Exit through the gift shop

[totient]

Airside at Keflavik. We had seen on the way in how much of a shopping mall the airport was, and also how smoothly operated passport control and customs were. Generally the country only works because of tourism and everything is arranged accordingly. But having passed by a bevy of duty free shops on the way to the gate we were still not quite prepared for the exit from passport control to North American destinations to be literally through yet another duty free shop. Just in case you somehow managed to still have any kronur in your wallet.

(recovered from a post composed yesterday)

Comments

[randomness]

Just in case you somehow managed to still have any kronur in your wallet.

And even if you don't, they take credit cards!

(More seriously, Iceland still has capital controls, so you do have to jump through a slight bureaucratic hoop to change Icelandic money into anything else. I had to show my ferry ticket to the Faroes--which was photocopied and put on file somewhere--before the bank could legally change Icelandic krónur into Danish kroner.)

[totient]

Everything in Iceland takes credit cards! Even the isolated highland campgrounds took plastic. I had thought it was because the banking industry was (or at least had been) so large, the number of credit card terminals needed so small, and the cellular infrastructure so integrated into daily life. But if cash is a liability, then maybe that plays into it too.