This post was brought to you by Travelade.
“Hey friends! Heading to Helsinki and can’t wait to hear your tips on where to eat, stay and play…”
How often do you see posts like this on your Facebook feed? Maybe my friends are particularly travel-obsessed, but I see them all the time. In fact, I post them pretty dang often myself!
Or, as a blogger, I belong to several blogging groups, where, if it’s within the rules, I often post queries like, “Who’s been to Brunei? Please post links to your blog posts below!” That’s actually a great system for getting straight to the blog posts I might struggle to pick out of Google search results, but it’s not really a solution available to the general public – and I’m sure there are plenty of bloggers who aren’t replying to my queries.
Enter Travelade
Travelade was designed to curate the web’s best content on the magical island nation of Iceland – and, eventually, beyond.
In addition to blog posts and articles by top travel publications and prolific bloggers, Travelade publishes Travelade Originals, penned by their staff of travel-loving locals. (Are you a blogger who’s been to Iceland? You can submit your own articles for possible inclusion – mine are in there too!) There are also reviews of tours offered by high-quality, pre-screened operators, which you can purchase directly through the site. The team behind Travelade has worked at Linkedin and several other startups and tech ventures, making them well versed in the social media world.
Reminiscent of Pinterest, Travelade allows you to search for topics based on a series of flavor filters such as “Hidden Gems,” “Extreme Adventures,” “Foodies,” “Urban Explorers,” and my personal favorite “You Can’t Make This Up.”
Those categories will then be broken down into even more specific sub-groups, if you really want to dig deep into a particular topic, like camping in the Budget Friendly flavor. You save your favorite stories to Your WanderList, where you can reference them at a glance on the road.
The Best of Iceland
As my long-time readers know, I fell in love with Iceland on a seven day 2012 trip. Iceland was the darling of the travel world even back then, and so one might assume I’d exhausted my own attention span for Iceland-related content. Yet I lost myself in the addictive articles Travelade kept recommending! Here a few of my favorites that had me itching to book a return trip:
• 6 Destinations in Iceland Where You Can Guarantee a Great Instagram Shot: A cheat sheet of the most photogenic spots in a country where you can’t seem to point a camera in the wrong direction? Yes please!
• The Best 5k Running Routes in Downtown Reykjavik: I’m always trying to fit in some fitness when I travel, so I loved this guide to Reykjavik’s most scenic running routes. Too cold to be outside? Another Travelade Original tackled the country’s best gyms.
• Surf Guide: Iceland: Am I willing to brave the cold waters? No. Am I fascinated by those who do? Yes. I would love to chat up an Icelandic surfer on my next trip!
• Inside The Volcano: One of the top tours that’s on my list for a return trip to Iceland
• Tourist Trap or Must-See? Debating Iceland’s Blue Lagoon: I loved hearing both sides of an experience that I definitely filed under “must see.”
• Iceland Airwaves Survival Guide: Iceland + a festival? No surprise, it’s on my list.
• Icelandic Movies to Watch During Your Trip: As a certified cine-phile, I love watching local films while on the road!
Your Trip
Heading to Iceland? Clearly, I can’t recommend Travelade highly enough to discover personalized recommendations of original and curated content. I only wish it was available for more destinations (am I the only one who finds Google to be a terrible tool for finding great blog content?)
And I might just be in luck – Travelade does plan to expand around the world, eventually.
Seeing how popular of a destination Iceland has become, I have had my hesitating moments of wondering if I ever will go back. That’s a pretty wild thought considering I’ve always ranked Iceland as one of my top five favorite countries in the world! Our family vacation there was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken.
And my time on Travelade opened my eyes to the fact that there are still a million hidden gems in that tiny country that are waiting to be discovered! I hope I don’t have to wait till long until I get to search for a few of them, again.
Have you been to Iceland? Are you planning a trip there? What resources did you use to plan?
This is a really cool site! And perfect timing as I might be organizing a trip to Iceland for a client soon. I also feel like I’m missing out on blog recommendations when I use Google, so I’d love to see other destinations featured.
Ugh I know! I wish Google would create a way to refine their searches for that — I have to wade through pages and pages of tour companies and other BS to get to the blog posts I’m looking for, and I rarely feel I’ve really gotten the whole picture.
This sounds like a great site! Iceland has been on my list for years, but with how popular it’s become, I feel the same as you – do I really want to go there right now? When I do eventually make it there, I’ll definitely check this site out.
Yeah, this totally reassured me that there’s still plenty of exploring to do for anyone willing to step off the beaten path!
This sounds like a great way to find cool off the beaten path stuff! That would indeed be awesome if they expanded to more countries, cause I would love to use it around the world 😀 And you’re not alone, I think Google is terrible for finding good blog content! Usually to find good blog posts I have to go to other blogs I read already and find the reference page to other blogs and just search through those until I find the countries that I want 😛
That’s pretty much what I do too… just look at the destination pages of blogs I already read, or ask around! A more effective tool like this one would be fabulous.
Iceland is my dream destination.
I think it is for many travelers! And I understand why!
I have unfinished business with Iceland! Roads that need to be cycled, local knitwear that needs to be scooped & hot springs that need to be plunged (like ahem, the blue lagoon. Husband didn’t want to book ahead!!). I’d definitely check out this platform as part of my research.
Ha, I feel the same! I actually have zero complaints about my trip, it was darn near perfect. But still I want to go back!
Cool site! I used your site as a resource and some other bloggers I follow 🙂
I’m honored 🙂 <3
I just ADORED my trip to Iceland! It was a top bucket-list destination for me for over a decade. I finally went this past March with my husband. We initially planned to buy a vacation package but the dates didn’t work for us, so we planned everything a la carte. I intend to go back someday and see more of the island, really taking my time to drive around the perimeter.
We did see the Golden Circle, and we also went north through the Hvalfjörður Tunnel to catch the Northern Lights. Of course, there was a trip to the Blue Lagoon as well. We hiked on a glacier and drank water streaming from it, and it was the coldest, freshest water I’ve ever tasted. I’d never felt more badass!
We stayed in Hafnarfjörður because it was cheaper, and our room had an unexpected view of the ocean! The town had its own harbor and food scene that was lovely. We enjoyed walking around Reykjavik and trying new foods. Iceland has great cuisine, but visitors beware of the tourist trap “foods” offered like shark, whale, and puffin. Icelanders don’t really eat these, and we didn’t either.
The trickiest part was that our flight landed at 3:30am. We were exhausted but couldn’t check in to our hotel until the afternoon. What to do? It took some time to get our luggage and rental car, and then we drove to the capital during the sunrise. We got breakfast in downtown Reykjavik, then went to a swimming pool (outdoors!) and soaked in their geothermal hot tubs with the locals. It was super relaxing and a great way to decompress after the flight.
I love the sound of your trip, Kelsi! We also had a super weird early flight arrival. We had breakfast at the airport (complete with DIY mimosas!) and then went straight to the Blue Lagoon as the doors opened. It was perfect! By the time we were done there and arrived to town, it was basically time to check in.
Super cool. Thanks for the information. I just knew that surfing in iceland is possible. must be really cold…
Indeed it is! I think a drysuit is definitely required, though 😉
Checking Travelade now!
Enjoy! I bet you’ll be booking a trip to Iceland in no time 😉
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Omg, Iceland looks so amazing! I hope to make a trip there one day.
Thanks for sharing so much great travel content!
It was magical. Love love love my memories of this trip.