Today started with some coffee and a last minute trip to the bank to deposit a check from this Summer. Afterwards, my dad took me off to the airport where I was quite happy to see my TSA precheck had gone through on my reservation. Unfortunately, my plane from Columbus was cancelled after several delays. It left me scrambling to find a way to get from Columbus to Boston before my plane left for Iceland at 9:20 that evening. As it turns out, getting to Boston is easy if you find the right person, and the right person is Luis. Luis is a Port Columbus gate agent and the man is a wizard. He had me on a flight through partner airlines for no cost that got me to Boston at the same time I was to normally arrive (around 6:30). It left me with plenty of time to navigate the long terminal change at Logan International. Except, it so happened that the TSA decided it was time to randomly screen my bags. Yay! It ended up being a bit longer than anybody had anticipated until I got my carry-on bag returned to me. By this time, I was accustomed to jogging through airport terminals, so it didn’t bother me when I heard my zone being called to board the plane while I was just given my slice of Sbarro. With some true talent, I got through the gate holding two carry-on bags and a slice a pizza in one hand while pulling out my passport and boarding pass with the other. The flight was nice. There were two infants on the whole flight (one directly in front of me and one directly behind me). They made up for being loud by being cute.
Arriving in Reykjavik was pretty interesting. The plane landed at 6:45 A.M. local (2:45 A.M. Eastern). It took two busses, a van and a short walk, but it was worth it. Around 9:30 A.M. local time (5:30 A.M. Eastern) I arrived at my hostel. Since check in wasn’t until 2PM, there was quite a bit of time to kill. I paid for my room and meet two other travelers in the same boat at my hostel. After a double shot of espresso (crying infants, remember?), we (Eric, Michael and I) set off to explore the city on foot.
Right now, I’m all checked in and drinking a beer on the roof of the hostel before dinner with the guys. The rest of that story will come when I get a bit more time later. Right now is time to get some Icelandic hot dogs for dinner!
