Day 4 - Sunday 7/22/2019 (and into Monday 7/23) - Travel back Home
We woke up a little before the alarms but effectively didn’t get moving til 7:30. We were packed up and walked down to the Brauð & Co bakery a little before 8. Enjoyed a cinnamon roll thingy and a different style of croissant / muffin thing. We then went to Reykjavík roasters for Emily to get a coffee before walking up to the church to finish eating. We were back at the apartment about 8:10 and on the road by 8:15. On the 45 min drive to the airport, you could see the volcano on the Snæfellsjökull peninsula in the far distance, it was that clear today! We got gas at the Ob just outside the airport and got the car returned. We hustled our bags, still using the belt for the big red suitcase’s handle, to the airport. Being our flight was going to the USA, we had to check our bags using an agent instead of the automated system we assumed we could use, so that put us at the back of that line basically (since it was now 9:45 or so and our flight was at 11:15). We got them checked in, through security and boarder control, and to our gate.
We got settled on to the plane and started pushing back when the captain reported a warning light for the fuel pump on one of our engines. This caused us to sit on the tarmac for a while for a mechanic to check it out. Things were tried and eventually it was determined that the part to fix it isn’t available so they bused us back to the terminal. It was about 2:00 at this point (yeah we had been in the plane about 2-3 hrs at this point). We waited in the terminal for 45 min or so when they called us to line up for meal vouchers. While in this line, actually when Emily was talking to the agent, we we learned the fight was canceled and they were going to make a new flight at 1:00pm the next day! They did give us numbers to call to try to rebook or we could go to baggage claim for hotel vouchers. Emily called the number and was lucky (?) enough to be able to get booked on an Icelandair flight to Boston at 8:45pm, getting there at 10:30pm or so Boston time. We then go to Dallas on a 5:00am flight the next morning and then onto Houston Hobby on a 8:50am flight getting there at 10:00am. We did manage to get the meal vouchers during this so we went and got our bags, rechecked them on Icelandair and went through security again. We then waited in the terminal for the 5 or so hours. We tried to use the meal vouchers but the bartender gave Em two glasses of white wine on the house since our flight was canceled. We then used one voucher for two beers and a hamburger. We then tried to do something similar about 30 min before boarding but apparently all of the hot food locations close at 7... we were stuck with cold sandwiches but Em still got a beer and I a coke.
Our flight to Boston was on Icelandair’s rented 767 from Euro Atlantic. Icelandair rented 2 of these I think in order to help ease the issue of the 737 MAX being grounded. The plane was about 2/3 full so there was plenty of open seats around. The seats were in the 2-3-2 section so Emily and I got a 2 section, Em having an aisle and I a window. We pushed back on time at 8:45pm. The flight over was nice. I played Zelda on the switch for the first two hours or so then tried to sleep some and was moderately successful. Emily went to the two seats before me to do the same. Woke up with the captain telling us to expect some turbulence into Boston because of some thunderstorms between Boston and New York. We all woke up to sit up and get buckled in. They then turned off the cabin lights in prep for landing and even with the windows open it was dark. First time I’d seen this since the midnight ish walk to the apartment in Bergen. We landed at 10:05pm Boston time which was 2:05am Iceland time. We got through immigration just fine and made the long walk from terminal E to terminal B where American Airline’s check in desk is at.
Got there about 11:00pm and found seats outside of the ticket windows. Nothing there wass really conducive to sleep, with music is playing in the terminal but there is a good group of us here I think all doing the same thing. At this point, I was really starting to question if staying in Iceland and flying back the next day was such a bad idea, sure it would of gotten us home at like 8:30pm tomorrow night vs 10 am but we wouldn’t be spending the night in the Boston airport. At midnight the music stopped and we both slept a little. Starting just after 12:30, people started lining up at the American counter. A flight from Europe was diverted here since they couldn’t land in New York resulting in a massive line. American Airlines even brought out snack carts for them. They all needed to go to be rebooked apparently and most were rescheduled for noon the next day. That line made sleeping even harder and it took over 2 hrs to get everyone from that flight taken care of. Emily had us up at 3:00am to check bags. Waking up that early was good, since the lines were still long but they were moving to see an agent. We had to see an agent because we couldn’t use a kiosk to check bags because we were a rebook. A few harder cases really slowed the line down. We actually did get through security before 4:00am, they were open early for some reason, including TSA Pre. Emily acted fast and got us the volunteers for 2 people that are okay with exit row so we moved up to those seats on the 737-800. Leg room! Our captain called in sick so they had to call a replacement. This caused us not to push back til 5:30 instead of 5:00am. It was an enjoyable flight. The movie options were really nice and there were plugs at each seat. Both Em and I slept some so between the sleep we got on the Icelandair flight, the terminal and on this flight to DFW, we weren’t too bad. My little cold was keeping my right ear for equalizing but other than that, it was a pleasant flight. We landed in DFW at 8:20am central time which is 1:20pm Icelandic time. We got to the gate at about 8:30 which gave us 15 minutes to make our connection 8:47am flight to Houston Hobby. We made it to the gate of B42 at 8:40 which included a terminal jump from A to B on the tram. We made it just before the door closed but after almost everyone else had boarded. Two women got on after we did at 8:45. We are nervous that our bags didn’t make the connection (which was correct, they didn’t). The plane was a standard CJR-900 over to Houston hobby. We landed at Hobby at 9:55am which was 2:55pm Icelandic time. Considering we left for the airport from the AirBnB in Reykjavík at about 8am yesterday Iceland time, we had been traveling for about 31 hours. Given our bags didn’t make the flight, they had to be delivered, which they were later that day. Then, we had to take an Uber home, arriving at 11am, it was closer to 32 hrs of travel. We both cleaned up, got Caines for lunch and I headed to work and for the rest of the day.
Keep traveling!
B&E
We got settled on to the plane and started pushing back when the captain reported a warning light for the fuel pump on one of our engines. This caused us to sit on the tarmac for a while for a mechanic to check it out. Things were tried and eventually it was determined that the part to fix it isn’t available so they bused us back to the terminal. It was about 2:00 at this point (yeah we had been in the plane about 2-3 hrs at this point). We waited in the terminal for 45 min or so when they called us to line up for meal vouchers. While in this line, actually when Emily was talking to the agent, we we learned the fight was canceled and they were going to make a new flight at 1:00pm the next day! They did give us numbers to call to try to rebook or we could go to baggage claim for hotel vouchers. Emily called the number and was lucky (?) enough to be able to get booked on an Icelandair flight to Boston at 8:45pm, getting there at 10:30pm or so Boston time. We then go to Dallas on a 5:00am flight the next morning and then onto Houston Hobby on a 8:50am flight getting there at 10:00am. We did manage to get the meal vouchers during this so we went and got our bags, rechecked them on Icelandair and went through security again. We then waited in the terminal for the 5 or so hours. We tried to use the meal vouchers but the bartender gave Em two glasses of white wine on the house since our flight was canceled. We then used one voucher for two beers and a hamburger. We then tried to do something similar about 30 min before boarding but apparently all of the hot food locations close at 7... we were stuck with cold sandwiches but Em still got a beer and I a coke.
Our flight to Boston was on Icelandair’s rented 767 from Euro Atlantic. Icelandair rented 2 of these I think in order to help ease the issue of the 737 MAX being grounded. The plane was about 2/3 full so there was plenty of open seats around. The seats were in the 2-3-2 section so Emily and I got a 2 section, Em having an aisle and I a window. We pushed back on time at 8:45pm. The flight over was nice. I played Zelda on the switch for the first two hours or so then tried to sleep some and was moderately successful. Emily went to the two seats before me to do the same. Woke up with the captain telling us to expect some turbulence into Boston because of some thunderstorms between Boston and New York. We all woke up to sit up and get buckled in. They then turned off the cabin lights in prep for landing and even with the windows open it was dark. First time I’d seen this since the midnight ish walk to the apartment in Bergen. We landed at 10:05pm Boston time which was 2:05am Iceland time. We got through immigration just fine and made the long walk from terminal E to terminal B where American Airline’s check in desk is at.
Got there about 11:00pm and found seats outside of the ticket windows. Nothing there wass really conducive to sleep, with music is playing in the terminal but there is a good group of us here I think all doing the same thing. At this point, I was really starting to question if staying in Iceland and flying back the next day was such a bad idea, sure it would of gotten us home at like 8:30pm tomorrow night vs 10 am but we wouldn’t be spending the night in the Boston airport. At midnight the music stopped and we both slept a little. Starting just after 12:30, people started lining up at the American counter. A flight from Europe was diverted here since they couldn’t land in New York resulting in a massive line. American Airlines even brought out snack carts for them. They all needed to go to be rebooked apparently and most were rescheduled for noon the next day. That line made sleeping even harder and it took over 2 hrs to get everyone from that flight taken care of. Emily had us up at 3:00am to check bags. Waking up that early was good, since the lines were still long but they were moving to see an agent. We had to see an agent because we couldn’t use a kiosk to check bags because we were a rebook. A few harder cases really slowed the line down. We actually did get through security before 4:00am, they were open early for some reason, including TSA Pre. Emily acted fast and got us the volunteers for 2 people that are okay with exit row so we moved up to those seats on the 737-800. Leg room! Our captain called in sick so they had to call a replacement. This caused us not to push back til 5:30 instead of 5:00am. It was an enjoyable flight. The movie options were really nice and there were plugs at each seat. Both Em and I slept some so between the sleep we got on the Icelandair flight, the terminal and on this flight to DFW, we weren’t too bad. My little cold was keeping my right ear for equalizing but other than that, it was a pleasant flight. We landed in DFW at 8:20am central time which is 1:20pm Icelandic time. We got to the gate at about 8:30 which gave us 15 minutes to make our connection 8:47am flight to Houston Hobby. We made it to the gate of B42 at 8:40 which included a terminal jump from A to B on the tram. We made it just before the door closed but after almost everyone else had boarded. Two women got on after we did at 8:45. We are nervous that our bags didn’t make the connection (which was correct, they didn’t). The plane was a standard CJR-900 over to Houston hobby. We landed at Hobby at 9:55am which was 2:55pm Icelandic time. Considering we left for the airport from the AirBnB in Reykjavík at about 8am yesterday Iceland time, we had been traveling for about 31 hours. Given our bags didn’t make the flight, they had to be delivered, which they were later that day. Then, we had to take an Uber home, arriving at 11am, it was closer to 32 hrs of travel. We both cleaned up, got Caines for lunch and I headed to work and for the rest of the day.
Keep traveling!
B&E