Off to Iceland....
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2007
1
107
110
Trip End
Jul 23, 2007
Reykjavik,
Iceland
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Anyway, THREE trains and what felt like 3 hours later (ok, an hour and half really), we finally made it to the airport
02
. It was pretty easy to find our way around - Air Iceland it seems has maybe two flights per day.....and the line for ours was already full of people. Somehow we ended up with the most horrible parents possible standing behind us and their two somewhat bratty children. The father talked and looked like Elmer Fudd, and he was so mean to his daughter that at one point I wanted to adopt her and take her home with us instead. The husband and wife were the "stupid Americans" you so typically envision. Anyway, we cracked up about Elmer Fudd for a long time, at least until we landed in Iceland....Our back up plan had been to just sleep in the airport if we couldn't find anywhere cheap to stay...it sounds sketchy, but we figured it would be safe, semi-comfortable, and obviously cheap! And we were only in Iceland for two days!! Anyway, once we arrived....we realized that this plan was not going to work. Apparently the airport is a good 45 minutes away from the actual city of Reykjavik, and there is literally NO civilization outside the airport. No businesses, gas stations, housing, ANYTHING. It is quite beautiful though - you can see the ocean, some hills in the background, and plenty of wide open plains. The worst part is that the economical transportation option to and from the airport cost us $40 per person! And that was a huge bus with only scheduled departure times. The taxi driver wanted to charge us $100!!
03
! Yikes! Needless to say, Jose was NOT happy at this point. After speaking with the tourism desk, we were both feeling negatively towards Iceland. Jose then decided to check and see how much it would be to get the flight tomorrow (Monday), rather than Tuesday. Unfortunately, they wanted to charge an extra $2,000 (yes, thousand) per person to change the ticket. And no, they don't DO standbys at Air Iceland. It was madness!Jose at this point was REALLY not happy. I took a picture of him as we sat on the bus waiting to leave. It is one of the funniest pictures ever - Jose the Grumpster. Anyway, we figured we'd just take the bus to the youth hostel and pick up whatever room we could get from them - even it had to be a dorm. I must say we've been very fortunate so far on this trip to get private rooms at decently economical rates in all the hostels/hotels in every country. Well, until Iceland that is. Before I go on, the other interesting thing we noted while being grumpy on the bus was that EVERYONE on the bus and at the airport was over the age of 70. At least. The average age was a good 80. As the bus pulled away and began dropping tourists off at various hotels, we wondered who else could POSSIBLY be staying at the Youth Hostel?! None of these old timers, that's for sure. We felt confident that we could finagle a room at the hostel with no problem.
Or so we thought
04
. Upon arriving at the hostel, which seemed to be situated in the middle of a residential neighborhood and next to a gigantic pool, we rushed into the desk and asked about a room. Of course....they were completely booked. HOW? we thought? Who goes to Iceland, honestly? But apparently July is prime tourism season in Reykjavik, and they were completely booked. Fortunately, they gave us a list of local guesthouses in the area, and we set off walking (yes, with the incredibly heavy backpacks) to the closest stop. The woman that answered the door was about 100 years old, and unfortunately did not have any rooms available. We started walking again to the next guesthouse, much further away, until Jose had another one of his bright ideas. He turned around and went back to the old lady's guesthouse, and sweettalked her into letting him use the phone. Thank Goodness he did! Most of the guesthouses on the list were full, except for one - The Salvation Army GuestHouse. Yes...the Salvation Army has a guesthouse in Reykjavik, and it is still expensive. It was going to be quite a walk to get there, but we figured if it would save us $100 it would be worth it. We set off on our hike to the guesthouse, and decided to stop halfway for some dinner at Subway. Yes, there are Subways in Iceland! Who knew? Unfortunately...the prices just don't translate across the Atlantic... For ONE (1) twelve inch sub and drink, we paid the equivalent of $20 U.S. Dollars. OUCH. Realizing we were going to be WAY over our budget for the two and half days in Iceland, we grouchily continued our walk
01
. Fortunately, the Salvation Army guesthouse is in a much better location - right smack in downtown Reykjavik. There are tons of restaurants (expensive, of course), shops (ditto), and a 24 hour grocery just around the corner. The Salvation Army is nice enough - a tiny little room with a bathroom shared with everyone on the floor - but at least it is clean. For $120/night though, I would expect a little more...but hey, it's the best we could do. Did I mention that there was a gaggle (yes, I said gaggle) of teenage girls staying on our floor? They stood in the hallway in towels giggling and talking for what seemed like forever, but they were at least entertaining! We've just decided that instead of being grumpy about the whole Iceland situation, we're going to make the best of it...especially considering that the liklihood of us coming back here in the near future is SLIM to none. So we've booked a full tour for tomorrow and a trip to the hot springs on Tuesday before our plane leaves. We WILL have fun, even if it costs us a fortune. It is quite beautiful here though, and strange enough, it is almost midnight and it looks like it is about 5pm Miami time. The sun is just starting to go down, and the sky is still filled with light. And it's MIDNIGHT?
Anyways, we'll be closing the blinds tightly and trying to get some rest before the big day of touring tomorrow. Good night everyone!!
Love,
Andrea and Jose
Comments
Ouch !!
Sounds like you were totally unprepared for the expense. Winging it can be a fun way to travel sometimes but certainly can cause a lot of stress too.