Vikings

9 Random Facts (+Thoughts) About Iceland:

1. The Vikings and original Icelanders were Norwegian refugees and exiles that pillaged the British Isles and Ireland, kidnapping women along the way.

2. Iceland has the lowest wage gap between men and women, the first female president, and the first lesbian prime minister.

3. With a population of only 323,00 people, they are really good at winning "per capita" battles.

4. Icelandic people can only name their children Icelandic names- no foreign influence or children named Apple there. Their last names are the names of their father followed by -son or-daughter. There also exists the tradition of naming the first-born son after the paternal grandfather. Thus, a traditional Icelandic lineage of first-born sons might look like this: Skuli Magnusson, Magnus Skulison, Skuli Magnusson, Magnus Skulison, Skuli Magnusson, Magnus Skulison, and so on and so forth.

5. Iceland boasts some of the strongest men and women (weightlifting and crossfit champions) as well as the most beautiful (Miss Worlds). Probably because the Vikings had to be brutal to survive the relentless climate and only kidnapped the beautiful women.

6. Our host, Heimir, is a descendant of a murderous villain from the old Icelandic Sagas while Johanna is a descendant of a Norwegian serial killer. Despite having come from criminals and exiles, Iceland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, perhaps because everyone is related to each other and blood is thicker than water.

7. Because everyone is somewhat related to each other, there is a Book of Icelanders online complete with lineages tracing back to the original Vikings. There is also an anti-incest app that will give you a "Go" or "No Go" when you bump phones with another Icelander depending on degrees of separation, most useful for Saturday nights at the pub.

8. Income tax starts at 37% in Iceland and covers free healthcare for all citizens and free higher education for all high school graduates.

9. The most common car insurance claim in Iceland comes from car doors being ripped off of cars by the extreme wind. With a climate consisting of extreme light, extreme dark, extreme hail etc. and a constantly changing landscape shaped by volcanoes and glaciers, it was easy to see how the Icelandic people, ancient and modern, regarded the land as alive with personality and folklore.

#Iceland #Travel #FunFacts