Today is the day. Day 47 of a 45 day adventure around the known world. I need an echo effect on that sentence. It would give it the proper gravitas. And, again, I miscounted the days. I’m no Magellan, explorer or Nav system. Remember the Magellan?
We have an easy start to an absolutely horrendous day. Check out time at Clink 78, our fine hostel, in London is 10am. We all slept past 8. Kiddlings plane leaves at 3 ish from Heathrow. So no real hurry. We are flying out at 9pm yikes so even less hurry.
We got up, got packed and headed downstairs. The hostel stored our luggage for a small fee. We headed out for breakfast. Breakfast being the only meal the Brits can do right. We found a place a couple minutes walk from the hostel. And we did what we should, 4 orders of traditional English breakfast. Plus coffee. Bad coffee. Oh well. Tea is British. Coffee is Italian. The service was excellent and so was the food. Hurray. Save best for last. We lingered quite awhile over our meals. It is the last breakfast.
After breakfast it was close enough time wise to go to the airport. Want to be there 2 hours early plus an hour transit to Heathrow. So we called the last Uber and loaded up our gear, all of us, and headed to the airport. Our thought, store Em’s and my bags at the airport, kids fly off, and we go do something. Idea is good, in thought.
Took more than an hour to the airport. £42 fare. We got our crap to terminal, hugs and kisses, they are off. Things eased up nicely.
I did a couple calculations and realized going back to London would not work. Too costly and we would get only a couple hours. So I did a little search on the area around Heathrow. Ya, nothing. Maybe a little less than nothing. Now what? Hang out in the airport for 8 hours till our flight leaves. That’s what we did. I would take the time to tell you about our exciting day but it wasn’t and I won’t bore you too. Waiting in an airport is awful and tedious.
8 hours later, we are waiting at the gate. Hey, wanna hear something funny. Icelandair (loser assholes) called for boarding. Everyone at once. It was like festival seating at a rock concert. A mess. I truly hate these people.
When I finally got on the plane, the only overhead bin space was 8 rows up in first class. That’s 8 rows in front of the mid fuselage exit/entrance door. Know what that means, I have to wait for the front of the plane to exit to get my bag and go. Where am i sitting? Right NEXT to the exit. It’s not important, I can wait to deplane. But it is damn ANNOYING.
I should mention, Icelandair’s stellar cabin service. Being where I was seated, their is a flight attendant seated directly across from me. Facing me. 3 feet away. During the flight she never spoke to anyone in the row, never made eye contact, never smiled, till we left. Then she smiled. World famous Icelandair customer service. She is not special. No flight attendant on the plane made eye contact. That would be the end of the world for them.
As usual cabin service is bad. Awful. I will give you a description. The attendants push the drink cart down the aisle. Making eye contact with no one. And not stopping. I actually reached out and grabbed the cart to a stop. And asked for a bottle of water. It was free!!! I still hate them. But watching the cart I did wonder why they bothered. Do they treat first class passengers like they are economy? It’s a rough form of service.
The flight was fine and I eventually fell asleep. Good thing, I could avoid all the fun.
They did a Vueling to us when we arrived. The bus to terminal thing. Always a joy. Go Greyhound!! Finally made the terminal. Only one more Icelandair flight ever for me. I am on my knees praising the Lord.
It’s midnight in Iceland. This airport is hopping! There is a plane landing every 30 minutes. No peace. I had trouble convincing Emily to get a hotel. She seems strangely convinced we should sleep in the airport. I question her thought (lack of) process. Finally she decided we should walk to the closest hotel. Only 100 meters in the cold drizzle. I did mention the two travel sites I checked show the hotel as booked up. No vacancy. She seems convinced there are rooms if we just show up. There weren’t. We just wasted time and now she is really upset.
Back to the airport. We have to bed down in arrivals with one hundred of our friends. Lots of like minded people here.
It’s gonna be a long night on cold linoleum.