Iceland

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In July 2019, we were about to take off for Reykjavík. The boarding was achieved. We were sitting comfortably in the aircraft of Icelandair airline, with our seatbelts properly fastened, losing ourselves in our dreams carrying us a few hours later for the start of the discovery of that fabulous country. Then, we began to find time was passing slowly. We were beyond the departure time, and the aircraft remained grounded. So, the captain went up to the microphone : first in Icelandic, then he followed up with English, but with such a broken accent that we almost did not understand anything, so much that we were wondering if he was not still speaking Icelandic ! Anyway, we finally understood the flight was delayed because of some technical problem.
After a very long waiting, he told us our flight was downright canceled! What a bad luck! We thought the worst had been and gone the year before with our trip to South Africa delayed and shortened by a whole week as a result of the robbery of J.R.’s passport two days before the departure. Decidedly, it follows us!
If that did not beat at all, communication inside the airport was almost non-existent. And during the rare microphone announcements, the sound was low and of deplorable quality, and information drowned in hubbub. To top it all, air-conditioned only half worked whereas we were going through a heat wave. That was catastrophic! We were on top of each other dying from the heat, waiting again and again.
Nevertheless, they finally announced us we had to get our baggage back on the lower floor. J.R. and I, thanks to our experience (especially with regards to trouble), had anticipated and we were the first to arrive. But we could not say the same about some of the staff from the airport, who took so much time to post the precise spot where our baggage was delivered. And height of irony, ours was delivered among the last ones. We were really not rewarded for our reactivity. And inevitably, it works like a domino effect: we found ourselves at the end of an endless line at a desk where we were offered vouchers for a hot meal and a free hotel night with breakfast included. We had to wait for hours once again. That day was getting longer and longer. We felt like we had stepped into a time wrap.
 
The morning after, they announced us Icelandair airline provided us a bus to reach directly Terminal 1. It was supposed to arrive 11:30 A.M. So we waited (again…), but it did not come. We saw a series of shuttles to the airport pass. So we wonder whether we would better take one of them, given that our bus still did not come. We even had doubts about the veracity of that information. At times, we saw one getting closer, and we thought it was ours… but it was NEVER ours! They all passed without stopping. So, when we saw one slowing down a few dozens of meters from the hotel, we really thought that one was the right one. But it was not: it turned around the traffic circle as if to taunt us and it went away in the opposite direction. And what should we say about the one that did a manœuvring backwards during long minutes, thus blocking traffic, all that to go away like a fool in the opposite direction too. We thought it was a sketch.
Finally, our bus arrived as we did not believe it any longer… with a 45 minutes delay! Without further ado, we loaded our baggage into the hold before we sit inside, driven by legitimate irritation and impatience. We had lost too much time. As the vehicle was starting to take the road, we heard some passengers scream to ask the driver to stop, because that great fool simply forgot to close the hold!.. That was great! Fortunately, they realized, otherwise we would have lost baggage all along the road!
We thought we had explored all farcical, grotesque and ridiculous situations. But it was before we get stuck at the highway exit to the airport: indeed, a truck driver took that exit by mistake and was backing up slowly (and dangerously) to take back the main road. The passenger got down to guide him… That was also before we got stuck inside the bus as we arrived (finally!) in front of Terminal 1 in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport that, for the first time after several passages within its walls through the years, appeared to us as a promised land: that bloody automatic door remained blocked after it opened for a few centimeters. Then, we wondered when all that mess would stop. From the early morning, we were inclined to turn around every five minutes and look for the cameraman, the director etc., in vain… We had to face the truth: all that was not a movie, a sketch or a hidden camera, but just our real life… So we told ourselves there was some higher power somewhere that wanted to prevent us from leaving to Iceland.
But, through abnegation, we finally defeated it to reach Reykjavík… with a 28 hours delay in all!

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In the South-West of the country, we spent one night in the Viking Café Guesthouse. It is located in the middle of nowhere in Stokksnes Peninsula (photo): wide meadows where some horses and some sheep live stretch between mountains and black sand beaches lined with cliffs. When we parked in front of that small wooden building that does not look like much, we wondered where we had wound up. We got in and we were welcomed by a very nice old lady. She spoke English with a very strong accent. In the back of the room, an old man was slumped on a seat. She introduced him as her husband, and the owner as well. It woke him up from his blissful lethargy, and he almost flinched. So he tore himself away from his seat with difficulty and shook our hand, welcoming us with the same kindness as his wife. Then, he led us to our room and we wondered how it would be like, given the appearance of the place. We started to take fright when we passed in front of a rundown wooden outdoor toilet (the famous cabin in the back of the garden), and above all passing through a door that only held on one hinge to enter the corridor. Then, he told us with a blasé look that he had to bring himself to fix it. The white corridor was poorly lit and squalid. Finally, he opened the bedroom door: as we were expecting the worst, he showed us a spacious and modern room, very bright, including the bathroom and toilet. We were completely bluffed… and above all relieved! We even wondered whether he did not play with that surprise effect with every newcomer, just to make fun of his reaction. In any case, the expression according to which you should not judge the Icelandic by the outward appearance of their home makes perfect sense in that guesthouse!

Published on January 31st 2021