Day 7 (October 14): Reykjavik to Keflavik to Home

In anticipation of a somewhat tiring trip home, we bunked in later than usual this morning, arising when we noticed something odd.  Looking out our window we could see the sun rising!  The sky was blue!  The wind and rain were gone, of at least missing!  We seized the opportunity.

We packed before having a late breakfast - early brunch that would allow us to defer eating again until the airport or further.  We then dropped our bags in the hotel's baggage room and checked out of our room so that we did not need to return to the hotel until it was time to board the bus for the airport

We walked the several blocks to the waterfront, then along it towards the part of the harbor used mostly for smaller commercial boats, visiting military ships, etc.  Cargo ships, passenger liners, etc. use a different harbor about twenty miles from Reykjavik.

Along the way we saw the symbolic status of a Viking ship that paid tribute to the discoverers of Iceland. 

We passed the Harpa Music Hall and Conference Centre.  We had been told that the center was an architectural ego trip under construction when the Icelandic economy had a major meltdown in 2008.  Halved in size, it was finally completed after the economy began to recover, thanks in part to new emphasis on tourism, now the country's single biggest revenue source.  An example of the excess that led to staggering construction costs was windows what were individually crafted to have different reflective qualities. This was to create an aurora borealis effect when light hit the sides of the building.

 We walked on, looking for and finding the Aurora Museum. 

It was the only way we were going to see Northern Lights this trip, or get a picture (of a picture) of them.

picture of Aurora Museum picture

We took a cab back to the hotel, getting there in time to walk a few blocks before it was time to board the bus for the airport.

With clouds setting in again and some mist in the air, we drove to Keflavik, along the way passing a large aluminum manufacturing plant.  Iceland's cheap electrical energy is the reason for this energy-intense manufacturing process being located here.

Our arrival at Keflavik airport started well, but Icelandair did not maintain the positive experience. When we got to the departure gate we found a cluster of five gates, all of which had a flight departing within a 15 minute window.  The result was a huge lack of seating and in general the ambience of an MBTA subway car stuck between stations at rush hour.

Once aboard the plane, although seated in the next-to-last row, things were looking up.  The aircraft was a new 767.  The seating configuration was 2-3-2 giving us a window and aisle seat.  We had enough room to store our gear within our allotted space even with a compromised area under one seat due to some sort of electronics package.  A pleasant flight attendant did mention that it was a full flight.

It was.  They came streaming down both aisles in an endless procession.  Teenagers - lots and lots of teenagers.  Church group, class trip, group of runaways - who knows.  We braced ourselves for a long, noisy trip.

I had not given sufficient credit to each seat-back having an electronic babysitter.  On went screens, on went headphones, off went posturing and other teen social interaction.  At one level it was a sad commentary on face-to-face communication among teens of the electronic age.  At a more immediate and personal level, it was a welcome relief.

We took off on schedule.  About an hour later we were passing over the southern tip of Greenland.  From the plane we got a glimpse of some land and what appeared to be ice floating in the adjacent waters.

The teens got restless after a couple of hours, but were generally subdued.

The pilot definitely planted the plane on the runway when we landed in Boston.  During the rollout, my chair-back monitor still read 8 meters of altitude.

We got through Immigration and Customs quickly and smoothly, in large part thanks to being certified for Global Entry.

Once we were all assembled, we boarded our last bus of the trip.  Ironically,  Pam knew the bus driver - Roger, aka Elvis.  He frequently drove ski trips run by Bob's Sea-n-Ski.  As for his nickname, one look at him and it was harder to remember his real name.

We arrive at New Bedford Whaling Museum about 8:45.  After the usual chaotic and incomplete round of good-byes, we hoped in a friend's car.  We were home about 9:15 PM local time; 1:15 AM Icelandic time.  Bed time.  The bags could wait until morning...or later.