Where did the evening go? Sometimes I feel as though I might be losing my marbles, and losing five hours of ones life can be a bit disconcerting.
Knowing that it will be returned to me after a journey in the other direction offers little immediate consolation. We headed to Chicago O'Hare in the middle of a ferocious thunderstorm and our Uber driver got us there without incident, but it was best that I didn't watch his driving most of the time according to Ky.
I was busy doing a bit of last minute research on today's destination, Reykjavik, Iceland. We were flying on WOW Airline and our flight left at about midnight after a small delay. The shocking Pepto Bismol pink of the flight attendants uniforms and quirky matching hats were enough to wake me up just when I was hoping to board and fall asleep. I have never had problems sleeping in cars or on planes, but this night was a pretty long one despite only getting a few hours sleep the previous night. Wow bills itself as Iceland's only high performance low-cost airline . They promised me a WOW feeling! WOW, I wanted to go to sleep!
If you've ever had a desire to go to Iceland, WOW is a good choice if you want to watch your pennies. If you can get by with just a carry-on backpack it is really inexpensive. We of course (and that's the Queen's "we") could not, so we had two backpacks, one carry-on and one checked suitcase. Really not so bad if you ask me. Considering that when we travel in our vehicle I bring along the kitchen sink, (well, at least the hot water pot), I had focused on minimizing!
A few weeks before our trip I had made a post on http://www.samferda.net/ to offer a ride from the airport for the 40 minute drive in to town to another traveler. I had received an email asking to take us up on that offer, and we had the good pleasure to meet a young 20 year old Chicago woman adventurously flying alone. She was meeting up with new found friends (from Lonely Planet Thorntree) in town for a road trip. I was impressed and thought about how different times are with the internet and how easy it is to meet new people now if so inclined. On the drive in we exchanged traveler's tales and she related how polite her muggers had been on a recent trip in Peru when they used a fake knife to rob her of her iPhone 5, but did so with a "Por Favor." She has lots of great adventures ahead of her with her positive and unflappable attitude.
After dropping her off, we had a couple of hours to explore until we could get in to our Airbnb. We drove downtown, walked around the main areas, discovering the shopping districts, some of the old churches and other highlights. We were so fortunate that the rain held off, but we had a dramatic dark clouds all around with sunlight and even a wide rainbow to enjoy. Ky will be doing all the driving here, which was definitely for the best today because I just couldn't stay awake when we started driving around town.
Neat viking ship sculpture . https://www.porsiemprelamoto.com/ Cute American Guy!
We got checked in to our very nice Airbnb one bedroom apartment. We usually prefer to get a room in someone's home so we can meet locals, but in this case we have the place to ourselves for a couple of nights to get over jetlag without disturbing anyone.
Sunset won't be until 9:23 pm tonight, but I don't think I'll be around to watch it! zzzzzzzz!
Extra Tips on Iceland:
1) Using AAA to rent our car saved us a bundle and it included all the insurance needed here since they don't let you decline insurances in general, even if your credit card offers free coverage.
2) You can bring in up to 3 kg (6.6 pounds) of food with you. It is quite expensive here and nearly everything in the stores has been imported so you see all the same items you might bring for 2 or 3 times the cost. If you're going to small towns outside Reykjavik, you'll need to stock up before you go as shopping and dining options can be limited. We definitely believe in supporting the local economy, but having bags of almonds, beef jerky, and a few other staples helps us keep our budget under control.
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