Sunday 25th August
It really helps if you read the ticket.
Both Robyn and I had it in our heads
that the flight from Edinburgh to Reykjavik left at 7:25am. We were
both positive it was that time. Until we were checking out of our
hotel, with our boarding passes in my hand and I noticed that
departure time was actually 7:05.
More than a little panic started to set
in.
The airport was only a couple of
minutes away, and the cab had been booked but you never know what
level of security is going to be in place, how many flights are
taking off around your time and how overly officious the airline will
be in regards to shutting the gate.
The trip to the airport was fine, we
found the line and realised we had to weigh our own bags. The first
machine didn't work. The second one did but we didn't understand the
answer we got from it so called over the bag attendant. “You're 2
kilos overweight. You'll need to move something into your carry-on
bags.” So we started to shuffle. Problem was the major small
weight was in two bottles of wine and one of Irish Whiskey and they
certainly couldn't go into the cabin bags. Shuffle, shuffle, stuff,
stuff, and we finally made the weight.
First hurdle. Then security with a sign
that said average time was 10 minutes. I didn't think we'd make it at
this point. But they did have our luggage so we supposed they'd hold
things for a bit.
All the way through security only to
find I got called out of line to be wanded and then patted down. Must
make sure in future that I don't wear my new trousers with all the
zips.
Then we had a problem with the scanned
carry-ons. Seems we needed to separate the laptop into a tub of its
own – only got told to take it out of our bags. It got checked for
explosives, then had to go back through the scanner. At least this
gave me a little time to put the belt and shoes back on. I was
leaving Belfast not flying to it. Things seemed to be moving in slow
motion but I kept my mouth shut. Rob tried to say something and got
told off.
Through security and the gate was
closing according to the flight boards. And of course it was the
furthest from security. I raced off to try to make sure they let us
on. Got to the gate out of breath but finding six or so people still
waiting to board. Rob made it and we were last on the flight, sweaty,
stressed but aboard.
After all that the flight was
uneventful. We landed, got through customs and security in no time at
all and found our transfer car driver.
The Reykjavik airport is situated at
Kevlavik, on the site of an old American Air Force base – probably
abandoned, or ceded back to Iceland at the end of the cold war. As
such it is approximately 50 kilometres outside the city; a private
transfer cost us an arm and a leg. We had also had some difficulty
identifying which hotel we were supposed to be staying at. We'd been
of the view that it was best to stay in the hotel where the tour was
leaving from. The extra day in Reykjavik (that disappeared along
with WOW airlines) was supposed to be spent there as well. We'd be
trying for ages to get the tour company to confirm the location of
the hotel. They had originally told us one name, saying that was the
normal hotel, but then changed their minds about a week before and
had booked us into the Hotel Orkin. The transfer car driver looked at
me peculiarly as if I should really have known where I was going, and
then proceeded to take us to the new hotel anyway.
Bags dropped off, we headed into the
city centre as we had a walking tour booked for 11:30am. The bulk of
Iceland's population lives in Reykjavik though that only amounts to
about 220,000 out of a total of 360,000. So it's a small city only a
little bigger than Geelong in Victoria.
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| Perry finds a friend |
The walking tour took us around the
centre of the city pointing out the highlights for a couple of hours.
The day had started off cool and overcast and then the drizzle
started to set in, and then the wind, and the rain picked up so it
was coming in sideways by the time we finished the tour and queued
for the famous Icelandic hot dog. Supposedly Bill Clinton had inhaled
a couple of these when he visited as serving President. Then again he
seems to have tucked into more than his fair share of food items
during his foreign travels.
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| Reykjavik street furniture |
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| Gay pride street |
Post hot dog we wandered over to the
Harpa conference and concert centre to while away most of an hour. We
were waiting for a bus to take us to Perlan, Iceland's planetarium
and physical sciences museum. By this time the rain was teeming down
so staying inside, followed by a quick run to the bus, a couple of
hours at Perlan (the planetarium film on the northern lights was
extremely good) and a short walk back to the hotel was a good way to
keep out of the weather.
A major display in the museum showed
how the Iceland glaciers have been receding over the past 50-100
years and also showed that they would be all gone within 150 years.
The subject of climate change would be a recurring theme over the
next week.
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| Reykjavik from our hotel room |
Dinner achieved we were in bed early –
as usual.
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