2020 has been a write-off for a variety of reasons.
Those who live to travel have felt this more acutely than others, however it seems a churlish to complain about cancelled holidays during a global health crisis.
Border restrictions, enforced isolation, grounded flights and worse have left a lot ofus with some very conflicted feelings bottled up inside of us.
Iceland can hear your frustration.
Soothing surroundings: Iceland wants your screams. Photo / Supplied
The country's tourism board has come up with an ingenious way for frustrated travellers to broadcast their feelings to the tiny Nordic nation.
Visit Iceland is asking those angry about cancelled travel plans - or anything else, really – to "let it all out" and submit their screams. You can record a scream via the website lookslikeyouneediceland.com. Tap the button and "let 'er rip!"
Feel any better?
From here submissions are stored, sorted and broadcast into the Icelandic tundra.
The tourism board has dropped off speakers in seven locations across the country, which constantly play a selection of the best screams recorded.
Had enough of 2020? Iceland says it's OK to 'let it all out'. Photo / Supplied
Quoting the UK psychotherapist Zoë Aston, the website wants to use screaming as "a therapeutic tool".
"The psychological response to wanting to scream lights up a part of our brains called the amygdala. The amygdala activates when we are under threat, something we have all experienced in the past few months," says Aston.
"Part of the beneficial effect of screaming comes from being able to make a loud noise into a wide, open, undisturbed place. This literally allows your amygdala to release the stress stored there and move forward."
Iceland has recorded just over 1900 cases of Covid 19 and 10 deaths.
With a population of just 364000, Sigríður Dögg the country's tourism programme director says the project highlights Iceland's successful response to the pandemic, but also how its tourism industry and many people in other countries are suffering.
"It is important to draw attention to Iceland's advantages now. People are dreaming about the time when it will be possible to travel again and even planning trips in the near future. We want to be a part of that conversation," she told the website Iceland Review.
Through the project you can listen to scream submissions from around the world.
The majority of which are only slightly less painful to listen to than the soundtrack to the recent Netflix comedy Eurovision, about Icelandic musicians 'Fire Saga' entering the Song Contest.
Meanwhile in Iceland: Yellow speakers are broadcasting the screams of frustrated travellers. Photo / Supplied
This year's contest which was set to be held in Rotterdam in the Netherlands was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Perhaps the Icelanders with the most reason to scream are Daði og Gagnamagnið (aka Daði Freyar) who were robbed of first place. The Eurovision panel revealed that while "no one will ever know who would've taken the Eurovision 2020 trophy home" early indications showed the Icelanders' song Think About Things was a hot favourite.
Although the contest was called off, the ten countries which submitted scores to the panel placed Iceland in first place ahead of Lithuania.
This would have been Iceland's first ever win in the competition.
