Venue and Local Information

Venue

The event will be held at the new campus of Reykjavik University. See this map for the location (at the south shore of Reykjavik). The whole campus is a single building. The conference will be held in room V102, first floor, that should be easy to find.

Transportation

There are three options to get to campus: Taxi, bus, or by foot.

* Bus 19 goes to the university; every 30 minutes. See bus.is for schedule.

* For participants staying at Hotel Fron, the hotel has a sign-up sheet for a taxi ride

on Saturday morning. The cost is not covered by the conference.

* On a good day, you may like to walk; there is a tree-lined path that ends at the

east entrance of the university.

Local information

Getting from the airport:

The Keflavik airport is located 45 minutes from Reykjavik. We

recommend the FlyBus (https://www.flybus.is/flybus) to get from the

airport to the Reykjavik Bus Terminal (BSI) for 1950 ISK (about $16).

A premium service called FlyBus+ will drop you off at your hotel.

Money

Credit cards are accepted anywhere, including taxis, Flybus, hot-dog stands. The rare exceptions are city busses and parking meters. The Icelandic krona (ISK) is currently at about 160 ISK = 1 euro. Tipping is not customary in Iceland. Items bought in the country are tax free for tourists (note that VAT is 25.5%) as long as you ask for and collect a special tax-free receipt for reimbursement.

Random information:

Electricity runs on 220V. Tap water is deliciously clean (no need to buy water), but do let the cold water run for a few moments to avoid the stench of sulfur from the hot geothermal water. Alcohol is expensive, with the exception of the Duty Free store at the Keflavik Airport. We use GSM and prepaid cards are about $5. Iceland is remarkably safe (the crime rate is minuscule). There will be no night during your time in Iceland -- it will be continuously bright outside. Make sure to bring an eye cover if you suspect this will cause you to have problems sleeping.

Language:

Practically everyone speaks English to at least a limited degree, and most will happily have a conversation with you. Most people are

fluent. In any event, people will try to be helpful. Iceland is a Germanic language, closely resembling the common ancestor of English, the Scandinavian languages and German. Accents are on the first syllable. Here are some essential phrases.

"Hello" - "Halló" (hall-oh) or just "Hæ" (hi)

"Good day" - "Góðan dag" (go-than dag - with a soft G)

"How are you?" - "Hvað segirðu gott?" (quath say-gear-do got - with

heavy emphasis on the final T).

"Thanks" - "Takk fyrir" (tack fear-ear - with rolling R-s).

"Congratulations" - "Til hamingju" (teal ham-eang-you)

Getting to Iceland

There are many airlines that fly to Reykjavik during the summer, and more will be added before the start of the conference. The hub operator is Icelandair, and other airlines include Air Berlin, Iceland Express, SAS, and Delta.

Since the tourist season is short, it is advisable to make reservations early.