Travel Day

I waited to post this until we were safely arrived, but despite rush hour backups in LA,

our travel day went smooth as silk. Since this is our Big Anniversary Trip, we booked D-elta One flights which gave us access to a greeting team at LAX (no standing in line waiting to check in, plus they have their own security lane) 

LAX lounge

and first class lounges in LA 

 Late night snack at JFK

and JFK (food! drink! showers! comfy padded chairs!)

 Seated together from LAX to JFK…

Both 5+ hour flights were a bit bumpy 

 … seated apart from JFK to Reykjavík 

but who cares when you can eat dinner (surprisingly good food) 

then stretch out full-length and sleep until arrival time. 

Oh, no big deal but I saw the northern lights from the plane… (It’s a Big! Deal!! Whoo!)

 Main downtown shopping area, where our hotel is located. Colorful, funky buildings galore!

Baggage claim took longer than Immigration and Customs combined but 2-ish hours after arrival, 

 A present for Donovan! If we could get it on the plane…

we were in our hotel in downtown Reykjavik and ready for… breakfast? lunch?? 

Rainbow Road, or Skólavörðustígur in Icelandic. Runs between Hallgrímskirkja, the famous church,  and Laugavegur, the main shopping area where our hotel is located.

Since it was noon local time, we went with excellent fish and chips. 

  Hallgrímskirkja Lutheran Church, 244 feet tall, took 41 years to build

Two hours of sightseeing, walking through the downtown area, 

 

and we were ready for sleep well before we gave in at 6:30 pm local time.

 Leif Ericsson statue in front of Hallgrímskirkja Church

(Although Jaclyn and I had a very nice text chat about midnight - 7 pm for her. She wanted us to take her to the beach… sure Jac, as soon as we get back. 😂😂)

 

Today we board the Norwegian Prima for 10 days visiting Iceland, Norway, Amsterdam, and Bruges. So excited.

 Inscription of Leif Ericsson statue

 Reykjavik harbor, with the Sun Voyager to the left and our cruise ship in the background

The Sun Voyager, steel sculpture of a dream boat and an ode to the sun. Beautiful