While we were in Norway and Iceland with our group of 15 travelers, we had the chance to talk about why they decided to travel with The Traveling Professor.

Before we get into the particulars of Norway, Iceland and Denmark, we found our travelers like going with us because of our small group tour concept.   15 people on a tour is actually more than we usually take.   Our tours average around 12 people.  This allows us flexibility and the ability to get into places the other tours simply cannot get to.   For instance, in Iceland, we were able to go to waterfalls and other scenic spots where there were NO OTHER visitors.   Imagine having a waterfall all to yourself.   In Norway we scheduled hikes and other activities that had ZERO other travelers on it.   The hike in Norway was several of our travelers highlight of the tour.

But why are travelers liking Norway, Denmark and Iceland more and more.   Here are some of the comments we heard from travelers:

• These Nordic destination are freer to some of the unpleasant issues going on in France, Italy, Greece and parts of southern Europe.   In the Nordic countries our travelers had much less of a concern for crime, "grittiness", political instability, strikes, and crazy drivers (i.e., Naples, scooters in Paris, etc.).
• Cleanliness:  Oslo is nearly spotless, Copenhagen is clean as a whistle, and Iceland has beautiful open country.   The public transportation is good in Norway and Denmark and easy to use.   The trains stations were unlike any train station in southern Europe in terms of a feeling of safety and comfort.
• Friendliness:  Our travelers thought our hosts in these Nordic countries were great and there was absolutely no language barrier at all.
• Weather:  While our friends were struggling temps of over 100 degrees in Italy, we enjoyed Mother Nature's air conditioned climate.
• Crowds:  What a difference!  We never had to wait or deal with crowds.   We walked right in to wherever we needed to go, public transportation was clean and uncrowded, we easily got into any restaurant, museum or attraction we wanted to go.