NeilD's blog

I awoke in my hostel in Reykjavik at 4am so that I could catch the first bus (4:35) to the airport. Though my flight didn’t leave until 7:55, I wanted to be early to ensure that they didn’t bump me off the flight, as there has been issues with overbooking since the airports opened back up. The airport was extremely busy and I waited in checkin and security for over 1 hour. They had delayed my flight to boarding at 8:30 though, so I still had over 2 hours to wait in the airport. They boarded the flight, but then had us wait at the gate for 2 hours for a connection from New York.

Before my final day in Iceland I tried numerous times to get booked in for a joint Snorkelling - Spelunking tour where you would go snorkelling at the continental ridge and then spelunking down in some caves where lava used to flow. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough people to run the tour. So I had to pick one and I decided on the lava caves.

At 9am I was on the phone with Icelandair who told me that they couldn't get me on a flight until Saturday with the current schedule, but I'd be on a waiting list for Thursday, and they may add flights if everything opens up. I then went up to Email my cousin in Holland to tell her that I wouldn't be coming as soon as we'd hoped. Luckily, I found her online, and she placed a call to the dutch office and since she works for shell and plans many trips for them, managed to get me confirmed on the Thursday flight!

I got picked up by my tour group at 8:30 at my hostel's front door and had probably the best excursion I've ever taken! :D We drove up to one of the boreholes from the geothermal plant and parked our van, then hiked for about an hour up and over a ridge past hot springs and steam vents and mud baths before reaching a point where the largest volume of hot spring water mixes with a mountain stream. We walked down a ways to some pools and proceeded to put on our swimwear and get in!

I ate a supermarket breakfast of yogurt and cereal before heading out to catch the free Reykjavik Bike tour (they work on tips). The guide was pretty good, telling stories about the Icelandic people and their history at many different sites along the way. Reykjavik was originally settled in the 10th century by a guy who got kicked out of Norway for not paying allegiance to the King. Before that, there were a few Irish monks, but not much else.

My flights to Toronto and JFK were uneventful, but at JFK I saw a bunch of people lounging around, presumably stuck on their way to Europe. My icelandair flight left without any indication of potential delays or bad conditions in Reykjavik, so apparently the early reports I got were accurate in saying that it was only affecting traffic east of Iceland.

I embarked on my journey 19 hours ago without knowing whether I would actually reach my destination. The fact that Icelandair's call center is only open 9-5 EST definitely didn't help to alleviate my fears. :( However, just as they said at 10am on the 15th, the volcano hasn't affected any travel west of Iceland. So, I'm here. :) More to come, but I have to run for a tour.