Two things to note about the airplane to Iceland. Small! It's a skinny wee thing. You'd think all the fear-talk about travel and Coronavirus and the plane might have spare seats available too. They called it a full flight but actually there was just one open seat. Luckily right beside me. I was the middle seat and the window seat was open. What are the odds?
Here I sat in row 22. About row 15 was a baby. Maybe a year old. Good strong lungs and not at all thrilled with the idea of flying. That poor momma walked the babe up and down most of the night. We flew for 6+ hours and I'd say the baby screamed for 2+ of them. I wasnt tired or sleeping anyway and spent most of the flight trying my hand at hard Sudoku or watching a movie. Like all travel stories these days, there was the obligatory gadget-fail and I also spent too long re-engineering my headphones so they worked again. (Success!)
The flight was ok. It's always a bit interesting to fly a new route and a new airline. For those who have not flown DIA to Iceland on Icelandair... pack a sandwich. You get juice and coffee but that's about it. Food, alcohol, duty free presents are all for sale at "airport prices" but for a greater selection, get it at the terminal and carry it on with you.
I know the airlines are all saying they clean well between passengers etc (like they should have been doing pre-Coronavirus, IMHO) but my tray table showed signs of dry food that I'd guess pre-dated the last passenger. Again, not a problem if prepared and so out came my Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer. Say no more.
Boarding Pass: A quick word here. I booked 3 flights together.... Denver to Iceland to Stockholm, with a 20+ hour overlay then Stockholm to Kiruna the next day.
At Denver I was presented with just ONE boarding pass that had all 3 flights on it and was advised with a smirk "don't lose it". Whatever. I have a digital copy that Im sure could suffice if I did lose it. The main question I had was about checked luggage. Was mine checked all the way to Kiruna. IE will I not see my stuff until Monday lunch time? That question I guess will be answered in Stockholm when it will either appear on the luggage carousel or not.
Interestingly, I took inventory of what is in my carry on and believe I can get by in Stockholm just fine for two days:
-Spare underwear and socks
-Spare long sleeved top
-Down jacket
-Hat, gloves of the electric variety :-)
-First Aid
-Basic toilettries
-Sudoku, journal, computer and charger with travel adapter.
-Phone and charger
So let's hope I don't need the snow boots or ski pants or more layers in general...
And yes, the thought did cross my mind "OMG what do I have in the checked back then? Seriously; 20kg of... ? Layers? Hand warmers?"
In Reykjavik Airport I found few people around to help with directions or answer questions. The plane drops you on the ramp, you walk to a bus and get deposited at the terminal. It's freezing. Literally freezing. The country appears to be covered in snow, with the only exception being the runway.
Passport control is mandatory even though I'm catching a flight out of here in 2 hours.
The airport is NICE though. Clean, modern, well lit and kinda fun. I loved the little kids areas, waiting areas with lots of plug-ins, coffee (and beer) available at 5am. Check it out Wrigley!
I didn't love the signage. Well.. I might love it more if it was intuitive and didn't rely on sleep-deprived brains reading fine print on doors that said "doors will be unlocked at boarding time". Basically signage points you to the end of the hall and implies you go downstairs, but every way down is blocked. The end result is a bottleneck of confused, sleepy passengers trying to figure out how to transit Iceland. (None of whom appear to share a language!)
Final thought as I type and watch the busy workers do their thing outside on the ramp:
I have not journaled this prolifically since I left to walk the Camino in 2015. Traveling alone to another continent, devoid of familiar faces and easy conversation, anxious about arrival/language/missed connections etc, the mind fills the corners of unused brain space with thoughts. LOTS of thoughts. Random, dark, manic, restless, suspicious and idle and uncontrolled thoughts.
I am once again getting used to a side of myself that prefers to stay hidden when I'm satisfactorily posing as a sane person. :-)
The cat is out of the bag. The ship has sailed and the horse has bolted.
I'm tired. Forgive me the ramblings.
Here I sat in row 22. About row 15 was a baby. Maybe a year old. Good strong lungs and not at all thrilled with the idea of flying. That poor momma walked the babe up and down most of the night. We flew for 6+ hours and I'd say the baby screamed for 2+ of them. I wasnt tired or sleeping anyway and spent most of the flight trying my hand at hard Sudoku or watching a movie. Like all travel stories these days, there was the obligatory gadget-fail and I also spent too long re-engineering my headphones so they worked again. (Success!)
The flight was ok. It's always a bit interesting to fly a new route and a new airline. For those who have not flown DIA to Iceland on Icelandair... pack a sandwich. You get juice and coffee but that's about it. Food, alcohol, duty free presents are all for sale at "airport prices" but for a greater selection, get it at the terminal and carry it on with you.
I know the airlines are all saying they clean well between passengers etc (like they should have been doing pre-Coronavirus, IMHO) but my tray table showed signs of dry food that I'd guess pre-dated the last passenger. Again, not a problem if prepared and so out came my Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer. Say no more.
Boarding Pass: A quick word here. I booked 3 flights together.... Denver to Iceland to Stockholm, with a 20+ hour overlay then Stockholm to Kiruna the next day.
At Denver I was presented with just ONE boarding pass that had all 3 flights on it and was advised with a smirk "don't lose it". Whatever. I have a digital copy that Im sure could suffice if I did lose it. The main question I had was about checked luggage. Was mine checked all the way to Kiruna. IE will I not see my stuff until Monday lunch time? That question I guess will be answered in Stockholm when it will either appear on the luggage carousel or not.
-Spare underwear and socks
-Spare long sleeved top
-Down jacket
-Hat, gloves of the electric variety :-)
-First Aid
-Basic toilettries
-Sudoku, journal, computer and charger with travel adapter.
-Phone and charger
So let's hope I don't need the snow boots or ski pants or more layers in general...
And yes, the thought did cross my mind "OMG what do I have in the checked back then? Seriously; 20kg of... ? Layers? Hand warmers?"
In Reykjavik Airport I found few people around to help with directions or answer questions. The plane drops you on the ramp, you walk to a bus and get deposited at the terminal. It's freezing. Literally freezing. The country appears to be covered in snow, with the only exception being the runway.
Passport control is mandatory even though I'm catching a flight out of here in 2 hours.
The airport is NICE though. Clean, modern, well lit and kinda fun. I loved the little kids areas, waiting areas with lots of plug-ins, coffee (and beer) available at 5am. Check it out Wrigley!
I didn't love the signage. Well.. I might love it more if it was intuitive and didn't rely on sleep-deprived brains reading fine print on doors that said "doors will be unlocked at boarding time". Basically signage points you to the end of the hall and implies you go downstairs, but every way down is blocked. The end result is a bottleneck of confused, sleepy passengers trying to figure out how to transit Iceland. (None of whom appear to share a language!)
Final thought as I type and watch the busy workers do their thing outside on the ramp:
I have not journaled this prolifically since I left to walk the Camino in 2015. Traveling alone to another continent, devoid of familiar faces and easy conversation, anxious about arrival/language/missed connections etc, the mind fills the corners of unused brain space with thoughts. LOTS of thoughts. Random, dark, manic, restless, suspicious and idle and uncontrolled thoughts.
I am once again getting used to a side of myself that prefers to stay hidden when I'm satisfactorily posing as a sane person. :-)
The cat is out of the bag. The ship has sailed and the horse has bolted.
I'm tired. Forgive me the ramblings.
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