Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The info for this day skips around a bit because of the nature of this trip. Since I wanted this blog to be specifically about the Iceland trip, I am, for the most part, excluding the two days we spent in Washington and an overnight back in Seattle on our return; I will go from leaving Ketchikan, AK to the actual departure to Reykjavik, Iceland from Seattle, WA.
This was a pretty typical morning here in Ketchikan with the weather overcast. To get this trip going we have to hop the ferry to the airport since our airport is actually on a separate island then the one we live on. On the ferry and a few minutes later, we are at the airport; goodbye Ketchikan, Hello Gravina Island and the airport. We have an international airport here or what passes for an airport. If you stand at one end of the airport and take a picture, you get the whole airport in the picture. That's one small airport! Hey, no complaints here, it gets us where we want to go.
A quick hour and half to two hour flight and we are in Seattle! For comparison, I had to shoot a few pictures of this airport. They can fit a single engine plane and a glider suspended from the roof in this airport! Heck, they can have what seems like 50+ airplanes in at one time compared to our maximum of two!
Here is where the skipping thing happens because from here we attended a great surprise party that was a total surprise. Bets were someone would blow it but everybody kept it quiet! My sister-in-law, Debbie had no clue! We also attended the Fish family reunion and had a great time seeing Tammy’s family who we hadn’t seen in so many years. So these two-event filled days passed and we were back at SeaTac airport.
We checked in at the Iceland Air counter and turned in our luggage to do the standard two hours or better of waiting for our flight. Arnold and his son Leo who goes by Lee were there for the same flight as us, which made me feel better since I have never been so far. So finally they call for our flight to board and we line up for our turn. As we enter the plane, I notice that this is not like our American style airlines. The attendants are in spiffier uniforms and they hand you a bottle of Icelandic Glacial water to drink as you board. I like to watch TV so I have, in my mind, a fairly clear picture of what the stereotypical Viking looks like and one of the female flight attendants fits the description to a T. I won’t go into detail since I can only say that TV paints Vikings as tough folk and I don’t wish to offend. The flight attendants are very friendly and welcome us all onboard.
We sit down and I immediately notice the entertainment system on the back of the seat in front of us. This is a cool gadget because once we get underway; we are allowed to purchase earphones that plug right into the armrest. The earphones come in this great little case and look like normal earphones that you can reuse. I look over and notice one guy plug in his own set of earphones so obviously these are standard plugs! We are looking at about a seven to eight-hour flight so I hit the entertainment system in hopes that this will make the next seven hours a little less painful. Since it has a bunch of movies, TV shows, Icelandic programs, and music channels, there is plenty to choose from. I watched The Kingsman movie, an episode of The Flash, and a documentary on Iceland. The entertainment system also has another cool feature that allows you to track your flight as you go. Anytime you want, you can check where you are and details like how far to your destination, your speed, how much longer till you arrive, etc.
There isn’t a whole lot to see out the window as we go once we get past the US, just ocean and some small islands. I do what I have to and occupy my mind watching shows and helping myself to a little map in the seat back in front of me. I have no idea what it says but it looks cool so it’s now mine! The pilot and flight attendants come on every now and then to make flight announcements, which is funny because they first do it in Icelandic and then in English. Icelandic must be a complex language because it always takes longer for the announcement in Icelandic.
So, finally, we arrive in Keflavik, Iceland. Reykjavik may be the capital, but much like us, they have the airport somewhere else. Reykjavik has no airport so this is the end of our flight.
Customs was a breeze! Basically, we go through a line where they stamp our passport and you are in Iceland. They have the whole process down to a science and you are through customs before you know it. Their airport was under some construction so it was a little confusing as to where to go. Since we met our tour guides, Arnold and Lee, and some of our fellow tour group at the airport in Seattle, we follow them. Arnold comes to Iceland fairly often so he knows exactly what to do. Tammy and I decide we only need about $200.00 US dollars in Icelandic currency since everything we read said they take VISA just about everywhere in the country. Everybody has different opinions on how much to get in currency so we wait till everyone has gone through and gotten what they want exchanged before we head out of the airport. Outside the airport is some very odd art. There is a metal egg with what looks like some alien tentacle coming out of it. There’s also this very odd leaning tower kind of structure that I was so confused by, I forgot to take a picture of.
Well, there appears to be a bit of confusion since Arnold is expecting someone to pick us up and no one is there. Arnold makes a call and finds out they left a van for us and a trailer for all our luggage. No problem since Arnold knows what the van looks like, so we go out to the parking lot and there it is! This is a serious Iceland exploring rig, I tell you. The tires are about three feet high and you have to use a small ladder to climb in! We load up and hit the road for Reykjavik. After a short ride, we reach our first destination, the Capital Inn in Reykjavik. This is where I start noticing serious differences, as this seems somewhat like a hostel more than a hotel. The rooms are set up with more than one bed; ours has a full size bed and a twin bed so that you can have three people in the room. The way the numbers worked out for our group, Tammy and I end up with a room to ourselves.
Details on photos:
Pic 1 - Goodbye Ketchikan!
The only way of this rock is by boat or plane, we have to use both today.
Pic 2 - Hello Gravina Island (airport)
Less then five minutes and we arrive at the airport.
Pic 3 - All of Ketchikan Airport!
An airport so small, you can take a picture and capture it all.
Pic 4 - Seattle Airport
An airport so big, you can hang a single engine plane from the ceiling.
Pic 5 - Seattle Airport
You can also hang a huge glider from the ceiling and barely use the space available!
Pic 6 - Icelandic Water
They hand you a bottle of cold water as soon as you board.
Pic 7 - A Seat Back Map
Just a little map I helped myself to from the seat back in front of me. Hey, it looked free!
Pic 8 - Up, Up, and Away!
Here we go!. Off to Iceland!
Pic 9 - Progress Report
Cool feature on the entertainment system lets you get this info anytime you want from anywhere in the flight.
Pic 10 - Movies!
Lots to choose from on the entertainment system to keep you occupied.
Pic 11 - We're Here!
What more can I say but we're here! We're here! Let the adventure begin.
Pic 12 - First Glimpse of Iceland
Getting ready to touch down!
Pic 13 - Customs
Wham, bam, there, you are in Iceland that quick!
Pic 14 - Currency Exchange
Just a chance to trade some good old American greenbacks for Kronas.
Pic 15 - Alien Egg
A sculpture right outside the airport that I could not decide what was supposed to symbolize but reminds me of Alien.
Pic 16 - Our Limo Awaits
Monster van we will be using while we are here. This thing is serious stuff with tires about three feet tall and a ladder for boarding.
- comments