The Play by Play (Part 1)

This post is for those wanting a true play by play of my trip to Iceland. Head on over to the other blogs if you're looking for concise.

2/26/17

Wow! It has been quite a journey. It is 10:50 PM on a Sunday here in Reykjavik, and this is the first time in days I have had a chance to sit back, relax, and breathe. I am the last one at a restaurant called Grillmarkaðurinn, which is incredible by the way, and I thought this would be the perfect time to start writing.

I don't know when my obsession with the Northern Lights started, but I woke up one morning needing to see them. I soon discovered that going to Iceland; however, did not just mean that I would see this miraculous happening in the sky. But several documentaries later, I was all the more intrigued by this country in the middle of what I deemed nowhere. I read a handful of blogs and tour reviews, spoke with several people from Iceland via Instagram, and looked up just about every single hidden gem.

I decided that this was going to be a solo journey and a road trip at that. So, after studying the Aurora Forecast via the Geographical Institute, I decided to book my flight right away, as a "solar storm" was coming on February 27th. I booked through the "cheap" WOW airlines (thoughts on them later) and was due to arrive at KEF Saturday at 4 am. Now, let me tell you, when it comes to planning, I become OCD, and I had every single hour booked with some sight or activity starting at 6 am. Well, the morning of the 24th, my flight was canceled due to heavy winds in Reykjavik. Since I only had four nights to begin with, you can imagine that losing a full day would throw everything off. I felt my neck and back go out immediately. Welcome, stress.

I texted mom frantically and alas had been so caught up in my own world that I forgot how important this day was - the day we lost our Polly, my grandma, 2 years ago. Good old Polly with her storms! I couldn't do anything but smile at the thought that she was protecting me from "stormy weather." Well, after 8 hours of trying to reach them on the phone, WOW airlines said they wouldn't be able to get me on a flight until Monday - three days later - so I decided to get a refund and buy a ticket through Icelandair, leaving the following evening.

Fast forward to JFK runway, 1 hour delay because of thunderstorms, but nevertheless we did take off, and 5 and a half hours later, we were on our descent. And then I felt that familiar twist and turn in the stomach, as if I were on a roller coaster. We were going back up. "They are not ready for us to land due to the amount of snow and wind, so we will instead be arriving in Glasgow in 2 hours. At that point, my mind and heart starting racing. Was this a sign? I had just written a song about a man asking about "Polly from Scotland." Was I supposed to try and fly out of Glasgow immediately or was I supposed to start my journey here in Scotland? In the end, I took the sign as a loving hello from Polly, and a reminder to put Loch Ness on my bucket list. I got on the 1:20 flight back to KEF, which ended up being 2 hours delayed, and decided to learn the ukelele in the meantime.

We landed around 5:20 pm and when I looked out the window I could barely see the wing of the plane. Merely five minutes later, the sun was streaming through the clouds. A perfect sunset. And so I quickly understood the Icelandic saying, "if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes." Alright, well I've already taken up about eight pages (I am transcribing this from my mini journal), but I will quickly jot down the fact that the car rental people forgot to pick me up, so I didn't get to their office until 8 pm. On top of that, they had forgotten to clean my car, so tack on another hour. If they hadn't been the nicest people in the world, I would have lost it.

By the time I got to the hotel, I found out there was no parking lot, and that I'd have to find a spot in three feet of snow and parallel park. I hate parallel parking. I nearly had a melt down, trying to figure out what spots were available and which ones would result in a ticket or a tow away. After circling the hotel five times, I decided to call the main desk, at which point, a man answered saying, "are you the one in the Kia?" He ended up parking the car for me, and let me tell you, at this point, I didn't care who was judging.

It's now 10:15 pm, and I have 15 minutes before the restaurant that I had previously made a reservation for closes. 10:40 pm, and I am on the phone beginning them to stay open. Out comes my savior, Sindrid! Seriously, he ran outside to try and find me. They were obviously closing shop, and the restaurant was completely empty aside from that loving couple in the corner, but I was ecstatic. Bread, Icelandic butter (amazing), cod, and wine...it was just what I needed.