Reykjavik, Iceland - Land of the Unpronounceables

A good, if short, sleep in the little cabin. Then into the lounge car to charge the iPad - I couldn't find a power socket in the cabin. 

Breakfast arrives and it's good - creamy Scottish oats with honey, a muffin/scone thing but a hideous coffee.

Just halfway through brekkie, the porter comes along the corridor tapping on the doors to say we've arrived and basically to get off. Which I eventually do. We've arrived at Euston station so I walk down to   Kings Cross to store my suitcase for a couple of hours. Kings Cross coz that will give me a direct ride on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow. I also find the free wifi to post yesterday's blog.

I've decided my last port of call in London should bookend my first...

It's the start of the Poppy Day campaign and there are armed forces everywhere collecting. There is a bit of a stand and lots of cameras at one point in Covent Garden. I recognise Barbara Windsor, from Eastenders and the Carry On films but only because of her height and hair and a street cleaner told me it was her. He was 'right chuffed' to see her and get a photo with her. Couldn't see much of her original face...

Of more interest was this original spitfire.

Had a lovely walk around, found a decent coffee and then headed back to pick up my bag and get on the underground to Heathrow. Bit sad to be leaving England and I must make sure it's not another 20 years before I come back.

I got an Oyster card for the tube - their ticketing system - and when you leave, you can get any money left on it refunded and they also refund the £5 for the card itself. 

Then it's through to Terminal 2 and check in. Stop for a bite and wait for the flight to board.

Some notes on England - no one seems to wait for pedestrian lights to change to the green man. You'll see one person think, "I can get across here." And off he goes. Then others think they can do the same and they take off too. Meanwhile, a double decker bus rounds the corner and they are in its direct path. They then run to the other side, laughing about how they 'got away with that'. But it's stupid and unsafe and unfair on the drivers. And it happens all the time!

There are a lot of smokers. It also seems to be okay to drop butts in the street.

I saw a man reading a newspaper on the train and when he finished, he threw it behind him. I thought that was a bit bad but then noticed others doing it. The trains leave daily papers out for people to read, which is a great touch.

And some other stuff - the falconry at Dalhousie is also called a mews - like the Royal Mews.

I was going to find Sweeney Todd/Mrs Lovett pie shop and looked it up. Then I saw it was on Fleet Street and realised I should have known that - it's not 'The Demon barber of Charing Cross Road...

The character in Shrek is not Lord Farquahar but Lord Farquaad.

When I was checking in my bag, I was asking the lovely lady at the counter if there were any Poppy Day collectors around to give them my leftover coins. She hadn't seen any but there was a charity for this exact reason and she could take my coins. Nice chat but at the end, my bag had gone through and she still held the information sticker that should have gone on it, labelling it with my flight and details. So I gave her a description of the bag and she promised she would sort it out! That would be great on arrival in Iceland - no luggage!

While waiting to board the plane, I'm charging the iPad and can see out the window to the plane. I see a trolley of luggage get loaded but don't see mine. Then another trolley rolls up and there it is. The men hover around it for a while and I want to shout at them to put it on...!

Which they eventually do, to my relief. Then it's on we go. Uneventful flight. I never know where to look when we land - on one hand, I want to know when we're about to touch down, on the other, I don't want to know.

Through customs, collect my bag - hurrah! - and welcome to Iceland! The airport has lots of quotes by famous Icelanders on the walls. Loved this one.

Get some money - $100 Australian equals about 9,000 Iceland krona so that is going to be interesting to translate. Then it's on to the shuttle bus I booked on the plane. I normally would have looked it up but forgot and so wasn't expecting the one-hour drive into Reykjavik! You could feel everyone on the bus, who had just had a two-hour flight, fall into a stupor - will this trip never end?

The landscape is almost barren, volcanic, dark soil with mountains in the distance and lots of cloud. When we reach habitation, the homes are very box-like, square and a lot of apartments.

We arrive at the bus depot but it's still not over - we then transfer onto smaller shuttle buses that will take us to our hotel. Thankfully this doesn't take too long but the entire journey has been over half as long as the entire flight itself - which is not bad, if you are expecting that...

Hotel Fron is my destination - again, a single room in a central location. And it's right on the Main Street.

Looks better in real life...

Then it's a bit of a stroll down the main street...

..before popping into a tourist place for help sorting out Saturday, I have everything set and planned but can't quite work out Saturday. The guy is great and shuffles a few things around, job done. Just a slightly different order of events but saving me $400 so that's good. And it all starts tomorrow!

Two points of note - travelling days are exhausting!

And another bucket list ticked. I remember playing the game Where in the World with Lisa Robertson (my neighbour and best friend at the time) and amongst Rome and Paris and Athens was the very exotic Reykjavik. And it's been on the list since then, now checked off.