Our flight was at 8:10 PM on Friday night, and the work day just felt like forever! The whole week leading up to it was very hectic, I had a group assignment due that weekend and I had to make sure to complete my part of the work before I left, and trust my team mates to do the rest.
I left work early, got home, showered and we took the UP Express to the airport at 4:30 PM. It's been very handy living next to Union Station and we're big fans of the UP Express. Our check-in and baggage drop off went smoothly, and we had time for a bite at Caplanski's Deli before heading to our gate. We usually use our gate waiting time to call our bank and credit card companies to notify them of our travel plans (not always required, but better safe than sorry), and I also downloaded a few e-books from the Toronto Public Library. I've gotten so used to reading before bedtime, it's hard to fall asleep without a book lol.
At the gate, a friend of mine spotted us and after the initial surprise of seeing her and her partner, we discovered we were on almost the exact same trip, except theirs was 2N Iceland and 6 or 7N Paris. What a coincidence! We chatted a little bit, and thought about grabbing a meal together in either city, but figured it would be hard to coordinate with our separate itineraries and activities.
Boarding started soon, and the flight attendants handed everyone a small bottle of Icelandic Glacial water. It's bottled from a natural Icelandic spring, and tasted really fresh and clean. Our seats were towards the back, and I was happy to see a wrapped blanket on each seat. Planes tend to be freezing cold, and I was prepared with a hoodie and woolen socks. The screen was in the seat in front of us, and besides the regular TV programs and movies, there was a lot of Icelandic informational content that was fun to watch.
As this was an overnight flight (landing at 6:25 AM), the cabin lights were quickly dimmed and we settled in for a nap. At least, we tried to. Some people behind us (across the aisle) were chatting and just not shutting up. I was getting more and more annoyed, as were others around us. I finally whispered to Andrew that it was driving me crazy, and how inconsiderate those people were. He then whispered back that it was one person, and it didn't seem like she was doing it on purpose.
Oh.
I instantly felt bad for my uncharitable thoughts, and I went from annoyed to understanding. Unfortunately, other passengers were getting more annoyed and someone in front of us even shouted "shut up" a few minutes later. The flight attendants got involved, but as the lady was speaking French and didn't always sound coherent, it was hard to communicate with her. A couple who sat next or close by the lady were moved to another row. This continued for the entire flight, and needless to say, neither of us got much sleep.
But that wasn't the worst of it! As we were preparing for landing, the lady got more and more agitated and would not sit down and buckle her seat belt. We gathered she was traveling alone to Paris and possibly scared of flying. I was worried for the flight attendants, and what would happen if she kept refusing to cooperate. Somehow they managed and we landed safely. I have no idea what happened with the lady afterwards, we were too tired and just wanted to get off the plane.
In all our travels so far, this was the worst flight, but really, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that bad. Next post, day 1 in Iceland!
Sunday 20 January 2019
Preparing for the trip
With the Iceland Air promotion, we could do our stop-over before or after Paris. We decided to go for Iceland first, as the flight lands in the early morning and I read on a blog that you could go straight to the Blue Lagoon for a nice soak, and it wouldn't be as crowded as during the afternoon. Plus the Blue Lagoon is between the KEF airport and Reykjavik, so it made sense to visit it on our way to the city.
As neither of us had a driver's license at that point, we splurged on a 2 day/1 night tour to Jokulsarlon and an ice cave expedition with Extreme Iceland. We prefer a smaller tour group size, and they had excellent reviews. We booked an AirBnB for the full 4 nights in Reykjavik, even if we wouldn't be "home" for 1 night. For Paris, we wanted to be in the city center and I fell in love with an eclectic boutique hotel where each room was decorated and painted in a different theme. More on these on the day-to-day trip report!
When I told my sister about our plans, and showed her the pictures of the ice caves, she burst out laughing because she knows I walk like a grandma when it's slippery outside. I seriously dislike walking on icy and slippery sidewalks, and I think it shows how much I really wanted to see the ice caves!
Clothing and Packing
From my Iceland research, I knew it would be wet/snowy, windy and cold, and waterproof pants and jackets would be essential. We didn't own any, but luckily were able to borrow those, plus backpacks, from friends and family. I didn't have proper hiking boots either, but I could rent it from the tour company, and my regular winter boots would be fine for the city. We did purchase some merino wool underwear to layer.
Paris would be completely different, the temperature would be warmer (10-15C) and we wouldn't need our bulky winter jackets and boots. Plus while our Iceland clothes were definitely cozy and comfortable, for Paris I wanted to dress a bit nicer! It's Paris after all :P Luckily our airfare included a checked bag each, and we managed to pack two different sets of clothing in 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on. Andrew brought his Canon DLSR with the kit lens and borrowed a fish eye lens from my sister. He even managed to bring his tripod because we were hoping to see the Northern Lights.
Trip Planning
With our ice caves tour booked, I focused next on the Blue Lagoon. You had to buy a ticket in advance, as they can (and often) sell out for the day. They had different packages: the basic package included entry, but no towel! It was an extra charge to rent a towel, or you could purchase the premium package that included the towel and a bath robe. They also offered in-water massages, which included the towel and bath robe. I decided to splurge on the massages and surprise Andrew with it. (I am really good at keeping secrets and surprises!!)
For Paris, we made a list of the museums and sights we wanted to see, and looked into some restaurants. When I read about the Bustronome, a gourmet dinner eaten on a bus while touring Paris, I was sold. Andrew liked the idea as well, and we booked it for our 2nd night.
We didn't want to have a crazy itinerary where every hour is planned, and you're running from place to place. We did our research into attractions we wanted to see (and their entrance fees), any particular food we wanted to eat, and how far / accessible it would be from our accommodations. For each city, we made a list of things to do and picked what we felt like doing that particular day. It's a good compromise for me, I'm not the kind of spontaneous person that could just show up and wing it. I'm always afraid that I somehow miss out on something great (just around the corner), because I didn't do my research and didn't know to go there... Or you show up to a museum on Tuesday, and find out that they're always closed that day!
All this information, and our flight, hotel, tour reservations and budget go into a spreadsheet and a custom-created Google Map. I print out a copy of everything we need and bring it in a plastic folder. We brought some Euros for Paris (the hotel asked to be paid in cash), and used our credit card for Iceland as we read it's widely accepted, even for a cup of coffee.
Next post - departure day!
As neither of us had a driver's license at that point, we splurged on a 2 day/1 night tour to Jokulsarlon and an ice cave expedition with Extreme Iceland. We prefer a smaller tour group size, and they had excellent reviews. We booked an AirBnB for the full 4 nights in Reykjavik, even if we wouldn't be "home" for 1 night. For Paris, we wanted to be in the city center and I fell in love with an eclectic boutique hotel where each room was decorated and painted in a different theme. More on these on the day-to-day trip report!
When I told my sister about our plans, and showed her the pictures of the ice caves, she burst out laughing because she knows I walk like a grandma when it's slippery outside. I seriously dislike walking on icy and slippery sidewalks, and I think it shows how much I really wanted to see the ice caves!
Clothing and Packing
From my Iceland research, I knew it would be wet/snowy, windy and cold, and waterproof pants and jackets would be essential. We didn't own any, but luckily were able to borrow those, plus backpacks, from friends and family. I didn't have proper hiking boots either, but I could rent it from the tour company, and my regular winter boots would be fine for the city. We did purchase some merino wool underwear to layer.
Paris would be completely different, the temperature would be warmer (10-15C) and we wouldn't need our bulky winter jackets and boots. Plus while our Iceland clothes were definitely cozy and comfortable, for Paris I wanted to dress a bit nicer! It's Paris after all :P Luckily our airfare included a checked bag each, and we managed to pack two different sets of clothing in 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on. Andrew brought his Canon DLSR with the kit lens and borrowed a fish eye lens from my sister. He even managed to bring his tripod because we were hoping to see the Northern Lights.
Trip Planning
With our ice caves tour booked, I focused next on the Blue Lagoon. You had to buy a ticket in advance, as they can (and often) sell out for the day. They had different packages: the basic package included entry, but no towel! It was an extra charge to rent a towel, or you could purchase the premium package that included the towel and a bath robe. They also offered in-water massages, which included the towel and bath robe. I decided to splurge on the massages and surprise Andrew with it. (I am really good at keeping secrets and surprises!!)
For Paris, we made a list of the museums and sights we wanted to see, and looked into some restaurants. When I read about the Bustronome, a gourmet dinner eaten on a bus while touring Paris, I was sold. Andrew liked the idea as well, and we booked it for our 2nd night.
We didn't want to have a crazy itinerary where every hour is planned, and you're running from place to place. We did our research into attractions we wanted to see (and their entrance fees), any particular food we wanted to eat, and how far / accessible it would be from our accommodations. For each city, we made a list of things to do and picked what we felt like doing that particular day. It's a good compromise for me, I'm not the kind of spontaneous person that could just show up and wing it. I'm always afraid that I somehow miss out on something great (just around the corner), because I didn't do my research and didn't know to go there... Or you show up to a museum on Tuesday, and find out that they're always closed that day!
All this information, and our flight, hotel, tour reservations and budget go into a spreadsheet and a custom-created Google Map. I print out a copy of everything we need and bring it in a plastic folder. We brought some Euros for Paris (the hotel asked to be paid in cash), and used our credit card for Iceland as we read it's widely accepted, even for a cup of coffee.
Next post - departure day!
Friday 7 July 2017
Iceland and Paris - How it all started
Trip details: 4 nights in Iceland, 3 nights in Paris (Nov 6 - 14, 2015)
Earlier in May, I was watching Crossing Lines on Netflix, one of those crime solving series, where the members of the team are from various European countries, and their investigations take them to all over the continent. I know it's TV and not real, but man, did they manage to make their lives look so interesting and sophisticated, and I turned to Andrew and said (accusingly): "Why don't we ever do anything cool like that? (the sophisticated European living thing I mean, not the crime solving thing obviously) Let's go somewhere interesting and exotic, something different." Andrew, as usual, was easy-going and readily agreed with me. I was still taking classes for my Master's degree at that time, so were pretty much restricted to traveling during my Fall reading week.
Unfortunately most of Europe was out, since Andrew had already visited most countries and I had this silly notion that we should discover a new place together (hah right. turns out, it really doesn't matter). Then we started looking at Iceland, which was becoming a very popular travel destination with the Iceland Air promotions. What really sold me were the ice caves, where glacier ice melting in the summer creates these caves that can only be explored in the winter (after the water drains / freezes away). Early November was the start of the ice caving season, and we were contemplating our itinerary options for the week as the ice caves require a rented car (but neither one of us had a license) or a tour operator (expensive). Then Iceland Air had a sale on flights to Paris, with a free stop-over in Iceland and we were sold. We decided on 4 nights in Iceland (including a 2 night ice cave tour), and 3 nights in Paris. Stay tuned for the actual trip report!
Earlier in May, I was watching Crossing Lines on Netflix, one of those crime solving series, where the members of the team are from various European countries, and their investigations take them to all over the continent. I know it's TV and not real, but man, did they manage to make their lives look so interesting and sophisticated, and I turned to Andrew and said (accusingly): "Why don't we ever do anything cool like that? (the sophisticated European living thing I mean, not the crime solving thing obviously) Let's go somewhere interesting and exotic, something different." Andrew, as usual, was easy-going and readily agreed with me. I was still taking classes for my Master's degree at that time, so were pretty much restricted to traveling during my Fall reading week.
Unfortunately most of Europe was out, since Andrew had already visited most countries and I had this silly notion that we should discover a new place together (hah right. turns out, it really doesn't matter). Then we started looking at Iceland, which was becoming a very popular travel destination with the Iceland Air promotions. What really sold me were the ice caves, where glacier ice melting in the summer creates these caves that can only be explored in the winter (after the water drains / freezes away). Early November was the start of the ice caving season, and we were contemplating our itinerary options for the week as the ice caves require a rented car (but neither one of us had a license) or a tour operator (expensive). Then Iceland Air had a sale on flights to Paris, with a free stop-over in Iceland and we were sold. We decided on 4 nights in Iceland (including a 2 night ice cave tour), and 3 nights in Paris. Stay tuned for the actual trip report!
Return to Blogging v3
As time passes, it's getting harder to remember all the details of our trips. Pictures only tell you so much, plus I love reading other people's trip reports. So here goes, Nordly's Blog v3 - Travel Adventures, kicking off with our Iceland + Paris trip from November 2015.
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Trip details : 4 nights in Iceland, 3 nights in Paris (Nov 6 - 14, 2015) Earlier in May, I was watching Crossing Lines on Netflix, one of... -
With the Iceland Air promotion, we could do our stop-over before or after Paris. We decided to go for Iceland first, as the flight lands in ...