29 June 2016
Greetings from Reykjavik!
Departing from Newark yesterday was a very odd experience. As I arrived at the airport, the attacks at Ataturk Airport had literally just occurred. While I was excited to leave for my trip and new experiences, I could not help but feel a sadness for all the people that were going to the airport with the same excitement and unfortunately died instead. Facing terror has, sadly, become part of one’s everyday experience everywhere. I, for one, refuse to let this fear of unknown force me into a life of false contentment, when my heart yearns to see and experience all there is in this world. To those unfortunate victims, full of hopes for their travels, I dedicate part of my journey to you.
Additionally, thanks to the massive amount of fog that set down in New York, my flight was unable to take off on time. We sat on the runway for close to two hours before any of the northern flights were cleared for take off. Luckily, I had a very nice seat mate, Kirsten, who was on her way to Iceland and then Sweden for a family reunion, and I was able to watch one of my favorite films, Blake Edwards’s The Pink Panther while falling asleep. But, when I arrived in Reykjavik, I had missed my connecting flight to Stockholm. However, the friendly and very prepared folks at Iceland Air had arranged passage on another flight that departed at 1am, a hotel to stay at and relax in Iceland, taxis to and from the airport, and meals. As tired as I was when we landed at Keflavik at 6:45a, it was nice to know that all of that had been arranged and that nothing further was required on my end.
Having come from the sticky weather in New York, Iceland’s cooler temps and long sunlit hours were a much welcomed bit of relief. While I did spend most of my time sleeping, I was glad that I will have a day and a half at the end of my trip to explore.
When 9pm on a June night looks and feels like this, I could get used to living on a volcanic rock.