Vacation Begins
Not really a story but a retelling of the lead up and the first 24 hours of the journey when Jenya and I went to Iceland one February. The following is basically travel anxiety fuel for those who like to max out on needless worry.
We booked cheap flights on Wow Air, but paid extra for (a) a direct flight, (b) the privilege of selecting our own seats, and (c) the honor of bringing luggage. Due to a technical issue with the intended plane for this route, we got put on a different, smaller plane. All we had was a cryptic e-mail about this saying our flight would leave an hour earlier than originally scheduled. We were never given any satisfactory clues that we would have the same seats. Oddly the flight status on the web continued to claim we were leaving at the original, later time.
Meanwhile we nervously checked the weather. Winter storms were slamming Iceland every few days. Were we crazy to go this time of year? Despite emerging plans to bail on the whole trip we decided to just go for it at the last minute. Maybe we'll sneak into the country somehow amidst the parade of blizzards.
It wasn't until check-in time that we got the real scoop about our plane. The flight was indeed leaving earlier because - due to its smaller size - we'd have to stop for gas in Happy Valley/Goose Bay - a military base in Labrador. This was the first time I got on a flight that landed somewhere I had no idea existed mere minutes before takeoff. Also: so much for the direct flight!
There was no order to boarding. We got on the end of the only line. A second line formed which moved 10x faster and thus Jenya and I were among the last to board in our section, and by that time the overheads were fairly full. After some wrangling we carved out luggage space a few rows behind us.
It turns out our seats were still together, and this row only had two of them. Yay - we didn't have to sit next to a rando! However this row had zero windows, so it felt like we were trapped in a box the whole trip. Boo.
As usual I couldn't sleep on the flight. Five hours later we landed at Happy Valley/Goose Bay. We weren't allowed to leave the plane. Passengers milled about. I did get a glimpse outside. Darkness, snow, and a few stark buildings out there - that's all. It was like the set for John Carpenter's "The Thing." After 45 minutes of fueling we were back up in the sky.
We landed at Keflavik (about an hour south of Reykjavik) around 4am. I hadn't slept one wink on the flight and thus had a hard time navigating reality. However this was one of those situations where you deboard right onto the tarmac and wait for buses to take you into the terminal. The relentless blasts of frozen air woke me right the fuck up.
Once inside we got our checked luggage, went through customs, and found ourselves in the airport lobby before 5am. Where's our car rental desk? Like most airports there's a shuttle bus taking you to an off site hub with all the vendors. But the sign for the shuttle bus didn't include our rental company logo. I used airport wifi to look up how to get to the desk and there were instructions about how to walk the one kilometer there outside in the freezing cold. Yeah, no. It seemed near where the other rental places were located, so we decided to just get on that bus.
We followed the signs outside to that shuttle bus stop. Holy shit the cold! With each arctic breeze we had to pause and dig more clothes from our luggage to put on our unaccustom Californian bodies. We trudged all the way there and waited in the darkness and low temps for about 10 minutes before a bus appeared. Relieved, we got on. To be sure I asked the driver if this takes us to our particular rental desk. Nope. He said it was located elsewhere but didn't know the exact location.
God DAMMIT! So we got off and headed in the bitter cold back into the terminal to figure out what to do next. This trip is off to a great start.
But as we reentered the warmth of Keflavik airport I saw a dude holding a sign with Jenya's name on it. Weird! Turns out he was waiting for us to arrive to take us to our car, which was, in fact, located about 3km away (all instructions on the web were outdated as they just moved). It was a claustrophobic ride in the back of his van. Jenya asked if she could sit up front but our driver said we could not because that's where he kept his shovel (in case we needed to dig ourselves from snow at some point during this trip).
We got to the rental shop in one piece, now about 5:30am. Pitch back outside, and all the cars in this unplowed lot were buried in fresh snow. Turns out our driver was also our account manager. Usual sign in procedure, and then he led me to my vehicle deep in unplowed section of the lot and handed me the keys. Just like that I find myself driving a make/model I never heard of before - a Dacia Duster. Much ice, slush, and snow on these streets as we headed out to the highway (which also laid beneath much ice, slush, and snow).
We couldn't see anything out of the windows. Grime coated the windshield and the glare of oncoming traffic was blinding. I pressed the button and - oh look - there's no windshield wiper fluid in our car! I squinted out at the road, trying to navigate roundabouts and windy thoroughfares until we found a gas station. They had some squeegies which I employed to regain some visibility. Jenya bought some wiper fluid (and some clippers as she broke a nail during some bag carrying chaos). But we couldn't find the reservoir is this mysterious Romanian car! Too dark and too cold, we gave up for now. We made it to town in one piece.
It was now around 6am. The sun far from rising. We parked near the hotel - which we found was more of a hostel. We can't check in until noon. I looked on my phone and found a brunchy restaurant not too far, so we went there for coffee and eggs and toast and to kill time. We beat the rush.
A faint deep blue tainted the sky as the sun slowly emerged. We walked around the neighborhood. Slippery sidewalks. More and more tourists were up and about. We occasionally returned to the car to warm up and figure out what to do next. Went to many cafes, overhearing many New York accents from nearby tables. Strolled near the venue I performed at about 6 years ago. Yup, still there.
We eventually landed at one cafe up the block for a while. Jenya got lamb soup. I panicked at the last minute and couldn't decide what to get. My id took charge and chose for me a huge chocolate chip cookie. I punished myself by eating it (and my tummy hurt afterward).
While occupying our table for an hour or two the place filled with fellow tourists - mostly people who have been on the island for a while and were back in Reyjavik en route to the airport to go home. A wave of panic flooded the cafe as phones were clanging with alerts. Due to the incoming blizzard all upcoming flights were cancelled, perhaps for days. As many as five cars on the road we drove earlier will be trapped there overnight. I guess Jenya and I got here just in time!
We went to the hotel and they allowed us to hang out in the common area while they cleaned our room for an hour. We asked about the free parking. Where is it? Turns out most businesses in town claim "free parking" because there may be a spot in a free lot within a few blocks. Luckily today was Sunday, and thus the meters on the street weren't enforced. So.. free parking nearby after all.
The blizzard arrived as we settled into our room around noon. We had a good view as snowy dust swirled over the rooftops of the city, and eventually the entire skyline faded to white. Windows whistled and rattled as we crashed out for a 5 hour nap, after which the weather settled down and the sun set again. We woke up in a brain-frying zombie state, but finally feeling like our vacation has begun.