Iceland has been in the news a lot lately and it’s not because there’s a new album from Sigur Ros or Bjork. It’s because a country that was always an intriguing but expensive travel destination has become an intriguing and bargain-priced travel destination.

So the first superlative is very recent: Iceland has had the biggest currency drop this year of any developed nation. If you went there this time last year, you got 60 kroner to the dollar. When I visited at the end of September, the math was easier and prices were bearable at 100 kroner to the dollar.Then all hell broke loose and the overstretched banks came crashing down, leading to national bankruptcy and an IMF loan. Hop on an IcelandAir flight today and you’ll get 156 kroner for a dollar. It’s like the whole country got put on the clearance rack.

The timeless landscape is still timeless though. The geysers still spout as they always did, the hot springs are still hot, and the eerie volcanic mountains and ice-age-carved fjords look the same as they did when everything was twice as expensive. Imported food is harder to get now, but the seafood is still fresh as ever.

On of the oddest claims to fame here is the biggest banana plantation in Europe. That’s not saying much of course since Bananas don’t grow in Europe. They will grow inside a greenhouse though, especially when you are pumping in hot geothermal water in the pipes you see here in order to keep things toasty. This greenhouse I visited is also full of tropical plants and tomato bushes. You would think a country this close to the Arctic Circle would be hurting for produce, but this technology allows them to grow all kinds of crops outside the hottest months and the long daylight hours help in the summer.

Iceland is also the most energy efficient nation in the developed world because of this abundance of almost free hot water and cheap power. Here a geothermal power plant can generate as much wattage as a nuclear plant, but with no waste except water. Some 80% of the energy used is renewable. Unfortunately, car use per capita in Iceland is the highest in Europe, so most of the imported fuel is for use in cars. But they’re working on that too. I drove a hydrogen-powered Prius around Reyjavik one day and in 2010 a fleet of Mitsubishi MiEV electric cars will be on the market, supported by a network of charging stations to kick in after the 100-mile battery charge expires.  The garbage trucks and around 200 cars already run on methane biogas derived from garbage.

I didn’t make it to Dettifoss, but this is billed in multiple places as the most powerful waterfall in Europe because it’s got the greatest volume discharge. It looks sufficiently scary in photos.

Iceland’s Vatnajokull the biggest glacier in Europe, though like many of them it’s shrinking. In this case it’s losing about a meter a year. (You can see the lake it calves into in the James Bond movie Die Another Day.)

And one last bit of trivia: the word “geyser” we use to describe water shooting out of the ground originates from a real place here called Geysir.

For more, lots more, see the Iceland Tourism site.

Travel+Leisure magazine have released their list of ‘10 New Eco-Friendly Travel Gadgets’.

It’s a list that covers all the things that a modern travel writer would need while on the road.

There’s rechargeable batteries and a solar-powered Battery recharger .

They’ve got music covered with the solar powered media player to which you could add a solar power headset or portable eco-friendly speakers (that simply fold flat when not in use).

Plus there’s a biodegradeable laptop to which you could add energy efficient external hard drive to back up all the research and notes you’ve been taking.

But my favorite is the ever so practical but cute Water-Powered Travel Alarm Clock. All you have to do is add water and maybe a pinch of salt and the clock will soon be ticking away. Designed in neon blue, green, yellow, or charcoal, these clocks will guarantee that you’ll not miss that important interview, event, or flight ever again.

With gadgets like these, how could you not want to go green…

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There’s nothing quite like a little cultural dissonance.

I was walking through the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing (part of our experiences during the China 2.0 Tour for bloggers and tech folk) and someone came back from one of the small concession stands with several of these, labeled “Orion Pie.”

So, I unwrapped mine and took a bite, and found that thousands of miles away from the US Deep South, I was really chewing on….a Moon Pie.

No RC Cola in sight, though.

Sick me and sick baby were hanging out with the radio yesterday, listening to a call-in show with a variation on everyone’s favorite vox populi question, “Which living person would you most like to meet and what would you ask them?” Since this is a thinking, reading, liberal radio audience, answers ranged from Barack Obama (several) to Cormac McCarthy and Bill Bryson.

The first person who popped to my mind was my favorite travel writer, Colin Thubron. Of all the travel writers I’ve read, he’s the one with the most intelligence, insight, collection of fluent languages, and wide-ranging worldview. He also has this odd trick (to one used to American travel writers) of effacing himself almost entirely from his narratives. You see very little of Colin as he’s taking a five-mile hike to the Great Wall of China, or braving the 1980 Iron Curtain, or taking a solo camping trip through Lebanon to visit ancient temples of Adonis. There’s only a hint of him in his most recent book (reviewed on PT blog here), Shadows of the Silk Road. But I did meet a woman in a London bookstore who said he was “an awfully nice man,” so really I’d just like to have a long lunch and conversation with him, or perhaps a weekend hiking trip through the Yorkshire Dales.

But who else? Tons of travel writers out there. I’d ask the inestimable Jan Morris about the long arc of her love affair with New York City’s Manhattan Island, which blossomed and faded through the essays and life tracked in her book A Writer’s World (reviewed here back in June).

I’d like to ask Jeffrey Taylor why someone who seems to have such a passion for adventure and discovery almost always adds a sour note to his nearly perfect travel books by forcing situations where he gets either pissed off with his guide for going off-schedule; or passes up opportunities to throw a wrench in his plans by walking the unknown road unexpected invitations might take him.

I’ve already met and taken a travel writing class with Tom Swick, but he’s not only one of my favorite travel writers ever, he’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever come across. To get together over some nice wine and discuss Nabokov would go down nicely.

MFK Fisher is no longer alive, but it would have been fantastic to get a gastronomy tour of Marseilles from one of the pioneer writers of food-and-place. Nosy person that I am, I’d like to ask about the early married years referred to in her book Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon. A writer is made of more than places visited and food eaten. She left tantalizing hints of frustration and fraught misunderstandings. What was it really like?

Wilfred Thesiger must have been packed with amazing stories of his years in Arabia, crossing desert sands and experiencing a tribal way of life now almost extinct. What about that life is inspiring and meaningful to the emancipated women of the world? Because the Arab nomadic life is attractive, no question — but it wasn’t long before I realized I never could have experienced it the way he did. Any chance he’d take a woman along and drop her off at a village to imbibe her own experiences?

So many authors, so much nonexistent time to eat, talk, and walk with them. I’d love to sit down with my own great-grandmother, who wrote delightful letters about her European travels back to the newspaper in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, and Boston, both of which she called home.

And Laura Ingalls Wilder, who may not be ranked among travel writers, but who has left a comprehensive and spellbinding chronicle of the life of American pioneers and frontierspeople like no other. She really ought to be considered a travel writer. Since I will never taste the life of a pioneer (none of us will), what did she love most about it? When a farmer asked her to marry him, what about the pioneering life versus the grounded farming life almost lured her away?

The latest edition of Perceptive Travel is online and it’s jam packed full of interesting travelogues. Here’s a sample…

In The Backpackers’ Pilgrimage Joel Carillet watches tide of backpackers show up for the annual Full Moon Party, writing ‘Haad Rin [Thailand] on a full moon is to many backpackers what Mecca is to Muslims during the Hajj.’ But this mecca has nothing to do with religion and everything, it seems, to do with gluttony, lust, and hedonism encouraged by vast amounts of alcohol. And as a result, the aftermath is usually more hungover than exhilerating.

Michael Shapiro offers A Journey Through the Land of the Maya in Guatemala, excerpts from his latest book about the country. It’s a great introduction to local festivals such and colorful people.

There’s also articles about Shangri-la, Nicaragua, and Mexico to check out.

Plus some interesting world music reviews featuring Arabic, Spanish, Mongolian, and Bombay music.

And don’t forget to check out the travel book reviews. Books reviewed include Napoleon’s Privates, Next Exit Magic Kingdom, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, and Ultimate Adventures.

By the way, if you sign up for the Perceptive Travel newsletter, not only will you be alerted when a new issue comes out, but you can win books, music, and other prizes as well. Right now there’s a contest to win a super-secure laptop daypack from Pacsafe and a Nomad Travel Journal - perfect Christmas presents for yourself.