BY: TREVOR HEWITT
Iceland just got a little cooler.
That’s because the country’s main airline, Icelandair, now offers a free tour guide program for anyone travelling to the island.
The ‘stopover buddy’ program is made up of 30 of the airline’s employees, so your tour guide could be anyone from your bag checker to CEO Birkir Hólm Guðnason.
The possibilities are truly endless. The airline’s website describes the program’s flexibility.
“[Our staff] do all kinds of interesting activities when they’re off-duty, such as sea swimming, mountain biking, heli-skiing, cross-country running, knitting pink jumpers, and a lot more.”
In the 1960s, Icelandair started a promotion that lets passengers travelling between North America and Europe ‘stopover’ in Iceland for up to seven days, completely free of charge (You still have to pay for your hotel, though).
The program is split into six themes: adventure, culture, food, health, lifestyle and nature. “Ask a Lifestyle Buddy to join you on all kinds of quests, ranging from exploring volcanoes and climbing mountains to discovering just how beneficial solving the world’s problems in a hot tub can be,” Icelandair’s website says.
Interested people can pick a theme, let the airline know when they’ll be in Iceland and, within 72 hours, the airline will get back to them to let them know if a ‘buddy’ is available. The program is first-come, first-serve, so get your requests in now.
With Iceland shifting its economy towards tourism and beginning to offer cheap airfare worldwide, this program is a great way to take advantage of an already incredible opportunity – and, you know, maybe climb a volcano in the process.
Interested? We thought you might be. You can fill out a request form for your very own ‘stopover buddy’ here.
