I woke up about 30 minutes before the alarm went off. I decided to just relax until 06:30. Once the alarm went off, we got up. We packed the last odds and ends, and I loaded Graham’s boarding pass on his phone. I had a quick shower while Graham made us some coffee. When I had finished my coffee, we headed out.
We had a good public transport day. When we got to the local tram stop, a tram was about to arrive. Better still, it was the one that starts only two stops further up the line and was virtually empty. When we got to the station, a train to the airport was about to leave, but Graham needed to get a ticket first. Still, the next train was only a few minutes later and as the trains were so close together, the second train was virtually empty. It was also a nonstop train to the airport. We ended up getting to the airport way too early.
The first of the three A380s that we operate into Manchester daily was at the airport. When we checked the screens with check in arrangements, I realised that check in was opening around the same time as the A380 was due to leave. Graham suggested that I head to the top deck of the parking structure as this should give me a good view. Being up there felt a little bit strange. Half of that level had been blocked off and even the area that was still in use was completely empty. I did however get a decent view over the fore field. I snapped a quick photo and then I went back to the check in area.
The check in process was a shambles. A few minutes before check in was due to open, the electronic signs came on and people started to line up. Shortly afterwards a member of staff for the ground handler arrived and reorganised the barriers around people. When check in was due to open another member of staff arrived and sat down at a check in desk, but still nothing was happening. Eventually they started to check people in, but it was painfully slow. I think they did manual check in. Whether this was due to a technical issue or one of the regular practice runs that the airlines do, I don’t know. What did not help either is that somebody in front of us had just an initial instead of a first name. The check in supervisor tried to fix this and then made a call, but as this was a travel agency booking, there was nothing that can be done. Once this was settled and another member of staff arrived, things finally started moving and we were soon checked in.
Things were a different story at security. We were sent down to the basement, which did not fill me with joy, but it was very quiet. We were sent straight to a station. They have the new style scanners there and we did not have to remove the electronics. Neither of us set off the scanners and our hand luggage passed muster as well and we were free to head to the departure lounge.
Once we were in the departure lounge, it was time for some breakfast. We headed straight to Giraffe. Graham had a Giraffe breakfast platter, which consisted of back bacon, Cumberland sausage, mushrooms, roasted plum tomato, hash brown, baked beans, and fried eggs. He also had a side of white toast. I had the Brekkie Burrito, which consisted of scrambled eggs, Cumberland sausage, black bean chilli and sweetcorn in a flour tortilla, topped with melted Cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, jalapeños and smashed avocado. Graham had a Pomegranate iced tea with his breakfast and I had a flat white. I figured that this potentially was our last meal at Giraffe. Terminal 1 at Manchester airport will close later this year once all the upgrades and extensions to terminal 2 are complete. The flights that we will take in the first half of the year go from terminal 2 anyway. I have however just found out that there is now a Giraffe in terminal 2. This was not there the last time we flew from terminal 2.
When we came down from the restaurant, the inbound flight had just landed. We waited to see in which direction it would go, and it headed to a gate just off to our right. We headed towards the gate and sat down. Graham read and I started playing a game on my iPad, but then read as well. Once the gate was listed, it turned out that we had slightly misjudged the gate situation even though the aircraft was right in front of us. Our gate was actually the next one along. We headed over there and soon we started boarding.
I had wondered what had happened to the guy with the wrong name on the ticket. I had not seen him in the gate area, but he ended up sitting next to us. I was glad that he had made it. As we were taxiing out, I got to see the second A380 of the day.
The flight on the whole was uneventful. The flight time was only two hours. It was a bit bumpy to start off with, but it soon settled down. I was amused that our plane had inflight entertainment. Even though I had brought headphones, I was not tempted. I read for most of the flight. I was surprised that they were offering a drinks service on the flight and even more surprised that I was given a full sized can of Pepsi. Graham just had some water.
Soon we started our descent into Keflavik. We were parked away from the terminal, and we had a short wait for the bus. First impressions of Iceland were not wonderful. It was dreary and wet. There is a saying in Iceland that if you don’t like the weather, you should wait for 5 minutes. Fortunately, this appears to be true. By the time the bus that took us to the terminal arrived, it had stopped raining.
Keflavik is a frightfully efficient airport. We had arrived at the far end of the terminal, and we had stopped to use the bathroom. However, I was very surprised to get to passport control and find no line whatsoever. Our luggage was also just coming round when we got to the luggage belt. The only place where we had a short wait was at the desk of the transfer company.
The transfer itself was the stuff nightmares are made off. After we got checked in and had our tickets, we were sent out to the coaches. One coach was about to leave and initially we were told that we would need to wait for the next coach. With hindsight, this would have been the better option. The driver then said that he had two seats left. The seats in question were two middle seats in the last row. In my childhood, I would have been overjoyed with this. As an adult, I no longer see the charm. The person who had the window seat had his bag on the seat. He was not getting the message, and I had to ask him to remove his bag so that I could sit down. He spent the whole journey huffing and puffing. He was also very restless. This felt like the longest bus journey I have ever taken. I was very relieved when the bus driver made an announcement that we would shortly be arriving at the bus station in Reykjavik. I was however not quite so convinced when we were told that we had to go to the opposite side of the terminal to catch the bus that would take us to our hotels.
I did not have to worry. The bus station is tiny. There is a tour counter and a car rental counter on one side and a shop on the other side. That is the grand total of the bus station. We went through and could already see the hotel buses. They have a number of colour coded bus routes. Our driver had warned us that we may have a short wait as we had reached Reykjavik during rush hour. Two buses were waiting and there was a steady stream of buses coming and going. We had seen the bus for every route by the time our bus arrived. Ironically, the bus was more comfortable than the coach. Progress was slow because of all the traffic and there were two stops ahead of ours, but eventually we made it to our hotel.
Even though quite a few people had arrived at the same time, check in was quick. Soon we were on the way to our room. We had what they call a partial ocean view. I rather liked our view. We parked our luggage, and I took some photos of the room. Then we headed out to stretch our legs and to figure out where we needed to be the next morning. I had booked combination tickets for the hop on hop off bus and Perlan. The starting point was near the Harpa concert hall which was about a mile from our hotel.
The coastal path that would take us to Harpa was just around the corner from the hotel. It was still grey and dreary, but it was dry. About halfway was a statue that represented a Viking boat. There were people crowding all around it. We had seen various seabirds throughout the walk, but during the last stretch, the water was absolutely packed with all kinds of different seabirds and ducks. I have never seen so many in one place. We were utterly fascinated by this. We spent a while just watching the birds.
Once we started to get cold, we moved on. It did not take us long to find the bus stop that we needed the next day. We pushed on a little further. I got my first impression of hot springs. In front of Harpa there was a series of ornamental pools and steam was rising from them. They were fed by a hot spring. This was pretty cool. During the course of our time in Iceland, I did get used to this as essentially the whole country is sitting on hot springs. However, my first experience of this was definitely a wow moment.
We walked through a small park. On top of that park was a beautiful art deco building, which is home to the national theatre of Iceland. Graham had spotted a pedestrianised street on a map that went roughly in the right direction for the hotel. This was Laugavegur which is apparently the main shopping street in Reykjavík. It is famed for its boutiques, souvenir stores, restaurants, and bars. It is one of the oldest streets in Reykjavík and is considered to be the heart of the downtown area. I did quite like it, but I suspect that due to the high concentration of souvenir sores and shops that sell local arts and crafts, this is strictly for the tourists. Not that I am an expert in recognizing Icelandic, but I am quite good at recognizing English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. I heard plenty of those languages and nothing I did not recognize. German in particular seemed to be well represented.
We did have a look at various menus on the way. Iceland has the reputation that it is terribly expensive. It is correct that things were a little bit more expensive than what we are used to, but the prices we saw were not crazy. Menus also seemed to cater for just about every palate. Yes, there was plenty of fish, seafood and lamb. There were also some things that we consider strange and would not consider eating like smoked puffin or minke whale, but there was also plenty for fussy eaters like me.
This evening however, we decided to head back to the hotel. During peak season, they offer a buffet in the restaurant for dinner. In low season, this is only open for breakfast as well as for brunch on weekends. However, in low season, they turn the lobby bar into a bistro. The menu there is not particularly extensive, but we both had no trouble finding something we fancied. Graham had fish and chips, which consisted of beer-battered cod served with tartar sauce and fries. I had the pollo pasta, which consisted of garganelli pasta with chicken in a rich mushroom sauce, complemented by paprika, broccoli, and a sprinkle of parmesan. This was absolutely delicious and full of flavour. Graham had a local IPA with his dinner, and I had a local craft gin. I am quite a gin snob, but this was amazing.
After dinner, we headed back to the room. Even though Reykjavik is in the same time zone as the UK during the winter months and we did not have a particularly early start, we were both tired. We decided to have an early night. Graham went to sleep straightaway, but I read a chapter in my book before going to sleep, too.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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