Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Your day at work is about the roughest way to start a trip. Cripes!
It was quite funny, as my manager called me yesterday to ask me how I was and said I seemed pretty stressed that day. I said I was, as I just didn't want to leave anything behind for others and at least it worked, as apparently I managed to clear everything up, which was good.
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And hmmmm, it doesn't seem to be getting any easier at the airport either! It just shouldn't be that difficult to find food. Or to find the way to your gate! Thank goodness for the buggy. I can't believe you couldn't get better answers for directions from anyone! That's just crazy.
Seems ridiculous that the airport doesn't have better signage to the special assistance area! And that it's not located more conveniently!
I did double check yesterday, as I was back at Heathrow, and we did not miss any signs and it is situated in the weirdest place, so it definitely wasn't us.
Friday 28 April – part three: this changes from one shift to another…
Soon we were on the runway, and then no messing around, we were off and in the air. Sadly there weren’t many photos, as we soon entered the dingy cloud.
Eventually we did rise above it, and saw the sun. In fact, it was so bright, I had to pull down the blund, as otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to do anything. I read for a bit, then worked on the trip report, although that was a real pain, as it wasn’t quite big enough for me to see the screen properly, as the woman in front had move her seat back. I made sure to take the bandage off my ankle to try and give it time to “breathe” while we were up in the air, as I figured having it tightly wrapped for three hours while in the air probably wasn’t a very good plan…
In the end, I felt into a sort of sleep for about an hour and a half, and woke up just a few minutes before the captain announced we had started our descent. I had deliberately picked seats on the right hand side of the plane, so that we’d get a view of Iceland, as last year they’d had stunning views, and of course we were on the left hand side. Well, this year we knew better… except the weather had other ideas. Honestly, we were in the cloud until we were almost coming into land, which was so disappointing. Every time it cleared for a second, it literally did clear for that long, and as I went to snap a photo, it came back again.
We were soon coming into land, and wow, we hadn’t realised on our last trip just how big the airport was. It seemed to stretch forever, but then again, I guess when you have lots of land, you can do that…
As you can probably tell from these photos, it wasn’t exactly a dry welcome that awaited us. It was tipping with rain, which was a real shame, but heck, there’s nothing you can do about the weather. You just have to make the best of it.
When we pulled up to the gate, it was a very weird experience for us, as we had to sit there and wait for everyone to get off. It’s only when you do that you realise how many people are on board, and how long it takes to get them all off.
Eventually, we set off with a gap in between disembarking passengers. The woman behind me said “don’t worry love, you can go as slowly as you like”, but I told her once I got going, I was quite a whizz with the crutch!
Waiting at the gate was a wheelchair, and the most charming guy to push me around. He was so sweet, and I think it was all to do with the fact that we said it was our second visit to Iceland. I guess he doesn’t meet many return visitors. We chatted the whole way through the terminal, and I was so glad I’d got the assistance. We were at the furthest gate (or that’s what it felt like to me anyway ) and there is no way I could’ve walked all that way.
On the way, the guy also told us that they were making massive additions to the terminal, and we were in a new building, compared to our last visit. Back then, there had been no construction work at all. Now he said, he can see the difference from one shift to another.
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Wow, that airport is so much bigger than I'd imagined! I will be setting up wheelchair assistance now!!
You see what I mean now? Make sure you do. As I mentioned before, the US and UK flights come in at the furthest end of the airport as well, which makes the trek seem even longer.
That was quite an ordeal getting to your gate at Gatwick and I too would be stressed out and worrying whether I'd make it or not! That one woman was not helpful in anyway but at least there were some who were.
Glad your flight was good with the exception of the clouds and seems like you got some great assistance from that man at your gate. Hope the rest of the trip is less eventful!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Glad your flight was good with the exception of the clouds and seems like you got some great assistance from that man at your gate. Hope the rest of the trip is less eventful!
Friday 28 April – part four: if you see a sheep, slow down!
When we got to passport control, we had no wait at all, so I naturally assumed that we were literally now the last people off our plane passing through. Well apparently not. When we finally got to the baggage claim area, there were loads of people waiting there, and some came up after us, so goodness knows where they got to? Perhaps they stopped for a coffee on the way or visited the world-famous duty free store? There was certainly no rush, as the luggage wasn’t even coming out yet. I did remember this from our last visit that the luggage wasn’t exactly quick.
I spotted some restrooms, so said I’d head off over there, and the guy very kindly offered to wheel me over there, but I thanked him and said I could manage with my crutch. As I say, he was very sweet, and very concerned about my welfare, which I was eternally grateful for.
Now I mentioned the world famous duty-free store. The way it works here is that the duty free store has the cheapest alcohol by far in the country. I don’t just mean you get a bit of a discount like you do in most counties, we’re talking like about half the price. There’s the joke that you get on the luggage carousel about where is everyone, and the answer is they’re stocking up on duty free. Well, I could see why. As I walked back, I spotted Bath and Body Works products in there – no way! For one second, I was tempted to see if the wheelchair could be taken for a quick spin around there, but then I thought it might be pushing my luck a bit… shame.
We got one case back really quickly, and then we waited, and we waited, and we waited a bit more for good measure for the black one. As Mark said, had there not been so many other people still waiting, he’d be panicking, and I knew what he meant. How is it possible for two suitcases loaded up together to end up so far apart when they come out the other end? Finally, it arrived, and we were off again.
Our next challenge was finding the car rental company. It wasn’t clear, as their name wasn’t up on either the list of on-site providers, or those served by a shuttle, but that was because they did things differently (trust me to choose one like that, right? ) and they have a guy waiting with the name of the company showing. We went up to him, and he didn’t have our name down. Ok, not a good start… He checked our paperwork, and confirmed it was absolutely fine, everything was in order, which was a huge relief, but still no sign of our name. Let’s just say he was not a happy bunny, and I know he said something when he got back to their base about it. At least it wasn’t as bad as the other family whose name wasn’t down. That was because they’d manage to book their car from the domestic airport, which is in the heart of Reykjavik, about 45 minutes away. They were very lucky, and there was a spare car, otherwise they were told they’d have had to take a bus at their expense to the other airport to pick it up!
I got a couple of shots on the way over to the car rental pick-up…
We saw a lovely guy, and we did decide to purchase additional insurance, but there was no pushing. He explained that, although we had insurance through the company we’d booked through, we’d have to pay for anything that happened, and then wait to be reimbursed. We decided that, as the insurance wasn’t that much, we wouldn’t take the risk.
However, there were three exclusions – one, we already knew about, as there were signs in the minibus on the way over here, and this was that no damage to the chassis was covered. Ok. The second was that you weren’t covered if you drove the sea, river, or a lake. I think we can manage without doing that this trip… The third one though was a bit freaky. If you hit an animal, you’re not insured, and apparently this is Icelandic law. You have to pay for the damage and for the animal, which is usually a sheep, the guy warned us. His advice? If you see a sheep, slow down. Mark asked about cows, but we were told they were very rare, so our chances of hitting one were low (phew!) but then again, our chances of seeing one were also low (boo!) He told us that a couple once returned a car and said they had hit a cow, but it turned out they’d hit a reindeer!
With those warnings ringing in our ears, we headed out to our car. Oh dear. Yes, it took two suitcases in the trunk, as the advertising said, but that was it. It wouldn’t accommodate our hand luggage. We put it on the back seat, but within a moment, I said to Mark “can you go back and see if we can get an upgrade? I’m happy to pay for it”. I sat in the car, waiting for him to return, as it was still pouring down with rain, and he returned with a much bigger car, free of charge, as the guy told us he wouldn’t charge us, provided we wrote a good review. He was thinking TripAdvisor, but I’m writing my good review here. It was excellent customer service.
Everything fitted nicely in the second car, and it was so much better. It was an automatic, had cruise control, heated seats, dual temperature controls – basically everything we’re used in our car, so we were both very happy with it.
The next challenge was the GPS, which we needed in English. Oh my goodness! We eventually managed to work our way into settings, and languages, but then couldn’t find anything that looked like English. We worked our way around, and managed to set the language, then the keyboard (the bit we’d struggled with first) and finally the voice, a very pleasant sounding James. I picked him, as that’s my dad’s name.
We made our way out, trying to get used to the Garmin GPS we had guiding us. Oh my goodness, I must prefer TomTom, much easier to follow. Eventually, between that, and with some help from Google Maps, we were on our way…
As you can see, the weather was still miserable, and it was raining pretty heavily. I made the best of it, and tried to get as many photos as I could through the wet windscreen.
As we drove along, the scenery was constantly changing. Despite the rain, it was still beautiful, and it immediately made me think of Northern Ireland, which had had a similar beauty, despite the fact we hadn’t seen it in the best weather. We had green hills, snow, geothermal plants, hydroponics greenhouses, geysirs – you name it, it was there somewhere.
A wet welcome to Iceland. Happy to hear your wheelchair assistant was very pleasant though. Makes your welcome that much brighter!
Yeah, well, what can you do about the weather? Not much. Just make the best of it! Pictures still look great through the rainy windows. It's a beautiful country that we hope to visit some day too!
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Tanya
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Honestly, we were in the cloud until we were almost coming into land, which was so disappointing. Every time it cleared for a second, it literally did clear for that long, and as I went to snap a photo, it came back again. 
That one woman was not helpful in anyway but at least there were some who were. 
Finally, it arrived, and we were off again. 
He checked our paperwork, and confirmed it was absolutely fine, everything was in order, which was a huge relief, but still no sign of our name. Let’s just say he was not a happy bunny, and I know he said something when he got back to their base about it. At least it wasn’t as bad as the other family whose name wasn’t down. That was because they’d manage to book their car from the domestic airport, which is in the heart of Reykjavik, about 45 minutes away. 
Eventually, between that, and with some help from Google Maps, we were on our way… 
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