Vacation ideas when you hate what most people like

Quote: AZDuffman

I am starting to look at of all places, Iceland. Seeing a few things I like and prices are not all that crazy.

1. Anyone been there or have any advice?

2. Anyone know anything about WOW airlines? Seem to be some kind of discount airline but have good prices, though the kind that charge extra if you use the O2 mask in a crash, etc.

Don't know a lot about Iceland but suspect as a somewhat out of the way location and a small country it would be an interesting place to visit.

Also don't know much about WOW but my only advice is for that length of flight try to ensure you are on a wide body. I did a quick search and they seem to fly A330-300s from Boston (was just the first location I looked at but suspect will be the same from other places) so you will be good there. Low cost carriers are always going to be lacking in comfort to some extent but as long as you aren't crammed into a single aisle plane like a 737 then it should be tolerable.

Quote: Aussie

Don't know a lot about Iceland but suspect as a somewhat out of the way location and a small country it would be an interesting place to visit.

Also don't know much about WOW but my only advice is for that length of flight try to ensure you are on a wide body. I did a quick search and they seem to fly A330-300s from Boston (was just the first location I looked at but suspect will be the same from other places) so you will be good there. Low cost carriers are always going to be lacking in comfort to some extent but as long as you aren't crammed into a single aisle plane like a 737 then it should be tolerable.

As a serious question, is this a big thing? I have yet to fly on a widebody and longest flight in my life was ROC-SAN with a connection I forget where I think. Crammed in a seat either way, no?

Yes to small and out of the way. Give me that over Paris any day.

AZD what kind of holiday are you looking for. There is lots of accessible wilderness there and tour companies that have equipment and guides. One of my best friends spent 2 weeks canoeing in the wilderness in Iceland last summer and loved it. He is a back country kind of guy though and has canoed in the Arctic.

Quote: AZDuffman

As a serious question, is this a big thing? I have yet to fly on a widebody and longest flight in my life was ROC-SAN with a connection I forget where I think. Crammed in a seat either way, no?

Yes to small and out of the way. Give me that over Paris any day.

Yes you will be crammed into a seat either way but a wide body will at least allow you to get up and walk around more freely because of the fact there are two aisles. With only a single aisle you will find walking around a lot more difficult because of the congestion. If you feel you are happy to just sit down in your seat and not move for several hours then it probably won't be a deal breaker for you but discussions I have on travel forums as well as my own experience is that it's much better to have that space to walk around.

Also the ratio of passengers to toilets will be much higher on a single aisle place. A 737 will have 3 or 4 toilets and if they have a business class the ones up the front will often be unavailable for those in economy. So you'll have 150-odd people for potentially 2 toilets. People lining up down the aisle to use the toilet just adds to the congestion. There will be a much better ratio on an A330.

As I said though my quick search seemed to indicate they fly A330s so probably a mute point by the sounds of it.

Fly to multiple places on Earth for a few thousand dollars. Without a plane! (I believe guys who say it doesn't translate in regular video, so have to use your imagination.

This is a very new video, not even a couple weeks old.

Quote: kenarman

AZD what kind of holiday are you looking for. There is lots of accessible wilderness there and tour companies that have equipment and guides. One of my best friends spent 2 weeks canoeing in the wilderness in Iceland last summer and loved it. He is a back country kind of guy though and has canoed in the Arctic.

That is the whole problem, I am at the point where I don't even remember how to relax on a vacation. The Blue Lagoon seems like something I have wanted to do for a few years. Soak in the mineral heavy water and relax. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the sights there. Cruise around the quaint town, good dinner, hang at a pub with locals?

Thing is I have not had a remotely "real" vacation in about 10 years. To even be able to plan one seems strange. Other thing is despite my Blue Lagoon comment, I would rather a factory tour than sit on another beach all day. But I am looking at some tours there that you do something different each day. Horseback riding or something for part of the day and the rest just kick back might be ideal.

Quote: Aussie

As I said though my quick search seemed to indicate they fly A330s so probably a mute point by the sounds of it.

WOW Air has 9 jets in their fleet as of right now.
6 Airbus A321-200 with 200 seats & 2 toilets (One to be delivered 2016)
3 Airbus A330-300 with 342 seats & 3 toilets

Distances from Iceland to airports
BOS 2,413 mi
EWR 2,601 mi
BWI 2,762 mi
SFO 4,204 mi
LAX 4,313 mi

MIA and PIT future destinations in 2017


More than likely the only destinations they fly the widebodies to are in California which is beyond the range of an A321 (3200 nm as depicted on image.

Miami is probably within the range of an Airbus A321neo which has a long range version that will go 4000 nm.

You could be right re: only using the A333 to LAX & SFO. They did fly one to BOS yesterday though which as luck would have it was the one day of the past week I checked. Seems every other day was an A321!

Fortunately it is not far from Boston to Iceland (actually closer than San Francisco).

Also your comments about the general comfort of widebodies probably don't apply to Wow Air. It's relatively rare to completely pack a widebody with all economy seating, and the number of seats per toilet is actually worse.

WOW Air has 9 jets in their fleet as of right now.
6 Airbus A321-200 with 200 seats & 2 toilets 3x3 seating per row
3 Airbus A330-300 with 342 seats & 3 toilets 2x4x2 seating per row

Icelandair flies many of the same routes on the B757 (except California) and has a Saga Class with 22 recliner seats and 40" pitch. Saga Class is like the old style business class seating before the flat beds were installed. Relative to the very expensive trans-Atlantic business class seats, Saga class is much cheaper. If you want to cross the ocean in relative comfort.

Wow is all economy from what I can see so IMO the points around comfort are still valid, the main one being the lack of room to move around when there is only one aisle. As I said though, of the passenger is happy to sit and not move for several hours then it probably doesn't matter so much.

Also 3 toilets surprises me given other airlines fly these with several more and still manage to get in approx 300 seats in a 2 or 3 class configuration.