superhelsinki

When will you be in Helsinki, Jason?

ironmanjt

Soooo.....small change in plans.

I made it to Iceland with an amazing group of family and friends, and we had a blast including seeing the northern lights!

However, once I got to London...my Chernobyl Tour was canceled, so I opted to stay in the UK for a few days...which meant I needed to find a way home...which I finally did today

TR to start tomorrow with LOTS of Iceland pics!

wrp96

Why am I not surprised that there was a change of plans once enroute?

Congrats! Looking forward to the Iceland pics.

Calchas

I'm looking forward to reading this.

JohnRain

Something tells me the FCT (FCL) is part of your modified travel plan...
Looking forward to this!

mkjr

Nice tat...double rainbow....what does it mean... ;-)

Congrats.

roadwarrier

I totally concur!!

Just out of interest; the airport at St. Helena has been constructed with scheduled flights starting from South Africa, BUT, there seems to be an issue with the wind shear, so flights are on hold from what I can see - let us hope they can sort out something.

Oh, and Greenland is amazing - was there a few years ago, and it really blew my mind

makin'miles

Congratulations! I've been following the adventures on here for years - awesome trip reports, and an awesome achievement. I hope you had a great time in Iceland... very cool place to finish it off!

ironmanjt

The big day had finally arrived, and it was time to head off to Iceland to visit my 196th and final country in the world. I had a group of about 35 family and friends joining me, a couple of whom were already in Iceland. About ten of us would be on the same flight to Reykjavik, meaning I would have a good group to witness "the moment" with me.

Caught a Lyft with my friend and neighbour Garrett to Dulles Airport. Garrett deserves special mention as the person who's kept my plants alive, collected my mail, and even mailed me pictures of visas I forgot at home for all these years of travel. I definitely couldn't have done it without his help - not to mention he helped save me from being deported from India back in July!

Arrived at Dulles, and check-in was relatively drama-free, except for the guy in the Saga (business) Class line in front of us, who was throwing a fit that they wouldn't let him bring his rolling back on the plane as hand baggage. After forcing him to check it we checked in, and my (much larger) rolling bag was accepted just fine. Fortunately he didn't see that...we later saw him in a middle seat somewhere between purgatory (row 20) and the final level of hell (row 35)...so maybe that explains it.

The check-in agent was completely unaware of the rules for lounge access, and thought I probably got a guest, so was nice enough to give Garrett a lounge invite as well despite the fact he was in economy. Off to the Air France lounge it is, where an appropriately-French reception of (several glasses of) champagne and some cheese awaited:



Shortly after we arrived my friend Greg from Philly joined us since the Air France lounge also participates in Priority Pass and a few other programs, and my friend Phil showed up a bit later fresh from finding a shower at a friend's place after a JetBlue redeye from the West Coast. Off to the gate after a bit, where our chariot awaited:



Unfortunately, despite kissing up to Icelandair on twitter over the past couple of weeks and dropping lots of hints, there was no priority boarding or special recognition at the gate. There was actually no priority boarding of any sort, so I just shepherded the crew to the front of the scrum and on board.

Icelandair flight 656
Washington DC, Dulles (IAD) to Keflavik, Iceland (KEF)
Depart 14:10, Arrive 23:40, Flight Time: 5:30
Boeing 757-200, Registration TF-ISD, Manufactured 1991, Seat 2D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 139,600
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,328,737

Upon boarding, champagne was quickly dispensed to Phil and I, and bottled waters were waiting at our seats:



Pre-flight champagne celebration selfie:



What's to eat on the shortish flight to Reykjavik:





I'm not sure a started called "ugly" sounds appetizing, but hey, when in Iceland...



This would be a good place to say a bit about the seats. Icelandair 757s are pretty much the same seats that have plied routes in the US domestically for the last 30 years. Two by two configuration up front, with a few extra inches of legroom over coach. There was nothing special about the seats, but they were comfortable enough for a short daytime flight. I certainly wouldn't want to try getting sleep in these seats, however. Fortunately, Icelandair has some daytime flights like ours which meant no need to try and sleep on a plane.

Shortly after take off, I asked for a red wine, but apparently I was getting white. The flight attendant was...not the most attentive...and seemed a little frazzled, so I figure it would go fine with the unusual pre-meal munchies that were essentially toffee-covered popcorn. I mean, it was nice to have something other than a ramekin of nuts, but this was...different. That said, it went decently well with white wine (better than it would have with red) so win-win...maybe?



I had spotted on Icelandair's website that you could pre-order from about eight different meals, and decided to go this way. It was a good call, because the three options on the main menu didn't look that great to me, and the lamb I had was rather delicious. The ugly cheese was pretty tasty as well...and I finally got my red wine! The pre-ordered meal was also good because it meant that we were the first ones served. No plate for the bread, but it was super tasty!



I spent part of the flight kissing up to Icelandair on twitter, but it continued to get me absolutely nowhere...beyond a congratulations. I should also point out that Icelandair's entire fleet is WiFi equipped, and it is supposed to be complimentary in Saga Class. However, it wouldn't recognize my confirmation number or ticket number, meaning I had to pay. AmEx was kind enough to immediately wipe off the charges when I called to dispute them.



With about 90 minutes left in flight, Phil and I were feeling a bit hungry. We had been pressing the call button every 30-40 minutes to get wine refills (the crew was definitely not proactive at all), but this time decided to ask if they had any snacks to eat. The...rather attractive gentleman working economy quickly came back with some Pringles, Icelandic "boxerchips", and some trail mix as well as more wine:



Gorgeous sunset as we crossed over Greenland:



Greenland certainly looked rugged and desolate:



The rocky east coast of Greenland:



We landed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, and unfortunately did not get a gate. Victory selfie on the tarmac right after setting foot in my final country:



Immigration was quick, despite the agent making a comment about all the visas in my passport. I told him Iceland was my 196th and final country visited, which was merely met with a very stoically-Scandinavian "that's nice." Hah!

Post-immigration I was looking for the perfect spot to take a pic, and found this. Welcome to #196!



Overall, Icelandair was solid. I went into it expecting domestic first class, and that's exactly what we got. Garrett unfortunately forgot his phone on the plane, and didn't realize it until we were well past immigration. He found an Icelandair agent and told them, and much to our surprise he was reunited with his phone only 20 minutes later. Definitely scores big points for Icelandair in my book, as in the US you'd almost certainly never see it again.

A few more thoughts on Icelandair, from the friends who were in economy. There's no food served - at all. It's the low cost model where there's plenty available for purchase, but nothing is complimentary. Something to keep in mind if you're flying them in economy. They essentially function as a low cost airline, and even in Saga Class it wasn't completely free what was complimentary and what you were expected to pay for. Turns out, everything was complimentary...and apparently whatever and as much as you wanted.

We had pre-booked the FlyBus, which runs continuously from the airport to the central bus terminal in Reykjavik about 50 minutes away. On the ride we got really lucky and saw the Northern Lights, so that was a super bonus for the drive into town. Unfortunately, they didn't show up any of the other nights we were in Iceland. When we got to the bus terminal, however, it was a disaster. We had paid the extra for a transfer to our hotel, and after waiting over 45 minutes with no transfer in sight (remember, it's about 2am at this point) we gave up. Fortunately, my friend Kirsten's Air BnB host was getting impatient, and he drove the 2km to the bus terminal to pick all of us up. Her apartment was right across the street from our hotel, so it worked out super well. Supposedly this isn't the norm with FlyBus, but next time I would think twice about paying the extra for the transfer and just grab the short cab from the bus station. Especially with multiple people you would probably break even.

Now, it was time to get some sleep and get ready to enjoy the first day in Iceland!

offerendum

Iceland Air is seen from time to time here. The menu this time looks awful, would only eat the desert.

phranktzi

Congrats Jason!

I applaud you as most of us mere mortals will never get to experience what you have accomplished.

ironmanjt

The starter was actually rather tasty.

Many thanks - still much more to come on this report!

Calchas

Congratulations, quite an achievement.

ironmanjt

We finally arrived at our hotel, the Fosshotel Reykjavik, a little before 3am after the bus drama, and check-in was reasonably efficient given the hour. Only one problem - they couldn't find one of the reservations. Fortunately my check-in didn't take too long, and it was up to the room by around 3am. Found out the next morning that Garrett had to wait another 30 minutes for them to figure out his room. Ugh!

I decided I was going to sleep in and stay closer to east coast time for a day, since if I tried to operate on 4-5 hours of sleep it wasn't going to get the trip off to a great start. Being around 11pm east coast time when I finally got to sleep I slept very soundly, finally waking up around 11a local time. When I did finally wake up, I took a look out my window and had a great view of the city:





We (the group that arrived late) had made plans to meet at 11a to find some food and more importantly coffee, so set out on a walk. Found a nice little coffee shop where we grabbed coffee and tried to wake up. We still had plenty of time before the group was meeting for the planned tour, so walked back to the hotel via a longer route along the water:



When I did get back to my room, there was a nice vase of flowers from the hotel as a congratulations (thanks mom for guilting them into it!) which made the room much more festive. I think this was the first time outside a couple of work trips that I'd spent five nights in the same hotel room in a long time, so it was a very nice touch!



At 2pm those of us staying in the hotel met up to walk to the meeting point for the walking tour of the city. It was about a 20 minute walk to the Parliament where the tour would kick off, and mostly downhill, so made for a nice walk. Unfortunately the angle of the sun was bad for getting pictures of the parliament, but in the square - known as Austurvöllur - was a statue of Jón Sigurđsson, a leader of Iceland's independence movement:



We soon found our tour guide Marteinn from CityWalk Reykjavik, who had agreed to lead a private tour for us. The first piece of the tour was about the parliament itself which was built in 1881, long before Iceland's independence. The square was also the site of many protests, including a 1949 protest against NATO and the 2009 protests which brought down the government after the financial crisis. Apparently Icelanders are rather polite when they protest, preferring to bang wooden spoons on anything that makes noise.

From there we walked just around the corner of the square to the statue of Skuli Magnusson who lived in the 1700s and was largely responsible for the founding of Reykjavik as a city...such as it was in those times with just a couple dozen people:



From there we walked through the old part of the city where there was a marker of the year 874 which is when a Norwegian chief named Ingólfr Arnarson and his wife arrived in Iceland. According to the Landnámabók he threw two pillars over the side of his ship and vowed to settle the land wherever they landed. When he found them again, he set up home there and named the place something along the likes of Reykjavik, which he translated as "smokey cove" - although it's questionable what he really meant to call it. The pipe attached to the pillar is venting steam from the underground thermal pools:



We walked a bit more in the downtown of the city, and Marteinn told us about Iceland's most famous traditional dish - the hot dog. He was just kidding, but we passed the Bćjarins Beztu Pylsur stand, home of Reykjavik's most famous hotdogs...and where tourists and locals alike form a massive queue to get one of these treats. Seriously, I don't know why, but Icelanders seem to love hot dogs. Marteinn also educated us that what are viewed as "traditional" Icelandic foods such as whale, horse, and puffin, are really not eaten much anymore...except by tourists.

He also told us about Brennivín, also known as the "black death." It got its name because shortly after prohibition ended they put a skull and crossbones on the bottle to warn against drinking it...and the name apparently stuck. It's apparently best enjoyed with fermented shark, which Icelanders do apparently still eat. Unfortunately, we didn't get a stop to try it...

From there we walked up the Arnarhóll, which is located next to Iceland's Supreme Court. It was a good place for the first of many group pictures...



From there we continued to a monument to the women of Iceland, where Marteinn again comment on the suspicious underrepresentation of women in our group. He noted that Icelandic women were famous for many inventions, and I was also shown a famous Icelandic invention - the beer mitten. Unfortunately, no beer was provided with it, but there was a nice Icelandic orange soda to enjoy:



From there, we walked towards the City Hall and the lake that sits in the middle of the city centre:



This is where we learned a couple of very important facts about dating in Iceland. Apparently there's a website called the "Book of Iceland" where you can put in your name and the name of the person you're thinking of dating, and learn just how distant of relatives you are. In a county with only a couple hundred thousand people apparently this is important....

Marteinn also pointed out that because Icelanders are very big on gender equality, having even had a lesbian Prime Minister recently, they had recently erected a new display in the city hall. Since the city has a penis museum, they felt it was also important to have a giant vagina painting hanging in the City Hall. No, I'm not making this up.

After showing us around for a few hours, Marteinn left us to explore on our own, and naturally several people went to find the painting...unfortunately, the City Hall had just closed and they were left disappointed. I can't recommend Marteinn and CityWalk Reykjavik enough. It was a fantastic introduction to the city and to Icelandic history, and also a wonderful chance to walk off some jetlag.

Next up was celebrating visiting every country with a celebration beverage, but first, a few of us circled back to the hot dog wagon for a snack:



There really wasn't anything special about the hotdog, but "everything" included ketchup, mustard, remoulade, crispy fried onions, and raw onions. It was definitely tasty!

It was just warm enough to sit outside and enjoy some happy hour two for one drinks:



After happy hour ended it was back to the Fosshotel where the sun was just setting over the city. View from my room:



A short while later, a group of us met up in the hotel's beer garden for dinner and more celebration drinks. The beer garden has 22 beers on draft, and offers them all in a tasting flight. Phil and I were up for the challenge, and although it took a bit of time to get through them all, I'm proud to say we defeated the giant towers of beer:



This was polished off with some tasty fish and chips before calling it a relatively early night. We had to be up early the next morning to head out on our tour, and I wanted to make sure I was up early enough to get some breakfast beforehand!

offerendum

Uuuups! That´s a challenge