Got back on Wednesday from a trip to Iceland.
My original itinerary had me flying out on October 12th, but typhoon Hagibis, had other plans. On Thursday, I found out that my flight (Haneda airport to Beijing) had been cancelled. On Friday the 11th I was able to get the same flight the following day. On the morning of my departure, however, I got an email saying that that flight, too, had been cancelled. I then spent an hour or so trying to get through to ANA customer service. Here's a little pro tip for those of you living in Japan. Try calling one of ANA's foreign help lines. Most of the lines are re-routed to a Japan call center, but, since they are staffed by folks that specialize in foreign languages (in this case Thai), the volume is much less and you can get through a lot quicker. Anywho, I ended up dealing with a guy named Iday (pronounced 'ee-day'), though I've not a clue how his name is spelled. He first told me that the earliest flight I could get would leave on Wednesday getting me to Reykjavik on Thursday instead of the previous Sunday. I told him I'd take that if there was nothing earlier, but I was willing to change routes and just wanted to get to Iceland as soon as possible. After a few calls back from him, he was finally able to get me a flight out around midnight on the 13th. The one catch was I'd have a 19-hour layover in Bangkok, but even with that I'd end up getting to Reykjavik on Tuesday — fully two days earlier than the first reschedule I was told about. So that's what I did.
I flew out around midnight Sunday night and arrived at Suvarnhabhumi in the wee hours on Monday. I killed a few hours in the airport and then headed out in search of food. I tried to go to a restaurant I'd seen at Mark Wien's wonderful website, but, though I was in the right neighborhood, went to another one that happened also to be open at breakfast. I had a wonderful meal of chicken served a couple of ways for 60 baht and then headed out into the slight drizzle to see whether I could get a massage at ,Wat P(h)o. One of the guys working in the subway station told me how to get there, but it included taking a ferry. The other time I went about 4 years ago, I'd walked from my hotel and had had to go over a long bridge, so the directions seemed reasonable, but when I got off the train, nothing looked familiar. Not wanting to join the throng of tourists getting on the ferry, nor wanting to sweat myself up before 15 more hours of flying, I bagged out. Ended up going back to one of the "hub" subway stations, getting off the train and then looking around for photo ops. After an hour or so of this I headed back to the airport to avail myself of the lounge.
Found out from a very helpful guy from Thai Airways that my lounge access also allowed me a free massage (shoulder or leg) at their spa, which is conveniently located across the hall from the biggest of the Thai Airways lounges. Didn't need to tell me twice. I got a competent shoulder massage and then headed over to the lounge to hunker down for the 9 or 10 hours I still had to wait for my flight. Things there went off without a hitch and I could do some last-minute work emails, SKYPE with Misa and contact my car rental place. The flight from Thailand (to Frankfurt) was on an A380. This was only my second or third time flying on one and I have to say that they are like the cadillac of airplanes. Smoothest flights I've ever had.
Trip highlights and details
I rented my "campervan" from rent.is. They seem good enough, but due to Iceland's tourist boom over the past 10 years or so, there are no shortage of companies to rent from. I'd imagine that the competition has put a lot of downward pressure on prices, so shop around and go with whichever company strikes your fancy. I went with a Mitsubishi 4x4 pickup because I wanted the option of being able to travel the F-roads and I also wanted manual transmission. If you look at the campers on their website, the Mitsubishi isn't shown, but when you go to book (and filter for manual transmission) you'll be able to see the details. They're not cheap at over USD 200 per day, but hotels in Iceland are pricey and campsites are usually about 20 bucks (extra charge for electricity hookup).
I also stayed a few nights in Reykjavik at the Hotel Leifur Eiriksson. The amenities of the place are no big shakes, but it does have quite a few things to recommend it. First is the location. It is directly across the street from Reykjavik's biggest landmark: Hallgrímskirkja and in the heart of the touristy part of the city center. There's free parking in the church parking lot as well. Another plus about the hotel is free breakfast. Here too, no big shakes, but you can get the usual cold continental breakfast fare. At the end of my trip I stayed one night at the Reykjavik Campsite. They have a sharing economy thing going on with camping stuff (gas canisters and the like) and kitchen stuff (salt, oil, spices, etc.). The campsite is also next door to the gym/pool complex. My friend has a membership, so I got in for free, but it's only 2100 krona (gym/pool only) or 5500 krona (gym/pool plus spa access) per day. It was one of the biggest, most well-equipped gyms I've ever seen and access to the outdoor baths (up to 44 degrees C) are worth the price of admission (1000 krona for just the pool/baths, if memory serves).
Ok, getting tired and hungry. Perhaps a follow-up in a few days.
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