I saved four hundred dollars by booking our flights into and out of Orlando Airport. This also added the benefit of giving us a direct flight and being able to leave later in the day rather than having to wake up at 3 AM in order to leave locally and then need to do a stopover somewhere. Either route would have had me landing in Iceland at the same time, at 6 AM. It seemed like every flight I could find landed at that time.
We parked at the long term economy parking and took the shuttle over to the airport. The flight was about six hours and forty minutes, departing around 6:00 PM. Despite me urging him to try, Miles refused to sleep until there was about three hours left on the flight. I noticed that the airplane crew were advertising for bus transfers to the main city of Reykjavik. I asked one of them if this was much cheaper than taking a taxi and she informed me that it was many multitudes more to take a taxi, as they are expensive in Iceland. I opted for their bus transfer, although I knew it was likely slightly more expensive. It was round trip and so we wouldn't need to wait in lines at the airport or on the way back to buy tickets.
Passport control was a line of two people. We got our bags and went out into the cold to walk to the bus. I, of course, had my jacket on. Miles decided to walk outside without his jacket on and was greeted with a strong gust of wind. It was 8 AM and the sun wasn't due to rise for another two hours. I informed him that it was not called Iceland because it is summer year round, and he ducked back inside to suit up. As soon as we walked onto the bus he began to sleep. We arrived at our hotel about an hour later and they told us that our room would be ready around 11. In actuality, it wasn't ready til a bit after 12, but that is still super early for a check in to a hotel, so I was very happy.
We dropped off our bags while we waited and I took Miles to a diner down the street. He had a stack of six small pancakes while I had coffee. We walked a short distance to the Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, a unique looking building along the harbor. The views of the mountains were magnificent from this vantage point.
We followed the water until we reached Aurora Reykjavik, a tiny museum where they have information regarding the Northern Lights. Someone was there to give a brief talk about what camera settings to see if we are lucky enough to catch the northern lights. I actually picked up some information here that I had not considered, so I was glad to have gone. There was also a dark alcove where you could use your camera to test settings with a mock northern lights display. After I briefly did so, I turned around to see Miles on the nearby bench, head back and snoring.
At this point we walked back to the hotel. Along the way, a strong gust came and threw my hat a dozen feet into the air and then 40 feet down the street. Miles ran after it and saved it before more wind whisked it away, never to be seen again. Normally I would wear a beanie on top of the hat, but I had not been able to thoroughly go through our luggage yet. We arrived at the hotel and they told us to come back in an hour. We walked past a lake along the way to the National Museum of Iceland. This ended up being a warm place to spend our time, but the exhibits utterly bored me, as I had seen many of it before, including when we saw the Viking Museum in York. I must stop myself from going to any museum outside of the occasional art museum!
We returned to the hotel and our room was ready. I took a nap and Miles played games on his tablet. For dinner, we walked to a very small indoor hot dog stand, and got hot dogs, as Jeremy had recommended. Miles complained about their ketchup not being good, which is an absurd complaint, but I guess he has to continue to work to maintain his reputation! The hot dog bun was grilled in a pleasing pattern.
Before returning to our room, I had coffee at the hotel bar. I paid with cash this time and I received a really neat looking Icelandic coin.
Tomorrow we leave at 9 AM to go on our first tour, which lasts two days and one night. I normally do not take tours, since I like doing things at my own pace with my medical problems, but there were very strong advisories against driving in Iceland winters without arctic circle driving experiences, so I erred on the safe side.
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