Iceland!

We made it to Iceland, yay!! The flight over was so great! We waited in the airport for about 2 hours, got lunch and met some people on our flight (Yes, I’m a friendly chatter box just like my momma). We met two really nice ladies who were traveling to Paris. They plan to stay in a flat for a month and hopefully we can connect with them when we get there! Icelandair is the best airline I’ve flown with in quite a long time. We received a pillow, thick comfy blanket, and had our own screen to watch movies, tv, listen to music, etc. Ryder, of course, spent the time watching Icelandic movies and listening to the local music. I, on the other hand, watched Hunger Games and Rio (I just had to thrown in an animated film, as those of you who know me understand).

We got to Iceland right on time and then went through customs. The officer who checked our passports asked us how long we would be in Europe… We both said, “Uuuhh… 3 months?” He wasn’t very impressed. After a few more questions, I started to sweat thinking “Oh great, first freaking country outside the US and our trip is over before it starts!” Ryder was cool as a cucumber and it turns out the customs official was just trying to be nice and let us know we only have 90 days to spend in Europe. Stamp, stamp and we are in Iceland! My first stamp in my passport, eek!

We walked to the baggage claim and waited for our luggage. It felt so strange to be in a space where no one was speaking English. I’m not sure if it will be like this throughout Europe, but at least in Iceland all signage has english underneath. Good thing to, I tried pronouncing some Icelandic with our driver to our hotel and I butchered it so badly. At least I know how to say a short version of thank you, “takk.” We are staying at this interesting hotel right outside of the airport called Hotel Alex. You can stay in a room in the main building or in a single cabin or you can camp. We had booked for a cabin, but our reservation was mixed up a bit and we ended up with a room in the main building. All I can say is, at least we have a place to stay! Tomorrow we will be traveling to Reykjavik where we will spend two nights, then its back on a plane for Spain. Oh, that rhymed! Hopefully we will get to visit the Blue Lagoon and go on a tour of the country before we go. Here is a photo outside our hotel. It’s 2:26am here as I type and the sky looks like this…