Saturday, July 25, 2015

25.07.2015 / Off we go....

What a stressfull departure day. Getting the last things packed, buying a six-pack of sox and a few more sd-cards for our cameras we went on the Autobahn for our ~2 hour ride to Berlin. ... and got stuck in three traffic jams causing brief moments of panic. We ended up in time in Berlin and went into a small Italian Restaurant for a Pizza. For the last time some food WE knew before entering the mysteries of Icelandic food traditions. 😄 After a good meal a new shock struck us: In general, when leaving Berlin by plane we always travel from Berlin Schönefeld Airport. For some strange reason, I quickly had a gut Feelings to re-check the tickets and realized that it would be Tegel this time. So, where to park the car? Would we still have enough time now? We paid in a rush, hurried to the car, just to find ourselves stuck again for getting on the road because of a running event in the middle of Berlin City. My pulse went up as "millions" of skater passed us... 
Fortunately, they let us pass during a small slot and 30 min later we had parked the car safely and took the bus to the Airport...
Incredibly enough, and those knowing Berlins' grumpy bus driver: This one did not request me to pay the ticket but just waved me through. That was truely coming close to a miracle! 

Check-in was funny! By random generator Kjell was picked for a body check... You could literally see his face falling. 😳 And I only thought about all the rusty nails, dirty metallic stuff that he in general collects in his pockets on his way home from School.

The take-off was one of the worst I ever had. Due to heavy storm in Germany we kind of slipped sideways into the air. How to assure your kid that the pilot knows what he is doing when your heart is pounding heavy? Anyway, we made it and were picked up by a lovely man from Icelandic Exploration to drive us 45 min into the Center ok Reykjavik where I had booked 2 nights. During the trip it was interesting to listen to his hints and ideas about Iceland.
I love the language with its difficult pronounciation!!

Harpa, our host at Town House, welcomed us warm-heartedly and around 3.30 am cet we finally fell onto the fresh and cosy beds!!.... 
A wonderful start of our 11 days in Iceland!!