Iceland Teambuilding Review

Published: 12.06.09

by Ina Grayston Isachsen

When Omega goes to Iceland, even SAS' professional and adept air hostesses become enthusiastic and personally engaged in the trip. And after countless sights, hearty meals, many laughs and cheerful gatherings it was apparent upon departure that our teambuilding trip from May 21 – 24 2009 had given some solid contributions to Iceland's broken economy.

Photo gallery from the Iceland trip

Having landed on Iceland, there is no reason to sit around in a bus. It is better just to drive straight to the Blue Lagoon and dip for a couple of hours until your fingers look like raisins, and you are ready for lunch and shopping. We may well have stayed in the warm, white water for the rest of the weekend, but the island has more to offer than just the lagoon. So we boarded the bus to Reykjavik and got ready for a sightseeing Friday with a challenging quiz and a delicious dinner at the hotel on Thursday night.

In a somewhat random order we got to see many of Iceland's gems: the capricious geysers, the remarkable landscapes, the beautiful church at the old episcopal city of Skálholt, Thingvellir – the cradle of Icelandic democracy, and some very visible evidence of the crevice between tectonic plates that Iceland is resting upon. By Gullfoss we also got to experience sideways rain. Torrents of water fall into the ravine, and splash back to soak you even 30-40 metres above. We also got to visit a geothermal power plant, a perfect match for the pressure, temperature, power, pipe and turbine fans who populate Omega. For a more feminine counterpart to this “powerfest” we finished the sightseeing trip at a wool shop with quality garments for staying warm. The Icelandic people do know how to handle cold weather.

Saturday's problem was that we had to choose one of the many tours. Many of us surely could have stayed for a week and done them all, but a choice had to be made. Some discovered the sights of Reykjavik and explored the shops, while others wandered the caves, surrounded by bubbling mud and glaciers. Evidence for jumping dolphins and whales with flapping flukes has also been presented. The whale tour was rather cold for those with underdimensioned clothing, but the tough gang did persevere. Linda Grindheim tells us about the tour:

Whale safari

The bus picked us up outside the hotel, there were nine of us going on whale safari in the Atlantic Sea. After boarding Hafsulan we were all ready to go out on the sea to see some whales, and the boat was filled with tourists putting on warmer, waterproof clothes. The weather was not the best when we started, the rain was pouring, but as we went further west the weather improved.

Our first stop was a mountain full of birds, with the puffin being the most remarkable of them. Now we were really hitting the Atlantic, and some of the participants were looking for whales, but still no luck. It looked as though the whales were not on our side today, but we got to see dolphins swimming and jumping alongside our boat. When we spotted the dolphins everyone came running to deck to see the beautiful creatures swim with us. We saw four dolphins jumping around in the ocean, a very cool sight and lots of fun.

The trip was well worth it even though we did not get to see whales; seeing the dolphins was a great experience. The temperature at sea was not very pleasant, so we were glad to have dressed accordingly. After being out at sea for a few hours it was time to turn the boat around, and get back and warm ourselves up at the hotel.

To a rock in the sea

You know you have come to a small place when you arrive at the airport and get the boarding cards hand-delivered without even saying your name. They were not trying to get rid of us at Vestmannaeyjar, they just knew that we were coming to their island that day and wanted to take good care of us.

When he does not give confused tourists a personal introduction to life in the North Atlantic Sea, our guide is the singer and guitarist in a band called Jack London. In the rain and wind Unnar guided us to Eldfell, a crater after the volcano that suddenly erupted in 1973 and buried the island in lava and ashes. It was difficult walking on the lava pebbles, and a long way down on both sides of the crater edge. Just below the rocks we were standing on, we could feel the heat rising from the volcano. The city and its harbour almost disappeared under the lava when the volcano erupted, but thanks to lava cooling (by spraying sea water) and some luck they were able to save their harbor. And then they could start digging out houses and burned ruins from thick layers of ash.

Vestmannaeyjar (The Westmen Isles) is one of Iceland's more profitable places these days. The harbors are efficient, fishing is good, and the houses are large and neat. Even though it is just a little rock in the sea with a few sheep, the island is inhabited by countless bird species, it has an 18-hole golf course, delicious anglerfish at the Café Maria, and vast possibilities for hiking and photography in the ever-changing weather and light. In the warm afternoon sun we had the chance to share a few beers with the local lads. Though some islanders had a skeptical look on their eyes, they probably thought we were talking to the wrong folks, but this was where the stories could be found. We got to hear about their summer camp in Norway after the volcano erupted, and how they smuggled cola bottles into the camp (by using them as support in the first aid training), and the frogs they wanted to smuggle back to Iceland in their pockets.

In the afternoon we received some great snow scooter pictures from our fellow teambuilders driving around the Myrdalsjøkull glacier. And when we all gathered for dinner later that evening we could spot some people with a slightly modified way of walking. Those were the ones who had been on the horse riding excursion. Ina Therese Henriksen tells us about it: “We were not notified that we needed to be trained horsemen to go on the trip, but we soon found out that it would have made things a bit easier. No one had much experience with horses, except one girl who had her own horse at home. Naturally, she got the most active one, and told us later that she had more than enough trouble keeping it steady and calm. The first hour at the riding centre was needed for us to get to know the basics and practice a bit of trotting, and eventually we even got to try gallop. Our tour started from the riding centre just outside Reykjavik and took us riding around a mountain. The landscape was beautiful and left some great impressions on the riders. The riding centre sent two girls with us to take care of riders and horses. It felt like time was flying, but after three hours we were all pretty tired. At least my body was aching for a week after the trip, I could not even cross my legs and developed a cowboy walk.”

Everything has an end

We had numerous great meals on our trip. Perhaps the most Icelandic one was the Vikingfest on Friday night, with fish soup, lamb and Svartdaudir on the menu. But you need not consume spiced spirits for the world to turn at the Perlan restaurant. It revolves by itself, giving you a 360° view of Reykjavik with one round taking up exactly one three-course dinner with coffee and brandy. StatoilHydro's choir Dråpen (The Drop) was a familiar sight for us on this trip, as they were also visiting Reykjavik. They rounded off our weekend with some swinging tunes in Perlan on Saturday night, and our spirits were high as we walked home in the summer night to get ready for an early departure the morning after.