Reykjavik, Iceland

ICELAND   —   October 2, 2021

Our flight from XNA to CHI was uneventful. We landed in Chicago on time but with a looming 9 hour layover ahead of us. Fortunately, we were able to relax in United’s

VIP lounge where we enjoyed comfortable 

chairs and endless snacks and drinksQhad access to United’s VIP Lounge where we relaxed in comfort . We had access to all the free snacks and drinks we wanted. It was much better than sitting out there in the terminal listening to endless announcements of departing flights and CDC safety warnings.

Our flight to Iceland took about l7 hours and we landed around u AM Iceland time. After clearing in with all the entry paperwork and exiting customs, we grabbed a taxi for a short stop at a COVID testing station as required for our flight to London in two days. TYhe taxi driver was eager to wait on us because the meter kept running until we were back on the road.

The trip to Reykjavik was about 45 minutes. Our hotel was called Baron, a FOSS hotel chain. It was okay. The rooms were typical European, even though Reykjavik s not in Europe. We left our luggage in their storage room as we could not check in until 3 PM.

We took our swim suits and whatever else we wanted to carry and caught a taxi to a resort spa called the Sky Lagoon. We had originally. Inteneded to go to the Blue Lagoon but it was full. TYhe Sky Lagoon was newer and much less crowded anyway. Someone told us they liked the Sky Lagoon better than the Blue Lagoon anyway. Both are man made.

We checked in and stored our things in our lockers; then headed down the steps into the warm pool water. It was very warm and comfortable. I took my camera into the pool to check out the IPhone 12’s water resistant features. No problem.

For the next couple of hours we ventured out into the pool to experience a waterfall, ocean view and swim up bar. We took a cold plunge in the cold water pool, freezing our buns off before entering a sauna with an ocean view.

The salt scrub with fragrant oil was fun. We walked into a room that was like a misty rain coming down before the scrub. Following the scrub we walked into an even hotter sauna for a few minutes. We then went back out into the main pool for some more relaxing time.

We were allowed to remain as long as we wanted. After getting water logged , we headed for the showers and got dressed.

Our taxi arrived and took us to our hotel. We relaxed, took a nap and then walked around the city for a while.

TYhe RIFF Church had another longer name. It was a Lutheran church, quite unique and beautiful. In front was a statue of Leif Erickson, the famous explorer; a bronze statue given to Reyjivik by the United States years ago.

For dinner, we went into a little eatery called the Reyjivick Fish and Chips. We all had fish and chips. There was plenty of fish and fries; very tasty.

The weather was very cold with the wind chill factor. The wind was very strong and walking around for us was difficult.

Our evening excursion was a bus tour to a parking lot out of town thirty or forty minutes to watch for the appearance of the Northern Lights. It was so cold and windy that most of sat in the bus most of the time; venturing outside for brief moments. There were only faint Northern Lights in the distance and quite a few shooting stars. It was a long evening and we got back after midnight. We had to be up at 8:00 for breakfast and a pickup for our second day’s excursion.

Mike