while also requiring travelers to pay close attention to winter road conditions on mountain passes.

So if you're building a northern winter itinerary, I would avoid making it a race.

Spend a couple of nights in Akureyri rather than treating it as somewhere you simply pass through.

Enjoy the town.

Then choose your excursions based on the conditions.

Base yourself in Reykjavik.

They have a sublime

... we had a conversation about, you know, where in Iceland would you hold it because we were talking about how the Pan Arctic vision probably feels like something that would be better su- better suited not in Reykjavik but maybe in somewhere like Akureyri, which is the capital of the north of Iceland.

It's, it's quite a small place.

It's 35,000 people, which is one and a half Tórshavns.

And actually I did manage to get to speak to Armand, uh, in the, in the after show party and asked him about that and he said that he, he would actually like it, it to be somewhere like Akureyri but it might depend on who ends up giving sponsorship.

You know, like, uh, if, if suddenly they're getting sponsored by somebody Reykjavik-based they mi- [laughs] they might have strings attached that say you got to do it in Reykjavik or something like that.

Sure.

But that would be a good location.

Something we were talking about was where in Iceland would they host it? Because it feels to me like this is a contest that fits more someone like Akureyri, the capital of Northern Iceland, rather than Reykjavik.

Yeah, Akureyri is more Arctic.

You know, if you want to get really, really hyper-local about the geography, Akureyri is much closer to the Arctic Circle.

But

also, I think, you know, Reykjavik has, in the past decade, become such a huge tourist trap.

And I think the real Iceland, but I think Akureyri probably would have the better community togetherness atmosphere that I think probably Reykjavik doesn't necessarily have so much these days.

Yeah, and I did briefly speak to Armand at the after-party, and he actually agreed that he would prefer it to be in Akureyri, but it may also come down to who they get funding from.

That's right.

Close to Akureyri.

Yes.

That's not in the Arctic Circle then? No.

When I was in, Julia and I were in Europe, like we went to multiple punk shows just by like finding flyers on like street lamps and poster boards like that.

I remember we were in, Akureyri, the second most populated city in Iceland on the northern part of the island, And there was just a punk show flyer.

And we were able to, like, go to it.

That's amazing.

I don't know, I went to the metro one day and there was some kind of

Airbnb store on Akureyri, there was some kind of halal food, some kind of food from Stålar and Ilva or something.

Sorry, I have to take off, sorry.

No, no, this is an app that

Yeah, full album basically.

So yeah, we drove to four hours north to Eyjafjörður where Akureyri is.

in an old barn on a farm

yeah it was an excellent just the the facilities the you know everything around there was was really cool yeah it's a great place to to work and and and really beautiful area and it was great trip