Sure, there are all sorts of colorful Midwest destinations—Minneapolis in January?—but at least once in awhile, shouldn’t Chicagoans take advantage of the fact that the city’s airports are international hubs? There are fares to major cities in South America and Europe for around $800 most times of the year for savvy surfers, but an amenity not to be overlooked is the direct flight from O’Hare to Keflavíkurflugvöllur airport in Reykjavík, Iceland. While flights are curtailed during the arctic’s winter months, spring, summer and fall finds Icelandair tickets at about $850 retail, and often $500 or less via Kayak and other aggregators. Even with the demolishing of a wealth of city-center music venues via the growing overstock of tourist hotels, the city remains charming. Plus the volcanic landscapes and thermal geysers are more gloriously alien the further you venture outside the rings of this modest city of 120,000 on an island nation of only 323,000.
