The Rise of Women-Only Hiking in Iceland | After Hours Ep. #2

00:00 Cold open

Saga: I just remember laughing the entire time. It was just so relaxed and fun, and great dynamic and energy. Women in nature, there's something perfect about it.

Nika: I want to hear more about Iceland. It always amazes me when I see how green the moss is.

Saga: It takes the moss around 70 years to grow. This is one of my favorite views.

That's okay. Everybody becomes professional photographers in Iceland. Yeah. Doesn't matter where you come from around the world, we just want to feel powerful together. I'm getting, like, goosebumps.

00:39 Meet Saga: women-only travel on 57hours

Nika: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the After Hours by 57hours. In today's episode, we'll talk about women-only adventure travel. It's one of the fastest growing categories on 57hours, but it didn't really start because of some grand plan, and I don't think we really planned for it, but it did start because Saga existed.

And I think the partnership between 57hours and Viking Women is one of the oldest, and in a lot of ways shaped how we think about the woman-only adventure. And yeah, this episode is about that story. So I want to introduce Saga. She is from Iceland. She's been guiding in Iceland for, what is it, over 12 years now?

Saga: I guess 12 years. Wow.

Nika: Nice. So I know that in 2021, during the pandemic, you started thinking about Viking Women and now it's grown into this whole operation of women guides leading women-only tours. We'll get into all of that, but I want to start with you. Your name has a very interesting meaning in Iceland.

Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. How did you get into the outdoors in the first place? What started all of this?

02:03 A nature kid in Iceland: the first Laugavegur at 20

Saga: Funny that you should mention my name because I've had a few questions while I'm guiding from clients asking me, "Is this your real name?" And I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not like I have a little nickname like Gary," even though many Icelandic guys have so because their names are complicated.

But no, my name is, yeah, Saga, which means a history or a story or a sequence of stories, and definitely brings a nice harmony to the Viking Women Tours, for sure. And I've always been kind of a nature kid and, I guess, you know, it's quite easy to be a nature kid in Iceland because it's basically nature is just in your backyard.

And I grew up in a town where it's full of old lava, and I just... I, was always running around in a lava fields with moss, which was sitting next to the ocean. So I've always been a nature kid. I was in the scouts, and I kind of got the hiking... What do you call it? The hiking bug.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: So it started kind of, you know, around teenage age.

And, at the age of 20, I hiked my first Laugavegur trail with two of my friends.

Nika: Is that a pretty common hike for people in Iceland to do, or was it a big feat?

Saga: At that time, like, I didn't really know much about the Laugavegur trail. I don't even know how we got this, you know, idea in our head. I think one of our friend was like, "Let's do this four-day hike.

We just bring a tent and few energy bars. We'll be fine."

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: So I have a photo.

Nika: Oh, wow. So that's you at 20 doing the Laugavegur for the first time?

Saga: Yes, and I just want to point out. Let's take a little look at the outfit, okay. And these hiking boots were probably since I was 12. I'm wearing just sweatpants.

Nika: Yeah, I was going to say, are those, like, linen pants, sweatpants? Yes. What's going on?

Saga: Something that is not good for the Icelandic environment and weather. Hiking poles probably borrowed from my mom. This blue sweater or a shirt was, like, the only thing I could find at home that was some sort of wool thing, and it's from my dad.

And then I have this old backpack that I got when I was 13, and this is basically everything on my back. We were three friends hiking. I was carrying some food and mattress and a sleeping bag, and one friend was carrying the tent. And yeah, this is how we did it.

Nika: Yeah. I assume the huts existed then, right?

But you guys just chose to do the tent route?

Saga: Yeah, I mean, it's cheaper to do the tent. We didn't have money. We were like, "Ah, we'll just tent." And it was, I mean, there was crazy weather one night where we didn't sleep. We just ate a lot of dry fish and these energy gels, but we were fine. When we were 20, we had endless of energy.

It was just fun and-

Nika: You had energy gels? That's advanced.

Saga: We had, yeah, we had. I know that's quite advanced for 2009 in Iceland.

Nika: Yeah, yeah. Nice. You look exactly the same.

Saga: Oh.

Nika: With less technical clothing maybe. Okay, so this was kind of the beginning. You're 20. You hike for the first time, and then I want to go a little bit to 2021 when you had been guiding, but then you decided to start your own company.

This was kind of also around the same time that the version of 57hours that exists today was starting. And so I want to, yeah, I want to talk a little bit about how- We all got introduced, but tell me, what were you thinking when you decided to start Viking Women in the middle of the pandemic?

05:52 Starting Viking Women in the middle of the pandemic

Saga: Yeah, what was I thinking?

Yeah. Great question. There was a lot of aspects that got into why I was driven to finally have the courage to do like, ah, let's just, you know, why not? Like you mentioned, pandemic was all over, so I was just basically working my three months notice at this big travel company that I've been working for the five previous years.

Massive company, like, which kind of molded me into the guide that I am and gave me all of this knowledge and experience in Iceland. But, you know, everybody was laid off, obviously. It was, pandemic. So I got to thinking, like, "What's next? What should I do next after all of this?" I have some time.

I still want to guide, but I was kind of tired of the trips that I was guiding for my previous company, because they just started putting me on trips that I wasn't really, like, passionate about, and I just love hiking. So I was like, "I just want to guide these type of trips." And if I start the travel company, obviously I can just choose what type of tours I offer, and I just wanted to offer the most fun tours for me.

And I had this idea about the women-only tours in mind, because when I got a chance in the past to guide for the first time a women-only group from the North America, 12 days hiking the Laugavegur Trail, going horseback riding, kayaking, and everything, I just remember laughing the entire time, just having so much fun, just being with girlfriends, even though we lived in two different continents, but we were so energetic and we had so much fun, and we were everybody's cheerleader, and we would, you know, start to have inside jokes.

And it was just so relaxed and fun and great dynamic and energy, and I was like, "Wow, this was such a great group." And we became Facebook friends after that, and I still have, like, some contact, you know, with some of them today, and this was 2014, '15, something like that. So that group and that tour always sat really well with me, and that was something that I was like, "I just want to guide these groups all the time and be in the Highlands hiking where I enjoy myself the most."

Nika: Yeah.

08:09 Vigdís Finnbogadóttir: don't work under any man

Saga: Okay. This is Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. She is the first elected female president in Iceland. She's an icon. We ... Like, a role model to all women, basically. And yes, she's just great woman. When I met Vigdís, I was finishing a Laugavegur hike, and it was my last Laugavegur hike with this company. She was sitting there having coffee in the hut with her daughter and the guide.

I asked if they wanted me to take a photo of them, which they did, and her daughter started, like, chatting with me. "Are you a guide?" and, "What are you doing? What about the pandemic? Do you have any work in the future?" And I was like, "No. Well, this is my last tour. I really don't know what to do.

But to be honest, I have this idea. I really want to start my own travel agency, my own company, and, like, have it focusing on women-only tours." And that's when Vigdís spoke up, and she grabbed my hand, like, my upper arm, and she said, like, "You should do it. Start your own thing. Be your own boss.

Don't work under any man." And I was like, "Okay. Yes." That really sat with me, and I was, like, listening, and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir said that to me. Obviously, I'm going to, you know, obey.

Nika: Yeah. If the president of Iceland tells you to start your own-

Saga: Yeah. I mean, obviously. And it was just so symbolic to be there.

I was in Þórsmörk. It was the end of the Laugavegur Trail, my happy place of all places in Iceland, and then Vigdís is there, and we even have the Icelandic flag in the background. It was just like ... There were, like, all the signs. Like, do it. Do ... You know?

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: So that had an impact as well, why I decided to do this, making Vigdís

proud.

Nika: I think Iceland is one of the few countries where you could run into the president on a hiking trail, or I guess at the end of a hiking trail.

Right. Yeah. No. Up in the Highlands, in the mountain huts, there is the former president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir having coffee, and you're like, "Oh." Yeah, that's very Icelandic for you.

So then I was, "Okay, okay. What should the name be? What should the name be?" And I was like, "Viking Women. Ugh, it's a bit cliche, but it sounds kind of good." Yeah. "So why not?"

10:20 The map: Laugavegur, Fjallabak and Þórsmörk

Nika: I would love if you could show us a map. Where is the Laugavegur? Where is your favorite place on earth?

Saga: Okay. This is Iceland.

Nika: Mm-hmm.

Saga: The blue dot is where I am.

I live in the capital area, and the Laugavegur Trail takes place in the Highlands here. This is called Fjallabak Nature Reserve, so which means the mountain back. And the trail ends up here in Þórsmörk. So, and it goes to Landmannalaugar, which means the land of the people's pool. So this is a 55-kilometer trail- Mm

that you can hike in, we offer it to do it either in three days or four days. And then the next two days is hiked in Þórsmörk.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: So total six days.

11:19 Why women-only groups click so fast

Nika: What do you think it is about the women-only groups that are so interesting? 'Cause I mean, I totally agree. They could be complete strangers from a complete different country, but you just kind of immediately, you start chatting and it feels like a friend.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: What do you think it is that just makes it gel so nicely with such complete strangers?

Saga: Wow. I think it's because, I mean, obviously we resonate with each other. We're women. Doesn't matter where you come from around the world, we kind of get each other. When it comes to all sorts of discrimination, we talk about the difference in pay gap.

We are mothers, you know, we have that in common. We ... I think we just like, in a way, like, get each other, and we just want to feel powerful together. And I also, I think nature connects us really well. We talk about Mother Nature all the time, and we are very primal, natural beings. We carry children- Yeah ... in our bodies, and we give birth to them.

We're so natural beings. And when we come together in nature, when we're, like, together in the highlands on a mountain, when we've been hiking and conquering the weather, I mean, there is some sort of force that happens, and we're in this together. And we ... There's something about it. I think just women and nature, there's something perfect about it, and we vibe well.

Nika: No, yeah, I agree. Like, there's a, maybe a higher level of care and-

Saga: Yeah ...

Nika: if you are choosing to go on a woman-only tour, there's a certain thought process that you're having that other women choosing to go on woman-only tours are having as well. You like leading these women-only tours. You have the idea of, I'm going to call it Viking Women. I'm not 100% sure about the name. So what's the next step that keeps propelling it forward?

13:38 First steps: Instagram, Icelandic hikers and 57hours

Saga: First up, making an Instagram account.

That was like, "Great. It's official." "Follow me." The next one was to focus on the Icelandic market, because it was pandemic at that time. I was like, "I'm not going to go all the way to the tourists because there's not much happening in that field, so let's just see if there are any Icelandic women that want to hike the Laugavegur trail with me, in '21."

So I got- One group for the Laugavegur Trail and two groups for a three-day Þórsmörk. And it was fantastic. It was great. I mean, it was Finally something happening. Very few people around, by the way. It was really nice up in the highlands during the pandemic, like so much space in the huts and nobody on the trail, and it was just really, really nice.

And I guess at that time my friends who live in Iceland and also own their own travel company, Alberto and Monica, they introduced me to 57hours. They were like, "Hey, Saga, check these guys out."

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: And I was like, "Okay, okay, cool. Nice. What do they do?" Like, they basically, you know, they are great with customer care and selling the tours and putting up the tours on the website and everything that I was not really good at.

I'm just a guide that has ideas and pictures, but I lacked this essence of the more professionalism and the technical part, the booking part, the customer care and everything. So when I got introduced to 57hours, it was just this perfect piece of the puzzle that I needed. Yeah.

Nika: I guess on our side, the whole idea behind 57hours started, you know, for years before the pandemic, the founders were, you know, talking with guides of what would be helpful, and I think the main thing that kept coming up is, like, having an idea for a tour and running with

and running a tour, it's a completely different skill set and maybe a part of your brain than doing the marketing, the customer acquisition, and the care around that. And then, you know, and it takes, like, years to learn and why would you have to waste years learning, like, how do I correctly spend my marketing budget and whatnot?

And so kind of, yeah, like creating these tools and a platform that can bring customers and bring the right customer also, because it's very specific, you know, someone choosing to go hiking for their vacation versus, I don't know, laying on a resort. Like, it's a very specific customer. And yeah, reaching that.

Yeah. And I think in my eyes, we definitely grew up together. Like, this category- Yeah ... was born on the platform, and-

Saga: I totally agree. When I started to have this idea, like I said, I focused on the locals, the Icelandic ones. I needed, with 57hours, you, you opened the world to me.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: You opened up to other adventurers out there who want to, you know, travel the world and want to experience hiking in other countries and also in Iceland.

16:40 The 2022 breakthrough: six Laugavegur hikes in one summer

Nika: Yeah. And I mean, I think, like, right away Iceland became such a hit, and it's stayed the top-selling location for years now. Yeah. It really had this big explosion. But I guess I want to ask, you know, on your side, when did you kind of have a moment of- Like this is working. This is working and, like, I hit a good one, I guess.

Saga: I guess it was in '22 after my webinar with 57hours that I did. This is my studio at home. Here is with me, with a little bit of notes in the background. I put some lamp there on the side.

Nika: Yeah, I was going to say, I like the lamp that's sideways.

Saga: I was like, "I need some lighting," because it's in November. It was dark, and it was like at 5:00 in the afternoon, so I was like, "Ah, gosh, I need some good lighting here."

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: So I guess after this webinar, we aimed for, I think, two or three Laugavegur hikes for 2022, the summer. Ended up being fully booked for six Laugavegur hikes. I think Maja was always like, "Can you add one more date? Like one more group, another group?" And I was like, "Jesus, okay, it's me guiding." So I mean, obviously I can, but you know, it's going to be a great hiking summer. So I ended up guiding six of the six-day Laugavegur hikes for the summer of '22, and I guess after that summer I was like, "Okay, no turning back now."

Nika: Yeah. Now I'm in it.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: Great fitness for you that summer.

Saga: Oh my God, yeah. It was crazy. And I was like, and I was buying everything, all the groceries. I lived in a small flat, which I was also renting out for Airbnb.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I was just completely, fully packed with schedule. So I was either, like, cleaning out my Airbnb, but also filling up my fridge with all of the food that needed for the, for all the groups, and everything was just done at home, and organic, and yeah. But it worked. But yeah, I was a bit tired after this summer, definitely.

But I was in great shape.

18:43 Women-only travel up 13x: who shows up

Nika: Yeah. Let me look around at some of, like, our- Data to see, because, you know, we mentioned kind of in the beginning, we stumbled into this category a little bit. But I looked. Since it started, I think this category has increased in booking 13 times. Wow. So it's grown 13X since the start, which is really fast for a specific category.

So yeah, like women-only, when you have these kind of, I guess I could call them, like, identity group trips, you're cutting out a lot of participants.

Saga: Right.

Nika: So who shows up on your women-only tours? What is the typical traveler like?

Saga: Ooh. Usually in every group there is a woman or two that is going through, like, a big chapter change in their lives.

Nika: Mm-hmm.

Saga: And they are doing this... I mean, everybody, of course, is doing this for themselves, but, you know, it can be everything from a big birthday celebration to a partner just recently passed away. Kids are all grown up. I mean, there's... Most of them are just kind of, obviously everybody is doing it for themselves.

Like, finally, you know, they're focusing on them and their wellbeing and their happiness. But there is often a person or two that is doing this because their, her life is in a, kind of a, like I said, a chapter change.

Nika: Yeah. To do it.

Saga: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

20:13 Advice for women who don't see themselves as hikers

Nika: I think for women listening, they're like, "I'd love to do this.

Maybe I'm going through something, but I'm not a hiker. I'm not super fit." How do you maybe encourage people who haven't been in the outdoors to, that this kind of trip is for them? Because I think for me, you know, a big part of caring for myself is being in the outdoors and, you know, going on a run, even when you don't like it.

So how do you think about that?

Saga: First of all, I think nature does always something good for you. Traveling is very good for you. I just recommend that everybody should travel. It has many benefits, and we should definitely, could use that to, in the world today. And also being able to meet others that you don't know, and find that they're, you always have something in common with anybody.

You know, we share something, similar things. And you share stories, and you share backgrounds. And you're together in nature, and you kind of forget your cell phone and that you need to answer your emails. So you don't need to go on like a very, a rough, demanding hiking trip to be in nature. I mean, Iceland has this quality of nature is all around, so that's why it's very, a popular destination to visit.

It is a small island, but it's still like this... It's just massive areas and there's so many beautiful things and so much variety to it. I just encourage everybody to just connect a bit with nature and the power of nature, not just waterfalls, glaciers, volcanoes, the wind, the harsh winter weather, but with beautiful northern lights, and then you have the midnight sun.

You have just like everything in Iceland, and it just really, like, many people just also talk about it's very therapeutic to be here. That's why so many people come back again and again. But for women who are hesitant, I always say, "Just go for it. Just take that leap, take that step." You know, don't overthink it.

That's what helped me with this company. I didn't overthink things. Mm-hmm. You know, I just took the naive route, and I'd be like, "Yeah, what? I

like it." Yeah. You know?

Nika: Yeah. Yeah, no, there wasn't, like, market research into what would be interesting. You liked guiding women-only tours.

Yeah. You found it interesting, and so we were like, "Okay, let's-"

Saga: Let's do it ...

Nika: let's try.

Saga: Yeah, let's try it step by step. And then you come to a, then you come to a little wall, you know, in the progress, and you'd be like, "Okay, how can I go over that wall? How can I conquer this, you know, defeat it?" Always these little bumps, but you just take it step by step and, yeah.

Nika: Yeah. That's a good way of putting it. Just show up on a short hike, and then in a year or two you'll be-

Saga: One step at a time.

Nika: Yeah. Nice. Okay, what's this photo you're showing us?

Saga: It's a waterfall, because I also wanted to say you don't need to go on specific hikes. You can go and just drive around Iceland or go for little walks, just walk around.

Like, walk behind this waterfall, for example, and do a little nice pose behind the waterfall, and just feel the energy from it. Doesn't have to be all the way up in the highlands when hiking a mountain. It can also be behind a waterfall.

23:26 What makes Iceland special: eruptions, moss and midnight sun

Nika: Yeah. I like it. That's a good segue into, you know, I, I want to hear more about Iceland. I think I mentioned in the beginning, when we started working together and when we also worked with Alberto and Monica, Iceland just blew up after the pandemic and, and during the pandemic, and I mean, a, lot of different reasons, but it has stayed the top-selling location for a very, very long time.

And I think when you see the photos, you kind of get it. But I... Yeah, show us Iceland and what makes it special.

Saga: Yeah, I just want to show this photo as well, because during the pandemic, Mother Nature had our back, like always, and decided to erupt from the ground beneath us, close to the airport and close to the capital.

A very friendly eruption that took place in Reykjanes. And because it was during the pandemic, people still wanted to come to Iceland. Obviously, you had to quarantine and everything, but because of this eruption that happened, and we had this eruption happening numerous times in the same area, this really kept Iceland on the map, and it really kind of saved us a bit, this eruption.

Nika: How frequent are eruptions in Iceland, and is it... You know, you said this one was a, a friendly one.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: What is that? What's a friendly versus unfriendly volcano eruption?

Saga: Good question. This eruption, for example, basically a little fissure opened up from the ground, not close to civilization, where lava came pouring up from the ground, forming a little crater.

Lava went flowing down everywhere, like you can see, in an area where it was nice to go and hike and see with your eyes. I just needed to hike up a small mountain to see the lava flowing down there. So it was all very... It was all perfectly placed. So that one is a very friendly eruption. The only thing that could maybe have an impact to you was the toxics that came from the eruption.

But it didn't make any... Well, at that time in, during the pandemic, that eruption didn't make any... What do you say? Damages. Fast-forward to '24, the eruption did travel close to a town called Grindavík.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: But then we can have, like, a massive volcanic eruptions below a glacier, because that's also very characteristic for Iceland.

You have volcanoes hiding underneath glaciers. And when those guys decides to erupt, that's when you have a lot of ash spewing up into the atmosphere. Kind of what happened in 2010 when Eyjafjallajökull erupted, and that had an impact on, kind of, Europe and North America with flights and everything.

So that's not a friendly eruption.

Nika: I remember that. A lot of flights were canceled and rerouted and stuff. Nice.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: Do you have some photos of the Laugavegur Trail? Yeah. That's where it all started.

Saga: Oh, I do have the photos of Laugavegur Trail. Here is one of my favorite areas on the trail. This is, like, in the middle, where we're coming down a big mountain called Jökultungur, and we see this lake there.

Do you see the lake?

Nika: Yeah, yeah.

Saga: The Swan Lake. And if you look very closely, here is the Álftavatn Hut.

Nika: Oh, the tiny, yeah, tiny white thing. I see it.

Saga: Once you arrive to this hut, you're kind of halfway there. Then you've done one day hiking or two days hiking. It depends. Because my Laugavegur Trails, I have two types.

I have classic and challenging. Challenging is done in three days, and the classic is done in four days. So this is one of my favorite views there. But because it's a six-day-long tour, and the reason I have it six days is because I like to spend two nights in Þórsmörk, which is my favorite place in- Iceland.

I just love staying in Þórsmörk because it just has... Then you see more lushy green valleys. You also have glaciers around, and there's just beautiful hiking trails all around that fits everybody. And it's just a wonderful place to be. There are, like, three hut areas there. It's also super nice to camp. So this is one of the...

Nika: Oh, wow.

Saga: I know. Look at this. Ugh. I always talk about Þórsmörk like my second home. I just... love staying there.

Nika: And that, the sky is like-

Saga: Summer nights.

Nika: Yeah. It always amazes me when I see photos of Iceland, how green the moss is. It is... It genuinely looks like the green color that you can buy at the paint store.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: Moss is all over Iceland, and from what I know, it's like a protective layer. It takes a really long time to grow.

Saga: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Nika: Are there problems with people destroying the moss in, like, hikes like this? How does that, how does that work?

Saga: Obviously, like, if you just take your hand and tear up a moss, that's a really no-no because, you know, you've torn it up from the ground, and it takes the moss around 70 years to grow.

Just respect the moss. I was, like, taught by young age, "Do not tear up the moss. It keeps the country warm. It's like a blanket for the, for Iceland." And I always had it imprinted in me, and that's what I'm going to tell my daughters, like, "Never tear up the moss." But it has happened that, you know, tourists were camping, and they were trying to insulate their tent with moss that they tore up, and we were like, "Oh my God, guys.

No, no, no, no, no. This is, like, forbidden." And obviously- Yeah ... when you have people walking on a moss, you know, a few steps on a moss is fine, but if you have a group of 50 following you on the same, then those, all of these steps will obviously affect the moss and destroy it. So you have to be very mindful and careful around the moss.

And I read somewhere that in Iceland we have 606 different species of moss. That's what I read.

Nika: Wow.

Saga: The land of moss.

Nika: You said, like, it keeps the country warm. How does it-

Saga: Yeah ...

Nika: How does it work?

Saga: I don't think it really does, but it's like- ... how my mom told me when I was young to get some empathy for the country and...

Nika: For the moss.

Saga: Yeah, for the moss as well. But it's one of the many, many things we have just to how to respect nature, you know? Mm-hmm. And these little stories that we have about nature. I think even the stories about elves and trolls, I mean, these all have hidden lessons in it about respecting nature and people as well.

Nika: What's one that you remember that you were told as a child?

Saga: I think it's hard to remember, like, right away, but the moss story always comes up. Like, you know, obviously the moss doesn't keep Iceland warm, you know, and it's not a, a certain blanket, but still it is.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: This is how my mom taught me a lesson.

Like, obviously I, I would not tear up the moss because why would I want to do that to Iceland? I don't want Iceland to be cold.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: Have the moss there. So I think that's one pretty good example of, of that.

Nika: Yeah. I like that. That's a good, that's maybe a good way to teach nature protection of-

Saga: Oh, yeah ...

Nika: So you started with the Laugavegur, and then I know, you know, when, when we've talked and as this grew, like, women started asking for more things and, you know, they were

They wanted to come back for Iceland, but they weren't going to hike the same trail. What else started growing, and what other tours did you come up with?

31:19 Beyond hiking: wellness tours and new ideas

Saga: Wow, yeah. That's the thing. Then I realized, okay, there's obviously more to it. There's more to Iceland. So I started to offer sightseeing tours, and then I had other hiking tours, and I had wellness tour as well.

Here's one photo from a wellness tour where the group is doing yoga in a beautiful hotel where you see the moss over there. You see the moss behind? Yeah,

Nika: yeah. A- again- Yeah ... it's just so green.

Saga: I know. So there were women that want to come back and want to do something different, but there were also women who were like, "I love this concept.

I love the women-only tours. I love Iceland. I'm not a hiker, so doing six days of hiking is not for me. But, you know, I do love walking around in nature, and I love seeing things." And I was like, "Okay, I mean, the rainbow tour is perfect, and that's what I've done many times before. And also we can do smaller hikes.

We can do, like, maybe two nights in Þórsmörk and hike there in the area." And then we had this idea of a wellness because women love wellness, don't we? You know?

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: And I mean, sign me up for a good wellness tour where you do both hiking and relaxing in beautiful lagoons. You have nice healthy dinners and lunches.

You do yoga. You go explore more inwards and such. So if I have an idea, I try to just go for it.

Nika: I think that's the best way to go about it, and I think that's why so many interesting concepts come out of, you know, your tours because there's not overthinking of, oh, you know, is a spa day really going to intrigue people?

Yeah. You're just like, "I'm going to try, and what's the worst that can happen? Nobody signs up, and then I change it next year."

Saga: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then you obviously want to get feedbacks, and then many women are doing some recommendations. Some are like, "Hey, I would love to go and do... Like, if you have any tours that go to this specific place, I would sign up immediately."

And so I'm open, I'm all ears what people want and what people want to do, like women. And also my guides, my guides have come with, with great ideas as well, so I'm all ears.

33:27 Building a team of Viking Women guides and the Knitting Tour

Nika: Okay. Five years ago, you were just a solo guide. You guided all of 2022 by yourself. Now you have a team of guides. How did you assemble this team, and what are the guides, the Viking Women guides like?

How do you put them together? How do you select them? How did you go about that?

Saga: Great question. After '22, the '23 bookings were starting to come in, and there were also new tours. And I saw that I couldn't obviously clone myself, even though I wanted to. I needed help. I needed some great guides. So I just sent out a little ad or a Facebook ad or something in a guide group and just were like, "Ugh, hopefully somebody wants to work for me."

You know, imposter syndrome. Like, ah, nobody wants to, you know. But- Then the, the applications start coming in, email after email, CV after CV. So many women who are like, "This is amazing. I want to guide women tours, and I have this experience and that." Mm-hmm. So I was just like... I felt really warm in my heart to see these applications and that women were really excited to work for Viking Women.

And I contacted obviously also, like, guides that I knew from my past experience working, you know, that I have worked before, and I was like, "Hey, do you want to do a Laugavegur? Check this out. This is something you had an interest in." So I both used my personal contacts, but also women that I don't, haven't worked with or didn't know that, that applied.

Nika: Nice. I mean, yeah, the external validation of, "Oh, people want to work for me?" Yeah.

Saga: Oh, it's so nice. Oh, thank you.

Nika: Nice. I mean, yeah, I still think the model of, you know, by women, for women, it's... I mean, it's a good story, but it's also, like, it's a business model that clearly, definitely works.

Saga: Yeah. I do want to support women in business, and I also told, like, my guides, Sigrún, she had this freedom of come to me and be like, "I have this idea of a tour that could be great, and great for Viking Women, and I really want to guide it, and here's the proposed itinerary, and la, la, la."

And, you know, I was like, "Great. This is awesome." This was a way for her to be a bit of a-

Nika: Like an entrepreneur ... the CEO seat.

Saga: Yeah, in the entrepreneur seat, and being kind of the boss and, and control. And I also had the same thing with my... We just started a, a brand-new tour called the Knitting Tour. So one of, one guide reached out to me, be like, "Hey, I have this idea of a tour.

Like, I'm a guide, but I'm also a knitter and everything, and I really want to do this. I have this cool idea for a tour." And I'm like, "Bring it, bring it because I have the insurances. I have the certifications. I'm a legit travel agency. I have all, everything that you need. And if you have the ideas and you want to be kind of behind the steering wheel of your own little gig, like, I would love to support that for you."

Nika: Yeah. What's this Knitting Tour? This is the first time I'm hearing about it. What is it like?

Saga: It's so cool. Like, I do not knit-

Nika: Uh-huh ...

Saga: but Iceland is- A great place for people who are really into arts and crafts and everything. And also, Iceland is quite famous for its Icelandic sheep, not only for the meat, but also for the wool.

We wear it proudly and it is something that everybody owns because it just is the perfect thing to wear in winter and summer in Iceland, indoor and outdoor. And the wool sweaters are a kind of known thing with these beautiful patterns that now has start to become globally, like, a fashion. And this knitting tour offers knitters and those who are into arts and crafts to both get a bit of insight of the Icelandic arts and crafts while traveling and seeing beautiful places and going for lovely hikes and visiting lagoons and seeing waterfalls, but still getting a bit of introduction to that hobby in a way.

Not a hobby, it's like a lifestyle. Yeah, great. It's a new type of tour. It works really well with Viking women. I mean, yeah, what's not to like?

37:32 This year's firsts: Greenland and the solar eclipse

Nika: Yeah, that's a good concept. I'm curious. The final few things, but I think this summer you have a lot of firsts happening. There's obviously the Greenland trip, but then also the solar eclipse.

I was just reading about it. It's kind of a big deal because it's the first time since what, 1950-something or, that it's happened?

Saga: A total solar eclipse. Yeah, it was in the '50s.

Nika: Yeah,

Saga: yeah. When everything went dark for these few minutes, and it's not going to happen again in Iceland in, like, many years, 100 years.

So we have it now. I started to plan the eclipse in September '24 when it was, like, two years to the eclipse because the eclipse- Oh, wow ... happening. Yeah, I was like, "I think I'm going to start a bit early about this one." And which it was so good that I listened to my instinct about it because, you know, it's going to be like a big festival here in Iceland.

There's going to be a lot of people obviously, and there are certain travelers out in the world that travel according to where the next eclipse is going to be. And Iceland is a great location for this year because the west of Iceland is going to have a total solar eclipse for these few minutes. And I decided to design a six-day itinerary where we do a lot of the Icelandic things like a glacier hike, we visit Sky Lagoon, we go to the Golden Circle, we hike a little bit, do this and that.

But then August 12th, we go to Reykjanes Peninsula, do a little sightseeing and stuff, and then the group will see the eclipse there. So I'm excited.

39:19 The very first women-only trip

Nika: Oh, look at this. Wow

Saga: Yay. This is, like, the official first Viking women group ever. This was my first Viking women trip, hiking trip. This is, like, all Icelandic women, and we have

My sister is here, my partner is here, my friends are here, and then just random local women that got ... that booked this tour as well. So I ... It's nice to end this with the beginning of Viking-

Nika: Yeah, yeah. The first one. I like it.

Saga: Yeah?

Nika: Yeah. I mean, these were all local, you know,

Saga: Ice- These are Icelandic women

Nika: who have, have lived in Iceland their entire lives, but they still chose-

Saga: Yeah. They chose to go on a, on a women's hike- Mm-hmm ... in June. It was escorted by, like, a professional guide. Everything was included. The price was very low, I'll tell you, obviously, because I was just like, "Ah, I don't want to," you know?

So it was a really good deal. We started hiking a trail called Fimmvörðuháls. It's a 25-kilometer trail which starts at Skógafoss, this waterfall, and on the other side is Þórsmörk. It was in early June, which is not a very common date for people to hike this trail. But I was like, "Oh, don't people hike it early June?"

So we had some obstacles, but we managed, and we managed good. But it was just a lot of snow on the trail, and this was also, like, the part of being kind of naive and just being, "Ah, let's just do it. Let's just go on and hike the Fimmvörðuháls Trail in early June." It took us 12 hours. We were done once we arrived to the hut.

But what was really cool about it, the day after we read it on the news that the search and rescue had to rescue a few hikers on that path that we had some difficulties, but managed. They had to be rescued from there, some guys. And when we read it and we were in the hut having, like, a barbecue and beer, we were, like, all shouting like, "Yeah, Viking women.

Yeah." We were just, like, so proud, and the energy was amazing, and I'm getting goosebumps thinking about that we managed, but there were some dudes that had to be, like, rescued.

Nika: Yeah.

Saga: You know?

41:34 What it means to be a Viking woman

Nika: That's interesting. Okay, but before we end, and we'll add this, but what does it mean to be a Viking woman?

Where does that come from?

Saga: When I think about a Viking woman, I think about back in the, you know, old days, the settlement days, that women at that time, Viking women, they were more independent. They had more voice than you would think. They even were ... Some women were allowed to even fight in a battle.

They were just strong- Clever, independent women that had a word, had a saying in the world, in society, in community. So it's just a power to me. It's something powerful. Yeah. It's something like primal, nature, Viking women. You're ... Like, we all have our power somewhere there. We all have our energy and our strength, different strengths.

We just need to find it, and with Viking Women Tours, I hope everybody gets to find something that, you know-

Nika: That could be there.

Saga: Exactly. Yeah. And also too, like when thinking back, you know, like you said, like looking back five years ago, what gives me the pride and joy is when I take me back to young Saga when I was starting this five years ago.

I was looking up to a lot of these knowledgeable guides and these travel agencies, and how things were done really smoothly there. And I was just, like, gaining. I was asking questions and gaining knowledge, and I just had this big excitement in me. And just looking back to that Saga is just like, yeah, gives me really a lot of, like, pride how far I've come, and that I was resilient and I didn't stop.

I didn't back down or say, "Oh, this is too hard. I cannot do it. I cannot do it," even though things have been pretty hard, of course. I mean, that's just how it is. But that gives me joy to think about that Saga was looking up to people, which I am today. I'm that person today that I was looking up to at that time, if you know what I mean.

Nika: Yeah, 100%.

Saga: Yeah.

Nika: Yeah. You're probably a role model now for a 20-something Saga. Oh.

Saga: Yeah, I hope so. I hope so.

Nika: I think that's a nice note to end on.

Saga: Yeah.