Day 17 Iceland

I know the last post was to be the final "daily post" of my Iceland trip.  It was supposed to be uneventful.  But guess what - either the alarm did not go off, or I overslept.  I had a Flybus Plus pick up from the hotel scheduled at 8am through the hotel, so I (thought I) had set my alarm for 6.45am.  Pleasantly surprised when I woke up before the alarm.  I lay in bed for a few minutes, trying not to bother Hog since we had a very late night/early morning (went to bed around 2am?), and after a while decided I had to use the bathroom.  Used the bathroom, came out, checked my phone, 8.25am, WTF?!?!  I tried to stay as calm as possible, and got dressed and packed whatever little left there was to pack.  I called the reception desk, wanting to yell at them to ask why they did not call the room, but decided it was futile and anyway I never asked them to call me.  I enquired politely about my options, and decided that I had to take a cab/private car, and was quoted 115,000ISK which was about USD$100.  Feeling sad, I decided it was what I had to do.

Hog left the room with me, which I am thankful for because moral support was much needed at this time.  We got to the lobby, and I noticed this guy standing outside the hotel with luggage.  I made an executive decision and asked him if he was going to the airport (affirmative, he had a friend who was to pick him up), and asked him if I could get a ride with him (affirmative).  I had not felt so thankful that whole trip.  I was really lucky, since his Icelandic friend was actually supposed to pick him up at 8am, but it was already 8.40am and his friend was late.

His friend came, we did self-introductions, and were on our way to the airport.  They were business partners, so there was some work talk that I was not involved in, but I got some good conversation in.  I asked Mr. Iceland about elves, and he was of the opinion that people believed in the folklore but not the actual elves themselves (hmm OK), but pointed out there were weird things like how when elf stones were removed from certain places for construction or what not, inexplicable things, which were not explained to me, happened.  He also agreed with the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (hot dog shop) website that most, if not all, Icelandic people had eaten at this place, and it was indeed famous in Iceland.  He told me his family mostly cooked at home, as did most Icelandic families.  Puffin, whale, and all that other (not) good stuff was a delicacy, and most Icelandic people did not particularly fancy it really.  So overall, aside from saving a ton of money, I made a new friend and learned a ton about Icelandic people.

Aside from this free ride, I was really lucky that day.  When I checked in at the Delta desk, they had reassigned me from third to last row aisle seat to last row middle seat.  I was very annoyed and tried to change that but to no avail as the flight was full.  I had no choice but to head to the gate.  My yoghurt got confiscated, which I was sad about, but at least my peanut butter got to stay.  I tried to tell security I would eat my yoghurt at that time, but they said I had to go back before security and at that point it was not logistically feasible.  Moving on, I headed to the gate, and informed the agents of my situation.  I knew there were 2 seats up front that were empty, but was told I had to pay for them, but I think they took pity on me and gave me the aisle seat 20 rows in front!!  I was so happy!

Other lucky things that happened - the flight from Reykjavik arrived early to JFK, Lingon remembered to change my flight AND got me an upgrade (lie flat seats!!), I got pseudo free Internet at JFK outside the BA lounge which allowed me to text Lingon that I was OK (I lost my US SIM card and had no means of communication otherwise) and I had Toblerone on the flight.  I also had the strength to refuse ice cream twice, one on each flight, which was good for trying to detox.

This is a really boring wordy post, but I thought I should write about it so one day when I'm feeling down I can re-read it and realize how lucky I am.

Thank you, Thomas and Baldor, for the ride to the airport, and for the good graces of the world to offer me all that you already have (and hopefully more!).

Iceland Day 1 - Information about Arriving and Reykjavik

I arrived at Keflavik airport early, around 8.30am, after a most uneventful flight on Delta.  Did not eat much plane food as the plane smelled like puke and the food smelled like... well plane food, but I did manage to get a yoghurt in the morning which tasted edible and smelled normal.  The airport has free wifi, and it was pretty easy to sign in by just providing your email address and place of residence.  Yay for hassle free!  The wait at immigration was short and there were no forms to be filled up.  The immigration officer seemed to ask everyone how long they were there for, stamp them and wave them through, and that was it.  Then I walked to find some shops to purchase a SIM card.  The walk was VERY long.  At first I went to the duty-free shop on the same level as the walkway and immigration, but was flagged to go downstairs to the duty-free shop there to get it instead.  Purchased Alterna, which was relatively cheap, about 2500ISKwhich is slightly less than USD$20.  I wanted a nano and a micro since I had a friend who needed one too, and then guy at the shop told me that this one with the "nano" sticker on it had all 3 sizes of SIM card inside, but this was not the case.  So folks, don't get tricked.  I had to walk 30 mins to the actual Alterna store in Reykjavik to switch this out.  :-(  Thankfully I had time today so it wasn't quite the biggest deal in the world.

I took the Flybus Plus which dropped me right outside my hotel.  The bus leaves after every flight, so you will always have a bus to take!  It has free wifi, and depending on which hotel one is staying at, one might need to switch to a smaller bus for the transfer, but it is relatively hassle free.  The whole ordeal took a little over an hour.  It really was a good experience but after the 2 plane rides, a 6+ hour layover, and my kid girl neighbour on the flight from New York to Reykjavik sticking her head and legs halfway into my tiny last row economy seat, it just seemed like unnecessary torture.  So just kidding, and I really do recommend FlyBus.

We chose to stay at CenterHotel Plaza for a  decent (and mind you, decent is all relative, especially in the summer) price and very central location.  It is on a plaza or square which is adjacent to the main shopping street, and also very close to the water.  The wifi network here is very good.  The bed is a bit soft and lumpy.  The shower is my biggest complaint so far - it is designed poorly and after my shower there was a giant pool of water on the bathroom floor.  But no real big complaints.  Breakfast is included, and is at 7-10am.  I'm a big breakfast person, so I'm excited to check it out, though trying not to be too excited.  I hope it is healthy, since my goal is to lose some weight in Iceland due to expensive and probably not-so-exciting-or-good food.  I do hope to be proven wrong, especially on the latter, but weight loss is always a good thing, right?  ;-)

My first meal today was at Sea Baron/Sægreifinn, which is famous for their lobster chowder.  I got that, and it came with a loaf of bread.  I thought it was just OK, the lobster meat was sweet but a bit mushy.  The ambience was nice and relaxed.  They had some fish and vegetable skewers, and whale meat which I wanted to try, but I thought I would wait for my friend the Hog who was arriving tonight.

The other "meal" I had was rice pudding.  Part of the "diet" and also because I've been a bit crazy about trying to find supermarket rice pudding since going to Sweden in April and finding Risifrutti rice pudding in the grocery store.  This one was 134ISK in one store, but I had to buy it at the expensive store closer to town because the store was closed by the time I woke up from my lazy ass nap and got my lazy ass over to the cheaper and further supermarket, it was closed.  I just keep telling myself, good exercise.  When I opened it, the consistency of the white stuff looked like yoghurt, but I fluffed it and it indeed had rice in it.  The choices of topping were caramel and some berry thing which I believe to be raspberry.  The topping was a bit too sweet and tart for me at the same time, so I ended up eating very little of it but I finished the rice pudding which was not bad but does not hold a candle to Risifrutti.  In case anyone is wondering, the diet did not go so well.  I ended up eating a small bag of (healthy) chips and a granola bar, but at least that's probably still healthier and a ton cheaper than eating out.  I'm saving the eating out for tomorrow anyway, and I have places on my list, so I am SUPER excited about that!

Other random sightings today.  MOTUS which is a nickname I recently acquired since I can't be POTUS but I'm bossy (M for Mushroom) and Lee which is my real last name, Iceland is really rooting for me.  Random band performing on the street.  Random people and random giants watching random band performing on the street.  Largest church in Iceland (but the bus driver made sure to tell us it was not THE cathedral of Reykjavik).  View of the water as I walked to the phone company - check out them blue skies.  Chuck Norris grill, isn't he famous in the US?  People painting colour blocks on the street, it's like going to the MOMA but with no entrance fee!