Thormodur Simonarson (1978) was born on a farm in Snaefellsnes, rural Iceland. His parents gave up farming soon after and built a guesthouse. At age 22 he ventured abroad and began to explore Europe on his own. For the next eight years he traveled to various places, both in and out of Iceland. Among his various jobs, he was a speed boner (title on the hiring contract) in the Falkland Islands as well as a crew member on a shrimping trawler in Arctic winter storms north of Iceland.