That was quick. My wallet hasn't quite had time to recover from the last one yet.

2015 fanfest will be in march not may?

2015 fanfest will be in march not may?

Try reading the devblog again. Also March is a lot cheaper than May.

Because I want to go there for my 1st fanfest, I would love some more information before making plans. I am young so the more info the better :)

1. The flight to Iceland and accomodations are for me to get myself, correct? And are not included with the early bird special offer?
- If so, how much will that usually cost?(I am coming from The Netherlands)

2. One of the reasons I want to go to iceland is I heard you can see the Northern Light/Aurora Borealis, will they be visible during march?(I heard they are only visible during certain months)

3. How cold does it usually get? I get that I must pack warm clothes, but should I go with really warm clothes?

4. How much money is recommended to have with me? As in how expensive will it be to be there for a week(If I go there, I go there for at least a week...) without doing outrageous drinking?(I am not into alcohol, so that is not a problem for me)

I am sure I got more questions later, but those are the ones that spring to mind.
Any information is really helpful to prepare for me, to get money saved up etc. so thanks to anyone who shares some info

1) You are responsible for your own flight and loding. As it gets closer to the date, Icelandair will generally offer a package deal to include the hotel and flight. The tickets currently offered are just for admission to the convention. A corpmate who came from The Netherlands booked VERY late (about 3 weeks before) and he spent approx $1700 for flight and lodging. I booked 5 months early and I only spent $1200

2) They should be available during that time: http://www.grand.is/travel-tips/best-time-to-see-northern-lights-in-iceland/

3) During march expect ranges from -2C to +4C (28F - 37F) You will need cold weather coats and gloves. Don't forget Reykjavik is a harbor.

4) I brought $1500 with me and I still had some left over. Just know that Reykjavik is an expensive city. Beer is $8 ($4 on happy hour) a mix drink can be $15 and a pack of smokes runs about $11. Souvenirs and shopping is also expensive as well.

Hope this helps, I just got back from my first fanfest this year and just bought my ticket for 2015. Start saving now and hope to see you there!

1) You are responsible for your own flight and loding. As it gets closer to the date, Icelandair will generally offer a package deal to include the hotel and flight. The tickets currently offered are just for admission to the convention. A corpmate who came from The Netherlands booked VERY late (about 3 weeks before) and he spent approx $1700 for flight and lodging. I booked 5 months early and I only spent $1200

2) They should be available during that time: http://www.grand.is/travel-tips/best-time-to-see-northern-lights-in-iceland/

3) During march expect ranges from -2C to +4C (28F - 37F) You will need cold weather coats and gloves. Don't forget Reykjavik is a harbor.

4) I brought $1500 with me and I still had some left over. Just know that Reykjavik is an expensive city. Beer is $8 ($4 on happy hour) a mix drink can be $15 and a pack of smokes runs about $11. Souvenirs and shopping is also expensive as well.

Hope this helps, I just got back from my first fanfest this year and just bought my ticket for 2015. Start saving now and hope to see you there!

Fanfest 2015 is scheduled from March 19 to 21, 2015, during a solar eclipse.

Because I want to go there for my 1st fanfest, I would love some more information before making plans. I am young so the more info the better :)

1. The flight to Iceland and accomodations are for me to get myself, correct? And are not included with the early bird special offer?
- If so, how much will that usually cost?(I am coming from The Netherlands)

2. One of the reasons I want to go to iceland is I heard you can see the Northern Light/Aurora Borealis, will they be visible during march?(I heard they are only visible during certain months)

3. How cold does it usually get? I get that I must pack warm clothes, but should I go with really warm clothes?

4. How much money is recommended to have with me? As in how expensive will it be to be there for a week(If I go there, I go there for at least a week...) without doing outrageous drinking?(I am not into alcohol, so that is not a problem for me)

I am sure I got more questions later, but those are the ones that spring to mind.
Any information is really helpful to prepare for me, to get money saved up etc. so thanks to anyone who shares some info

Oh god.

What have I done?

Also as a hot weather denizen I have no idea about cold weather clothing. Freezing temperatures are uncommon here.

It looks like the total eclipse barely misses iceland tho, no?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/SE2015Mar20T.gif

According to some weather data I googled, low-temperatures in December for Phoenix (December 6th 2013 was ~36F) are about the highest you can expect, that should give you some indication at least.

We'll miss totality, yeah, but it'll be very close to a total eclipse, still very spectacular and quite rare to witness.

1) For the flight, Iceland Air from Schiphol (fellow Dutchy here) is your best option, and should be ~250-300 or so for a return ticket, if you book early (and since we know 10 months in advance, you will) it may well be less.

The Iceland Air Hotel packages usually aren't bad, but quite limited in terms of duration, if you intend to stay longer than say 4-5 days or so, it's probably easier to book the hotel separately, in my experience (last time I went was 2011) the hotels in Reykjavik aren't that expensive either, the CenterHotel Skjaldbreid (which is just up the Laugavegur from the Harpa, 10 minutes walk away) was something like Gé¼60 per night for late March.

2) The Aurora should be visible solar activity permitting, it's March so it'll be dark relatively early which helps. Keep an eye on sites like Spaceweather.com for big solar-flares, it takes an ejection about 3 days to get to earth, time your excursion with the arrival of one, the bigger the better, it needs to be pushed south quite a bit.

3) Unlike the name suggests, Iceland isn't that cold, it'll usually about the same as the Netherlands in that time of year, so just below freezing to just above freezing generally. The wind can be rather nasty though, as you're very close to water at all times in Reykjavik, and the weather is extremely variable. Expect a normal day to include snow, rain, blue skies and everything in between in rapid succession.

4) Alcohol and candy is exceptionally expensive compared to the Netherlands, everything else was reasonable depending on where you went (Perlan, while a cool restaurant is pricey as all hell for instance).

Expect to pay around Gé¼40-Gé¼50 for a hot meal at a mid-to-high range restaurant.
A meal at "American Style" on Tryggvagata for instance won't cost you much more than Gé¼20-Gé¼25 or so and the portions are generous to put it mildly.
You'll pay Gé¼10-Gé¼12 for a sub at Nonnabiti (these are delicious I might add), but again cheaper options are available, and the super-markets are quite well stocked too.

Shop smart and look stuff up (the number of restaurants with full menus on their site is rather high) and budget accordingly.

Thanks for the info as well!

2) Do you have a lot of experience with the hotels there? Which ones are good, which ones are bad etc.?
3) Looking forward to it, sounds mostly like our country anyway
4) Not candy! Nooo!!
- But I'll do some digging and see which places might be good to go. But any recommendations are welcome.


I really hope I can go, will be interesting as my first flight...With fear of heights (But I want to GTFO of Netherlands anyway, so I better do it sooner rather than later)

Btw, do they speak proper english there? Or should I start learning sign language?

Btw, do they speak proper english there? Or should I start learning sign language?

The first one is the cold. I live at Brazil in a warm place, around 32-¦C during day and 24-¦C at night, so I have zero experience in cold weather, and I need lots and lots of tips to not become a frozen snowman.

Finally, I would like to stay more days, like 10 to 15 days, to know better the place and surroundings. Travel that far are a bit expensive, and it is better (and more economic) enjoy the most of country in one go. So, what you guys recommend for me?

Thank you all in advance, and sorry for my truncate English.
Castelo

I'm coming from the southwest US (Phoenix AZ). (also what's the air port code there? I like to search by that (eg when looking for flights to LA I search "PHX to LAX [date]")

I think this has been the friendliest Dev Blog I have ever participated in...

You guys are great, See you there next year with more propaganda posters! (In case I met any of you at this past Fanfest)

The first one is the cold. I live at Brazil in a warm place, around 32-¦C during day and 24-¦C at night, so I have zero experience in cold weather, and I need lots and lots of tips to not become a frozen snowman.

Edit: I already got another question for the dutchies!
How is payments usually done there? Can I use my "bankpas" or should I expect to use cash money or?
I will go to my bank anyway to verify the information from them as well, but might as well get stories from people who have actually done it :)

@CCP:
Although this is really early and information might not be available yet, will there be tours before fanfest with CCP Devs to some of the spots on the island again

@anyone:
How is the Fanfest food? If I am gonna be stuck in there from early morning to late in the evening to catch most of the presentations(roundtables might be very interesting to attend I guess), I rather not starve so how is the food in there and can you actually survive on it?(Preferably without going broke)

What do the IcelandAir packages usually include? Anything special due to low pricing or is it just as easy to just go there with IcelandAir and book everything seperately?

And what hotels would you all recommend? I checked out CenterHotels and it seemed nice enough in "Arnarhvoll" and "Skjaldbreid" according to the pricing on booking.com and reviews on TripAdvisor. Though I did learn while reading the reviews of the hotels not to take a low-floor, due to noise issues, but I guess most hotels have that problem.

And last before bed, how long would you recommend for a stay? Prices add up quickly with the expensive dinners etc. so would 5-7 days cut it to check out the most things?

How is payments usually done there? Can I use my "bankpas" or should I expect to use cash money or?
I will go to my bank anyway to verify the information from them as well, but might as well get stories from people who have actually done it :)

Btw Meiyang Lee, where exactly did you buy your plane ticket at the time? Their own website says 350, so you got a better deal somewhere? :D

Btw Falcon, will there be another CCP GateCamp and Bus waiting? I'd love to get a free ride :P (I get it, that info will come later, but may or may not be shared at the time)

Neither has my liver

I was checking Icelandic Air's website and they seem to have just updated their flight plans: https://i.imgur.com/y1hE054.png