MISSION SVEIT // ICELAND
Amazing lights, incredible landscapes – and an incredibly intense smell of fish. It feels like a mixture of old chewing gum and dried out toothpaste in my mouth and the taste is like very, very, very old Munster cheese dipped in fish sauce.
Hákarl! What could have been the sound of the chunk of extremely questionable food leaving my mouth, is the name of a very traditional Icelandic meal: fermented shark! Welcome to Kevlavik, the international airport of Iceland and starting point for our mission through great Northern landscapes. Holiday? Vacation? Back in the days those terms meant shutting down the office for some time off for pure personal enjoyment. No mails, no calls, no meetings! It´s a bit different for me today, as my passion to travel became my job: I´m just standing in this little scenic restaurant in Grundarfjörour with a piece of rotten shark in my mouth when the telephone rings. The office back home needs approval for a new product. Vacation is work and holiday is travelling! Quickly get the computer and check the spreadsheet. The others fix the luggage onto the roof of the oversized Defender Offroader in the meantime. We need to go to Kirkjufell, well-known among “Game of Thrones” fans – a very scenic spot. Richard, a professional sports photographer wants to check for motifs there and freeski pro Sven is looking for new locations for his upcoming project. Bernd and I, as the founders of EVOC are always looking for great destinations, and need to use any opportunity to test out our products in action. Hurry – the weather is about to change and the discovery plane is waiting! Countercheck with the office if they have all the information they need about the new product line. The car quickly turns into a conference room and production office at the same time. Recharge the battery of the tablet to check the pics of the shoot yesterday. Everything on track? Great, let´s go!
We are heading to our seventh location in the last three days and are in a constant check-in/ check-out mode. An ingenious packing system is key for having all the gear you need at hand at any time. Everything has to be well organized to keep the flow of the group going and to get our shotlist done. And the expectations are high, given the relatively short duration of the trip and the vastness of the country. At the same time, it´s high season in the office back home and peak of the production cycle in the factories in Asia, so a lot of things need to be kept running while we try and get as much as possible out of our trip.
It´s snowing now. Although it´s spring time, the winter seems not to be over yet. What looked like a promising shortcut on the map turns out to be impassable in reality. Even for our Super Defender with extra big wheels the snow bank up here on the pass is just too massive. We have to turn around. Alternative plan? Check out the great viewpoint a couple of miles back on the road, with this amazing ocean view..
Richard wanted to shoot this location anyway. Office time for Bernd in the back of the car due to some urgent emails, while Holger is getting out the stove for a nice cup of outdoor coffee. Working nomadism in perfection. It´s already afternoon when we arrive at the parking lot of our initially planned destination, Hellnar. From here we are going to fly over the Snaefellsjoekull National Park. Sven has a pilot’s licence and the little Cessna is waiting already. Quickly grab our stuff and hop on the plane.
The view from above is breathtaking – Iceland is just an amazing place! And when the light turns right it´s photoshoot time again and we have to be set up in minutes. The sun is coming out – get your gear and rider ready in 3, 2 ,1…!
