We've waited the best part of 40 years for this, but in just a few days Saints will be back playing European football as we head to Iceland to take on Valur Reykjavik.
A shortage of tickets, and some ridiculously expensive travel have meant it's not quite the tie we had all dreamed of but it looks like we are still going to take a healthy support over with all sorts of weird and wonderful routes taking the Black & White Army North to the land of Torfason, fermented shark and Gull lager.
I've been speaking to a helpful contact Marc Boal who runs the Icelandic Football UK twitter account (@marcboal) and he's given me a few tips for the forthcoming trip, so I thought I'd share those here for those of you heading over. If you want to ask Marc anything about Iceland fire him a DM!
I've also picked up a few things here and there from other replies I've been given on P&B so here we go. Will add to the article as and when more info comes out and obviously do follow B&W Army on Twitter where I'll be posting plenty content all week.
Duty Free
Needless to say Iceland is very expensive so one thing I have been heavy advised to do is to take full advantage of the duty free either on arrival at Keflavík airport or at any of your airports on the way over. A wee bottle or two for magic bottles might go a long way to keeping your spending down and I beleive you can also get crates of Gull lager at the airport which are far cheaper than anywhere else on the island.
So, definitely consider stocking up before you leave the duty free area!
Airport to City
Keflavik International airport where we will arrive is way out South West tip of the Island and so it's a good 45-50 minute trip from there to the City Centre where I guess most of us will be staying.
There's no train or tram option but under no circumstances consider getting a taxi or an Uber as you'd be looking at £120 to £150!
Thankfully there is a bus service than runs on a flexible schedule so you can book a ticket for that and just jump on whenever you arrive. Buses are reallly regular and it's about £40 per person return. Everything is expensive in Iceland!
Book your bus tickets in advance and skip the lines here; https://www.re.is/tour/flybus/
Obviously depends on where your digs are, but if you are staying city centre then the bus does look like the best option, it drops at BSI Bus Terminal which is right slap bang in the centre.
Money
Iceland is not a Euro zone, they use the Icelandic Krona and there are about 180 Krona to the pound at the moment. Apparently Reykjavic is very card friendly so don't worry about taking too much cash, but always advisable I suppose to have some on you if you can.
Best bet is to use a card like Revolut or Monzo if you have one to save on bank charges and silly exchange rates.
Weather
Looks like it will be 15 degrees in Iceland every day during the week, with light rain forecast Weds, Thurs and Fri to make us feel right at home.
Happy Hours
Iceland is obviously renowned for being incredibly expensive, particularly for food and drink, but the £12 pints can be avoided by taking advantage of happy hour promotions that the pubs all seem to offer at various points during the day.
I've been told to download the "BarHopp" app which lists all the bars offering happy hours at any given time. You can get this for iPhones here or click here if you are an Android user.
The Dubliner
The Dubliner seems likely to be one of the main base camps for the Saints fans. It's decent size and more importantly they have a nine hour happy hour running noon through to 9pm each day. During that time pints of Gull are 1000Kr which is about £5.60 so not massively different to home.
The Dubliner is right in the city centre and I've already sent them a Saints Spotify playlist featuring a lot of our favourites to make sure we feel at home!
More Boozers
Marc has listed the following pubs in his recommendations;
The Drunk Rabbit – Austurstraeti 3
Den Danske Kro – Ingolfsstraeti 3
Olver – Alfheimur 74
Papaku – Klapparstigur 38
Dillon - Laugavegur 30
Kaldi Bar – Laugavegur 20B
He's also suggested that pre-match our fans should fans meet at Halgrimskirkja and walk to the stadium. 20 minute walk, loads of pubs in the surrounding area next to the church.
Would be good if we could have our own mini fan march to the stadium!
Marc also says there is a pub at the stadium called Fjosið which Valur own it doubles up as the club museum and he reckons the barman Gunnar is a good laugh so that might be worth a visit!
Food
I've been told absolutely do NOT try the fermented shark!
Hot Dogs seem to be a thing in Iceland, everyone been raving about them and they seem to be the cheapest thing to eat.
Marc has recommended these food places though;
Grai Kotturinn – Hverfisgata 16A
Kaffi Laekur – Laugarnesvegur 74A
Kopar – Geirsgata 3
101 RVK Street Food – Ingolfsstraeti 2
ROK – Frakkastigur 26A
Vinstukan Tiu Sopar— Laugavegur 27
I've also read that Lewbowski's pub does some sort of burger and pint deal that might be worth a look. It's just a 10 min walk from the Dubliner.
Stadium
Hlíðarendi Stadium is about a 30 min walk from the Dubliner or 20 mins or so from Halgrimskirkj if you are drinking there pre-match.
It's a single stand stadium with 4 sections. The Saints allocation looks like it's in block D on the right hand side of the stand viewing it from the pitch. The other three blocks A-C are for home fans, and it appears there might be a large number of Valur fans travelling from Scotland :-)
Other Stuff To Do
Of course Iceland is a beautiful and unique country and there's a load of stuff to do other than stand in pubs drinking Gull and singing Under the Moon of Love.
Some potential things to see and do during your time on the island;
Take a trip and a dip in the Sky Lagoon, it's closer to the city centre than the famous Blue Lagoon and by all accounts it's better.
If you've a load of time to kill and want to see everything take the 8 hour Golden Circle tour.
And there's also the famous Penis museum of Reykjavic. I believe they have a life sized statue of Alan Stubbs on display inside.
Coverage
Aaran is unfortunately unable to make it over to Iceland so your old da is back running the twitter account for one week only. I'll be trying to post as much content as I can to make everyone feel involved whether you're over there or not. I cannot promise it will be anything other than a drunken mess but what else would you expect?
If you're heading over expect to be interviewed and broadcast live to the nation.
See you in Iceland.
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Icelandic Football Stuff