Our Excellent Arctic Adventure - Part One

About a year ago, Jen1's friends Heather and Jeff invited them to go on a special Hurtigruten cruise up and down the western coast of Norway. Later on, Jen1 invited me to join them and I invited Poppy to be my roomie for the trip.

Hurtigruten (literally 'The Fast Route') has a fleet of ships that leaves Bergen every day heading north to Kirkenes, stopping at many ports to deliver passengers and goods. Some port stops are only 15 to 30 minutes long and happen at all hours of the day and night.

I suggested that since we were flying that way anyway, that we stop over in Iceland for a few days. Jen1 and Norbert investigated the available tours. Poppy and I were game so we booked that, too.

The 'red eye' flight to Reykjavík is only about 5.5h but I treated myself to IcelandAir's Saga Class, their equivalent of business class. This entitled me to hang out in the lounge at YYZ before the flight where there were comfortable leather chairs, lots of places to charge our devices, and complimentary food and drinks. There were even showers for those who wanted to freshen up before or between flights. (We didn't need to use them). Poppy and I pulled out our knitting to pass the time.

Once aboard, I was handed a glass of Prosecco.

At each seat was a 500mL bottle of Icelandic glacier water,

a pillow and blanket,

and an amenity kit which contained lip balm, hand cream, ear plugs, two designer post cards, an eye mask, and a pair of socks. The pouch is made of high quality kraft paper - reusable and recyclable. 

It is not unusual to see folks knitting on planes in the northern climes.

The snack and beverage cart came around first. Rather than a fizzy or alcoholic drink, I chose a refreshing mango and orange smoothie to enjoy with my salted cashews and gummy bears. There was no limit to the number of snacks we could have: chips, nuts, gummy bears, chocolate bars, etc. My knitting bag is seen hanging behind the tray.

Next we were given drink and dinner menus. IcelandAir boasts a comprehensive 'Gin Library'. 

I selected Lundey Gin as I couldn't resist a product with a puffin logo. It came with a lower calorie tonic water and salty, cheesy, crispy crackers.

The gin turns pink when the tonic water is added.  I bought a bottle of this stuff at the Reykjavik duty free on the way home last week.

There were two choices for the dinner entreé. I chose lamb.

I devoured it before I got a photo but here's what my meal looked like on my return flight to Canada. The tray was served on a linen table cloth. All drinks were served in glass containers. Our metal cutlery was wrapped in a linen napkin with a napkin holder. My meal was piping hot and delicious.

Then it was time to snuggle down for the rest of the flight. Complimentary earphones were handed out but I had brought my own. The seats are not 'lie flat' seats but do recline significantly and there is a foot rest. It was very cozy with my soft pillow and quilt. I watched several promotional videos about Iceland and snoozed a bit.

Once in Reykjavík early the next morning, we sailed through Customs and Immigration, retrieved our luggage and met up with our driver that Norbert had pre-booked. Flybus shuttles folks into the city on a regular basis as Keflavik airport is about 50km west of the city. 

However once in the city we would have to transfer to a taxi to take us directly to the hotel so we decided to just take a cab from the airport directly to the hotel.

To be continued...