Traveling to Iceland

We’re going to Iceland! Friday afternoon we drive to Michigan for a nonstop flight to Reykjavík. We check in about 3 hours before the flight, eat a late dinner at the airport, and then it’s boarding time!

Icelandair announced boarding was happening soon and a few minutes later everyone was boarding. No boarding zones. It seemed like a long line, but it moved quickly, and I prefer this way versus standing around and waiting to hear your zone. It was efficient. My son has a window seat and as he approaches the seat, his enthusiasm makes everyone around us smile. “Woah!!! There are blankets and pillows and a tv.” This is quickly followed with “IS THIS FIRST CLASS?!?” We’re in economy, but I love how much he loves it. He smiles again when he’s given kid’s headphones for the TV and again when he’s given a snack box. One strawberry and banana smoothie later, he’s fast asleep sprawled across me. This makes me happy because a rested eight-year-old will be more fun in Iceland.

The flight is only six hours so most of us barely sleep. The sun is rising as we approach Iceland and soon enough, we have landed. Taking stairs off the plane screams vacation, but I was surprised this was the method here. It’s cold and rainy. They unload the plane by the front and back doors which again is very efficient and then we loaded into buses to the terminal.

We follow the signs for “other passport” and make our way to passport control. All the passengers from our flight fill the many lines. There are a ton of people, but you can nearly hear a pin drop. Whoever designed the acoustics of this place needs to be contracted for all airports. The airport as a whole was much calmer and quieter than any other airport I’ve visited despite having a decent number of people inside. It was a refreshing experience. It gets an A for sensory-friendly.

We grab our luggage and notice the zipper of one bag broke. The bag is closed and still appears functional. We find the guy holding Brian’s name and he walks us to the van. Eight bags and six of us loaded into the van and it’s about a 40-minute drive to our hotel. It’s cloudy and misting, but we can still see the steam rise from the volcano nearby.

We arrive to our hotel and store our bags here. We’re all exhausted and rest in reception until enough brain cells awaken to figure out our next steps. During this brain fog moment that has taken ahold of us, Brian falls asleep, Tanner and Al go for a walk, Laura rests her foot, Colton exclaims how hungry he is, and I hunt for a Colton-friendly breakfast.

It’s around 7:30am and the streets of Reykjavík are peaceful. Most of the stores are closed and I walk in the rain looking for food. The first place I discover is a cute coffee shop and bakery. I peek at the menu, but don’t see something that I think Colton will eat. I continue on my quest until I find a small convenience store. Yogurt in pouches! This is Colton-friendly. Not just yogurt but Icelandic yogurt in pouches. I buy two for the bargain price of about $6.40 and walk back to the hotel. Brian is still sleeping, and Colton is excited for yogurt. He slurps them both down. “Which yogurt is better? These ones or the ones we normally have back home?" I ask. “These ones!!” Colton is a fan of Iceland.

Once the brain fog and the precipitation lifts, we venture for breakfast. We go back to the coffee and bakery shop I found earlier. I order the lemon poppyseed bread and a chai latte. The food and tea are served in cute pottery. The bread had a delicious cream on top that tasted different than anything from home.

The Lava Show is next. This is about 1.5 miles from the hotel. My mother-in-law is having an issue with her foot so three of us ride in a taxi and three of us walk. The taxi ride was nearly $25, and our driver was very nice. We left a bag in the car and the driver realized before we did. He walked into the shop to give it to us. We check-in for the show and we are given safety glasses for my young son and are told that adult-sized glasses will be available inside. Soon enough we’re in the theatre for the show. The seats are comfortable and similar to what you’d find in a modern-day movie theater. The room is dark and cozy and the sleepiness of being up for over 24-hours is starting to creep. The show has three parts. The first part is an introduction from our Dutch Volcanoist. The second part is a movie and my tiredness swallows me. The third part is what we’ve all been waiting for. They heat up Icelandic black sand to about 800-1200 degrees. This turns the sand into lava and it flows right in front of us. The room is immediately warmed and the brightness is so intense that cell phone cameras can’t quite capture the moment. It creates this purple glare. It was really awesome to see in-person!

We learned so much about lava too. The color of lava tells you how hot it is, and a common misconception is black lava is cool and you can touch it. Lava turns black at less than 500 degrees so black lava could still mean it’s extremely hot, but it could also not be hot. The presenter drops a tissue on the black lava and it catches fire. He reiterates that you should not walk on lava even if it’s black because visually you can’t tell if it will swallow you and catch you on fire or you’ll be able to walk on it.

We also learned about obsidian which is hardened lava. The hardened lava we watched isn’t obsidian because it’s a different type. Obsidian is very sharp and used to make scalpels.

Hallgrímskirkja (Church with Rainbow Path)

We go back to the hotel and I’m in the walking crew this time around. We find the rainbow path that leads to the church. The streets are noticeably more crowded and we learn that a ship is docked. It is crazy to see the difference of crowd levels with and without a ship docked. Our room is ready when we arrive and it is nap time!

Fröken Reykjavík Kitchen & Bar

Today is my father-in-law's birthday so we have a special dinner tonight. We walk about 15-minutes to the restaurant. I have the cheese gnocchi and lamb schnitzel. Brian has the fish. The food was fresh and mostly delicious. There were a couple flavors that were snuck into different foods which I didn’t care for. For example, the potatoes were cooked with mayo. I strongly dislike mayo and even though it didn’t look like they had mayonnaise on them, the flavor was potent. My favorite part of the meal was the cheesecake. It came out as a red flower and the prettiness of the dessert was matched with how good it tasted.

We returned back to the hotel. I scour my son’s bag for his pajamas, and I can’t find them. I’m 99.9% sure they should be in his bag. Brian had added some items to this bag so the .001% is if he accidentally took them out and didn’t put them back. I also know because I remember having a conversation with my son as I packed the pajamas which I had almost forgot to pack. My son wants his favorite pajamas which are a size four and barely fit him, but he loves them. I tell him no because you never travel with items that you love that are irreplaceable. He isn’t happy about it, and he doesn’t buy it, but they aren’t packed. I look through all the bags. No PJs. Brian had also determined that a few of his items are missing as well. It looks like the broken zipper on the bag is more than it appears. We think our bag had opened at some point on the journey. The items that were packed on top are the items missing from the bag. Another trip to Europe with Brian and another set of claims to the airline and travel protection are needed. I stay up to begin the claim with the airline since this is time-sensitive and report the missing items with the airport. The one bright part of this is that my son now fully understands the lesson that I was teaching about not bringing the irreplaceable. His pajamas that were packed are brand new and still available at Costco. I can replace them.

Alda Hotel Reykjavík

It’s been a long day. I’m in my pajamas and ready to crawl into bed. Then my young son complains about being hungry. This happens at home too when his medicine wears off. At home, we go downstairs and I heat up a meal. That’s trickier in Iceland and it means changing and going out. There is a fish and chip restaurant around the corner, so we go there for fries. He eats them and we’re finally all asleep.