6/18/17, “The Return Journey”
Keflavik International Airport,
Iceland (KEF)
With my Trip of Ice and Fire
drawing to a close, it is now time for one of my favorite parts of any trip:
the triumphant airport entry. I will be
on my way back to New York in about an hour, but first I have a little bit of
time to reflect on this epic trip. It
should be obvious to my reader by now how much I have loved these islands of
fire and ice. Nothing else in my travels
comes close to the island of ice, though the island of fire holds up quite
well. The fjorded coasts of The North
and their rocky crags will always be the epitome of natural beauty to me. I look forward very much to my next trip to
Scandinavia and an eventual visit to Svalbard.
I have predicted that this trip would land a spot in the top five,
subject to a successful final stage for The Return Journey. Well, the past two days have been more
headache than I expected, so let us see if it still merits that spot. This has been a great trip, but I have taken
a lot of great trips, so calling a trip a top five ever is a tall order. I suppose that it is ironic that this trip
will compete with first trip to Scandinavia for a spot in the top five. This is, as I call it, the final
reckoning.
As is my tradition, I will
treat The Return Journey in its entirety after I land in New York. As it stands now, the top five is as follows:
Rio 2016, National Parks of the American West, Eurotrip, Alaska, and then a
two-way tie for fifth between “Because It’s There” and my first trip to Norway
and England. This cannot compete in any
meaningful way with Rio 2016, or even NPotAW, since I was in love with The West
before I was in love with The North.
While I would call the Ilulissat Icefjord more awesome than the Grand
Canyon, that trip was special and cannot easily be displaced, a restriction I
may revisit in three months.
As for
Eurotrip, an 18-day adventure that included Denmark and was filled with
wonderful natural and cultural sites, yes, that beats this trip. Alaska, this trip definitely gives Alaska a
run for its money. It is a very similar
landscape, and the epicness of it was on a similar scale. I had similar natural and cultural
experiences in Greenland and Alaska, and, while Greenland gets a slight edge,
the epicness of the 18-day adventure with my best friend easily overrides that
edge.
Okay, so that means this Trip of
Ice and Fire won’t crack the top four, but what about the other two trips. “Because It’s There” was epic. It truly was a great trip, but I do not think
the cultural and natural experiences of Nepal can compete with those of
Greenland, and my time in Iceland easily beats my time in England and in Qatar
from that trip. Even hanging out with
Raymond was not enough to tip the hat, so this definitely beats “Because It’s
There.”
What about my first trip to
Norway and England. Well, that’s
interesting. The fjords, the waffles,
bread with cheeses and jams and meats, the fish, that’s how I remember
Norway. This trip was the same, and part
of the reason this trip was so good was because it reminded me of all of those
good memories, and that’s why this trip must win.
When I first went to Norway, everything was
new, and I loved it because I had never experienced anything outside of North
America before, had never enjoyed native food in a foreign country before. Now, I have travelled the world, seen the
landscapes and cultures of 72 countries and eaten their local food, and this
trip brings it all back to mornings in Kristiansund.
That is why this trip must win, because after
I having seen it all, I know how thoroughly my love is given to The North. This trip is so good because it reminded me
of all that, and 68 countries later, I now know just how special of a place The
North is, how wonderful those breakfasts were, and how beautiful those fjords
were. For those reasons, this ranks at
the number five trip of all time. On
that note, I will close, as we are about to board.
En route, NYC Taxi 9T80
And so this trip comes to an end,
a successful trip on every level, and I have come to realize that I
shortchanged Iceland a bit, as it was so overshadowed by Greenland. In Iceland, more than anywhere else perhaps,
the old ways survive. Iceland is one of
the most modern countries in Europe, but I argue that they are modern because
they hold to the old ways. My fellow
“Game of Thrones” fans will see this parallel, as I am about to refer to the
old (Norse) gods and the new (Christian) gods.
Iceland was the last Scandinavian country to accept the new gods, and it
shows.
Their culture is least influenced
by Christianity, as opposed to Denmark or Norway. That allowed them to develop their culture
independently and build upon the old ways without becoming beholden to the
stymied or even backwards development of continental Europe that occurred at
various time periods after the Renaissance.
Icelandic is the closest to Old Norse of the Scandinavian languages, and
the people there look most like I imagine the Vikings did.
The women of Iceland are even more beautiful
than I saw in Denmark or Sweden, their hair more silver than blonde, undarkened
by European stock the way Denmark would have had a strong German
influence. I have now visited every
independent Nordic country, and these islands of fire and ice hold my heart the
dearest. I will go back to Fennoscandia,
and I will explore the northern parts of that peninsula far more thoroughly,
but, until then, my love is given to the islands of fire and ice, and the
wonder of the island of fire cannot be downplayed.
After I closed last night, I headed to my
room and set up a little smoking area for myself. The balcony was too small to sit outside, but
I opened the door to the balcony, moved the chair into the doorway, put a table
next to the chair with a coffee cup as an ashtray, my water bottle, and my
lighter and cutter, and put a towel in front of the door to the hallway. I then lit up a Man O’ War, published my
entry, and posted my few photos. My
pickup for the airport was at 7 AM, and breakfast began at 6:30 AM, so that
meant I needed to be packed and dressed right by 6:30 AM.
I set my alarm for 6:07 AM, which meant I
needed to be in bed at 1:30 AM if I wanted to get three full REM cycles,
allowing for 7 minutes to fall asleep. I
was in bed exactly on time, but I couldn’t fall asleep. What if the weather affects my flight? What if my alarm doesn’t go off? What if the shuttle bus isn’t there? When I hadn’t fallen asleep by 1:40 AM, I accepted
that I would only be getting two full REM cycles, so I set my alarm for 6 AM
and a backup alarm for 6:30 AM, which would mean skipping breakfast. I fell asleep a little after 2 AM, woke up
again after my first REM cycle, went back to sleep, and woke up at 6 AM after a
second REM cycle. It was enough, and I
was glad that I didn’t have to drive to the airport.
I got dressed and packed and went down to
breakfast with my suit and suitcase. I
got there right at 6:30 AM, proud of my perfect timing, to see a very a familiar
spread. Breads, meats, cheeses, and
jams, just like every morning this trip.
I took a few pieces of bread, some various meats, a few slices of
cheese, and blueberry jam. Once again,
and saddened me that it was for the last time, I was brought back to mornings
in Kristiansund. I also had coffee, of
course, then, after I finished my plate, I got a bowl of blueberry skyr and
another cup of coffee. I calculated that
I would need to leave my table at 6:57 AM to be outside by 7 AM.
At 6:57 AM, I headed out, getting to the
pickup point exactly at 7 AM, where the shuttle was waiting for me. I was the first pickup, and it made a few
stops before going to the bus terminal to transfer us to the big bus to the
airport. I had planned to sleep on the
big bus, as it was almost an hour, and, I leaned the seat back and put on my
eye mask as soon as were underway…only to hear music blaring in my ear. Why the driver thought it was a good idea to
play music on a 7 AM airport transfer, I have no idea, but I was annoyed. I did manage to get a little sleep, and we
were soon at the airport. I refilled my
lighter and ditched my can of butane, still probably 90% full, only having used
it twice.
There was a long line to check
in, but it moved quickly. Security was
quick and efficient, too, and I got some good resealable bags to collect future
toiletries. I got some cigars and local
alcohol, including, to my surprise, beer, at duty-free before going to border
control. My gate was right next to the
smoking area, and I had 30 minutes before we were due to board, actually 20,
but I knew that I could take 30.
The
smoking area was basically a shed on the tarmac, and it was cold but protected
from the wind and rain. There was
exactly one seat, and I sat there, where I lit up a Romeo y Julieta I had
gotten at duty-free and proceeded to write the first entry above. After I finished, I put my cigar in the tube
and headed to the gate. It was still not
boarding, so I got two containers of skyr, which would serve as lunch for my
mother and I, assuming I was able to bring it across the border. The famous London apple came to mind.
It was a while before we started boarding,
and we were a little late to take-off, but I had an empty middle seat next to
me, and I was at the window, so I was happy.
I also had Wi-Fi, so that made me even happier. I got a REM cycle or two en route and then
started using the Wi-Fi to look at future trips to Svalbard and the Faroe
Islands. There is so much of The North
left for me to see and so many years left for me to see it. I looked at one trip to Svalbard and the
North Pole, other trip to Denmark to see their three new World Heritage Sites,
to which I could attach Faroe Islands and the Baltic countries of Estonia,
Latvia, and Lithuania as a 9-day trip.
I
then saw the familiar site of the Manhattan skyline from above, but it seemed
like we were in a bit of holding pattern, as we went back over Long Island
again. We were a little late, but I wasn’t
in any rush, I knew I would be home soon enough. We landed shortly, and then I went to baggage
claim, where my bag came out very quickly.
I cleared border control with no problem and headed to the taxi
line. I felt like I was in Florida. Summer had come. After the cool weather back at home before I
left and the cool weather on the islands of fire and ice, it was nice to feel
some warm weather. No one else was
waiting, so I got in a taxi right away and told him to take me to my parents’
house in Scarsdale so that I could head there to celebrate Fathers’ Day.
Once we were underway, I opened the window
and asked him if I could smoke. He said
I could, so I lit up my cigar from earlier and proceeded to write this entry,
which I will close, along with closing out the trip, which has been epic on
every level. Next stop: Maine with Stu
for my annual first weekend of summer trip.
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