behind the wheel with snorri driver kent lárus Björnsson

Co-pilots Kent and Ásta Sól on one of many Snorri tours together.

Many a Snorri has arrived back in Reykjavík after the final week adventure tour and wished they could do it all over again. For most, that’s not an option, but Kent Lárus Björnsson is an exception. Driving Snorris around Iceland since 2006, Kent has been on more Snorri adventure tours than almost anyone – 2025 was his 19th year. Of course, there were no programs in 2020 because of the pandemic, but Kent drove for a special “Snorri West in Iceland” trip in 2021 and was ready to go when the program returned in 2022 with 22 participants, the largest group ever. 

He may not technically be a Snorri, but there’s no doubt that Kent is a key member of the Snorri family. Born and raised in Gimli, Kent is 100% of Icelandic descent. After a family trip to Iceland in 1979, he decided he wanted to return and stay longer. Over the next 20 years, he bounced back and forth between Iceland and Canada. In Iceland, he worked at a knitting factory, a couple of fish processing plants, and even on a fishing boat. In Canada, he completed a BA in Political Science with a minor in Icelandic. Then, nearly 25 years ago, Kent got a job at a high school in Reykjavík and made the move permanent.  
 
From truck driving to tour guiding 
As a young adult, Kent dreamed of working in the foreign service, but he ended up finding another way to promote international cooperation: tour guiding. He may not have planned it, but guiding turned out to be the perfect way for Kent to combine his experience as a truck driver with his deep knowledge of Iceland and passion for his own Icelandic heritage. 

As far back as 1978, still just a teenager, Kent worked as a driver for a group of young Icelanders visiting Canada - sort of a precursor to Snorri West, in fact. Just before moving to Iceland in 2000, Kent guided a group of Freemasons on a visit to Canada, and the following summer, he led a choir from Ísafjörður on a North American adventure. From there, the ball kept rolling, and Kent decided to attend the Tourist Guide School of Iceland to further hone his skills.  
 
Behind the wheel with Snorri 
Kent’s involvement with the Snorri Program actually dates back to the early 2000s, when he served on the board of both the Snorri Program and the INL of Iceland. But it was shortly after graduating from the guide school, in the summer of 2006, that Kent began working for the program in a new capacity - from behind the wheel. He has now driven for 18 Snorri tours and several Snorri Plus day trips. He even became an honorary Snorri himself when he joined the 2018 Snorri Westers for part of their trip, having always dreamed of visiting Newfoundland. 
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Kent says his favorite part of the job is meeting new and interesting young people. While he’s never gotten the van stuck on a Snorri trip, he admits to having gotten a bit lost once or twice. Every year is memorable in its own way, he says. Some of his favorite memories include camping on the island of Flatey, climbing Drangey (Kent says he did make it all the way to the top once, despite his fear of heights), snowmobiling atop Vatnajökull, camping in terrible weather more than once, and swimming in Krossneslaug at 2 AM. His favorite places to take groups in Iceland are Flatey, Djúpavík, the Westfjords, and of course, Hofsós.

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Kent (left) getting in touch with his Viking Roots at L'Anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland with 2018 Snorri Westers (L to R) Sigmundur Geir Sigmundsson, Ívar Gautsson, Daði Geir Samúelsson, and Dagrún Malmquist Jónsdóttir.

Kent is also the unofficial Snorri Ice Cream King, often indulging in a sweet treat with some of the Snorris after a long day of driving. Here, he enjoys an ice cream with 2022 Snorri Westers Sigfús Haukur Sigfússon and Erla Guðný Pálsdóttir.

Besides his job at the school and his yearly gigs with the Snorri Program, Kent leads group and private tours both in Iceland and abroad and even teaches at the guide school he once attended. He is an avid traveler himself, having visited 50 countries. Cuba has long been one of his favorite destinations for both his own holidays and guiding groups. In 2023, Kent took a sabbatical from his day job and embarked on an epic journey around the world, traveling a total of about 37,000 kilometers in six weeks. He flew from Winnipeg to Miami to Istanbul to Mumbai to Singapore to Manila to Taiwan to Seoul to Minneapolis to Winnipeg – and then of course back to Iceland. Since May 2001, Kent has taken 392 flights, flying a total distance of over 1.1 million kilometers! 

Many of those flights over the years have taken Kent back to Canada to visit family and friends in Manitoba, and he attends the Icelandic festival in Gimli whenever he can. In 2022, when Snorri West returned after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Kent even stepped up to serve as a local coordinator for North Dakota and Manitoba. Drawing on his experience in the tourism industry and his deep familiarity with the area, Kent created an itinerary for the two weeks Snorri Westers Sigfús and Erla spent there and served as driver and guide, showing them around the Interlake and the Icelandic communities in North Dakota. He even guided them through three international border crossings!  

Granted Icelandic citizenship in 2008, Kent has no plans to leave Iceland just yet, though he hopes to spend more time in Canada in the future. In the meantime, he says he’ll keep working with the Snorri Program as long as he keeps being asked back. 

DID Y0U KNOW? Kent has driven around 33,000 kilometers with Snorri groups over the past 19 years – usually around 1700 kilometers each year! 

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Photos courtesy of Kent Lárus Björnsson