How do you like Iceland?

In which we welcome you, dear reader, to our new blog about Iceland and explain how we have Ringo Starr to thank for its name.

Way back in 1983 or 1984, our favourite Beatle (a former drummer, like our CEO) had barely stepped out of his private jet at Reykjavík airport when the burning question “How do you like Iceland?” was thrown at him by a particularly excited female reporter at the National Television Service — usually a rather sombre outfit.

Ringo, no stranger to excited women, said something like “Bloody hell, how should I know, I just got here.”

And so it became The Question Which Has Lived in Infamy. With various degrees of self-awareness (and in various degrees of inebriation), Icelanders still ask it of foreigners, even in the occasional TV interview.

“How do you like Iceland” is a play, an online t-shirt store, and a song by Iceland’s premier hawaiian/country/metal band. It was even the title of a recent documentary about what some minor English celebrities think of Icelanders — an endlessly fascinating subject, as we’re sure you’ll agree.

Anyway, what we’re trying to say is this: when you come to Iceland, somebody, somewhere will ask you the Question, either in its original form or its disguised version (“So, what do you know about Iceland?”). It is unavoidable. So to be prepared.

And that’s one of things this blog is there for: to prepare you to answer silly questions asked of you by us locals, and for you to ask us questions about Iceland.

(And, of course, to get you to book a flight to Iceland with us. Go on, do it. Please. We need the money.)

So. How do you like Iceland?