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Heather's August Adventures Part 1 - Iceland
Since I'm keeping a detailed trip diary, I might post more details later, though a lot of my notes are more for myself (and research purposes) than of general interest.
The trip started out with air traffic foo (which evidently is being a common theme for a lot of Worldcon travelers). My flight out of SFO was delayed over 2 hours, which mean that just as it was touching down in Seattle, the plane to Reykjavik was taking off (without me). Alaska Airlines (the delayed flight) disclaimed responsibility for doing anything other than rebooking the flight, since it was air traffic control that caused the backup in San Francisco. This was less annoying given that evidently I've accrued enough Mariott frequent travel points to get several free room nights.
The flight the next day got me in to Reykjavik around 6am on Saturday (as opposed to late afternoon on Friday) which actually positioned me better for time zone alignment. After a brief nap, I wandered around the downtown for most of the day, getting my bearings. Stayed up long enough to have a very nice dinner, then slept about 12 hours through.
Sunday, Catherine Lundoff came in on the morning flight and I switched rooms to the one she'd booked for both of us. (The hotel logistics couldn't cope with keeping us in the one I'd booked for the first couple days alone.) While she napped and decompressed, I went and spent most of the day at the National Museum of Iceland, which has a very nice medieval and early modern history exhibit and a somewhat more chaotic and less well presented 18-20th c history section. CL and I met up for dinner, then another early night.
Monday I had a bus tour for the "Golden Circle" set of sites: a volcanic crater, the Golden Waterfall, a cluster of geysers at the site of the original Geysir that gave its name to the phenomenon, a brief stop to see Icelandic horses, and then the Thingvellir which was almost more impressive for its geological significance than its historic significance.
I didn't have specific plans for Tuesday (today) other than a couple more museums that I hadn't seen yet. CL and I walked along the harbor-side as far as the Saga Museum (dioramas from history with audio narration -- ok, but not mind-blowing), but after we had lunch we agreed that we were both walked out and figured some time just vegetating was in order. (My trip-planning imagination hasn't aged as much as my legs have.) Especially since we're getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning to give plenty of time to get to the airport for the Glasgow flight.
It's been a fun stop-over and a chance to get acclimated to the time change before the convention. I've overdone it a bit on the walking my feet off, but that will help me calibrate for the post-convention activities.
The trip started out with air traffic foo (which evidently is being a common theme for a lot of Worldcon travelers). My flight out of SFO was delayed over 2 hours, which mean that just as it was touching down in Seattle, the plane to Reykjavik was taking off (without me). Alaska Airlines (the delayed flight) disclaimed responsibility for doing anything other than rebooking the flight, since it was air traffic control that caused the backup in San Francisco. This was less annoying given that evidently I've accrued enough Mariott frequent travel points to get several free room nights.
The flight the next day got me in to Reykjavik around 6am on Saturday (as opposed to late afternoon on Friday) which actually positioned me better for time zone alignment. After a brief nap, I wandered around the downtown for most of the day, getting my bearings. Stayed up long enough to have a very nice dinner, then slept about 12 hours through.
Sunday, Catherine Lundoff came in on the morning flight and I switched rooms to the one she'd booked for both of us. (The hotel logistics couldn't cope with keeping us in the one I'd booked for the first couple days alone.) While she napped and decompressed, I went and spent most of the day at the National Museum of Iceland, which has a very nice medieval and early modern history exhibit and a somewhat more chaotic and less well presented 18-20th c history section. CL and I met up for dinner, then another early night.
Monday I had a bus tour for the "Golden Circle" set of sites: a volcanic crater, the Golden Waterfall, a cluster of geysers at the site of the original Geysir that gave its name to the phenomenon, a brief stop to see Icelandic horses, and then the Thingvellir which was almost more impressive for its geological significance than its historic significance.
I didn't have specific plans for Tuesday (today) other than a couple more museums that I hadn't seen yet. CL and I walked along the harbor-side as far as the Saga Museum (dioramas from history with audio narration -- ok, but not mind-blowing), but after we had lunch we agreed that we were both walked out and figured some time just vegetating was in order. (My trip-planning imagination hasn't aged as much as my legs have.) Especially since we're getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning to give plenty of time to get to the airport for the Glasgow flight.
It's been a fun stop-over and a chance to get acclimated to the time change before the convention. I've overdone it a bit on the walking my feet off, but that will help me calibrate for the post-convention activities.