Day 15 – Tuesday 6th March 2018

Our apartment was more than cosy overnight, in fact we had minus temps outside and we were basking in 22+C.

A very relaxing night’s sleep and up and at ‘em at a respectable 0900. The Pajero was parked right outside our door in the side street with sufficient time left on the clock to see us feed the Parking Beast machine at 9:50 to last long enough for our 11:00 check-out time.

Bags were repackaged using the vacuum cleaner to suck the life out of the zip lock bag packing. Amazing how much it shrinks the volume. Unfortunately it does not shrink the weight. If it was only so easy to lose one’s girth as well 🙂

The inside of the Pajero looked like it had endured several tours of duty. The kitchen cleaner, not the maid but the bottled stuff was put to use and we were returning the vehicle in better nick than when we picked her up.

A drive downtown to the wharf area to a sensational little bakery with Illy Coffee was a huge treat. The best bread in town and the baguettes really hit the spot.

A slow drive to Keflavik Airport 45 kms away and a top-up of our diesel tank was the last official item we had to undertake prior to handing her over.

Iceland’s population is around 330,000, Keflavik Airport is at least 3 – 4 times in size compared with MLB Airport. Just goes to show how many tourists hit this awesome island.

I HATE security measures at airports and this experience was no different. I have a routine to mitigate hassles, I always empty my pockets, wallet, phone, sunnies and everything else goes in the camera bag. I don’t have an artificial hip, knee or any other part of my anatomy. I am “the real thing” yet I trigger the alarm every time.

A second pass still triggers it. Grrrrr…

“Please sir, setup up on the Dias”, It’s not like I won a Gold Medal or similar and was there for the presentation. I was there for another type of “P” – a pat down.

Now I haven’t even been on a first date with the security guard yet, but by the moves made in my nether regions nearly placed us on intimate relationship status off the bat. Not a pleasant experience. Of course I passed with flying colours but if I haven’t said it yet, I hate the security process at airports.

To make up for the prior hassle, our check-in routine was sensational, “Sorry sir, the seats you selected online are blocked out. Do you mind if I upgrade you to the pointy end of the plane to 4G?”. Who was I to complain. Better still, the seat next to mine was also blocked out – super extra elbow room, leg room and an oversized seat… Oh, and I was 3.5kg overweight – not personally but my bag was. WOW Airlines is pretty strict in charging $19.95 per KG excess. Waiting to be hit $60, she smiled, tagged the bag and sent it off. Will it be waiting for me at LAX?

We thundered down the runway and were airborne in a matter of seconds.

The Sennheisers are now perched upon the two week unshaven head playing some oldies but goodies on my iPod. The Logitech Keyboard is “bluetoothed” to my iPad and is playing host to my words flowing through my fingertips, digitally converted to text for ultimate upload to Boris-Travel-Blog.com. Not for a moment had I thought that the readership of the blog would exceed 11,500 PAX. So I do hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve had fun in creating this wordage.

So here I am, settled in for the 8:45 hour flight to LAX and already reminiscing about the past 14 days since my feet hit Terra Firma of Iceland.

Rain, hail, sleet, snow, blizzards, sun, blue skies, -3C to -5C, so cold – the wind was cutting and sharper than a butcher’s steel, it cut to the bone and never have I ever experienced cold so painful!

Beluga, Lebowski Burger’s, Icelandic Hot Dogs, Foss and more Fosses, mountains, volcanoes, extraordinary glaciers, frozen rivers looked so abstract we were just waiting for the White Walkers to emerge, black sand beaches littered with glacial remains, narrow roads, 2,400 miles in a Pajero driving from Aykureri via the ring road around the East, South via VIK, back to RKV.

A team of Huskies took me on a sled journey like no other and spending time with 24 Huskies was truly amazing, one was persistent in trying to  get the gloves out of my pocket. Such gorgeous dogs.

The interaction we had with a number of tourists from Oz, USA, UK and places beyond was fun, learning about their aspirations in what they wanted to see or had already seen. We bounced these thoughts off each other to mutual benefit.

Finding little jewels of eateries and cafes: a standout was in VIK where we had caffeine several times, dinner and the odd drink or three. Similarly RKV had places we gravitated back to with great staff, great caffeine and great food.

An unwelcome Chest Cold made me feel like crap for several days resulting in a visit to the hospital (what’s that? It’s the big white building on the hill!”) – within hours I was back to firing on all 8 cylinders.

Dark skies jewelled with multi coloured stars punching their way through the blackness of the night. This was on par for the night sky I experienced in The Sahara. All of these things played their part in this memorable journey.

I previously quoted from The Ice by Laline Paull. – Land of Day is the land of glad and happy souls… a game of souls playing at ball that we can see in the sky as the Northern Lights…

But I now have my own take on this. Yes it took 12 days before the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights showed her face. And what a beautiful face she has. One of nature’s marvels and already I want to see more of this phenomenon, but she is temperamental, elusive and a tease, she almost disappears like shadows into the night then jumps out bold and brassy and smacks you in the face.

I have respect for the photographers who have tried and tried so many times to find THE location, the conditions need to be right, above all else the patience for her to appear and grace the camera’s pixels for so many to subsequently enjoy.

Will this be an addiction to try again? Who knows, but there are far more harmful addictions one could have – this one “ain’t so bad” and it is of ultimate beauty.

For a fleeting moment the thought enters my grey matter – Running Boris’ Icelandic Tours – this could be a great retirement gig!!??

The two weeks passed all too swiftly – but that’s what happens when you have a great travel partner – my son Leon. We had a great time enjoying a wonderful Father – Son Adventure.

I would love to do it again!

So readers, I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have had pleasure in bringing it to you. If you’re inclined to provide feedback, this will be most welcomed, either as bricks or bouquets… Hopefully the latter.

The next adventure is just around the corner with several days of very much needed “defrost time” in Vegas where we plan to drive Red Rock Canyon, part of Route 66 and shoot some of the the old and derelict servos and diners en route.

Then 18 hours from LAX to MLB and sadly lose 24 hours to boot. 🙁

To continue reading about this journey log on, tune in, grab a red, put the feet up and enjoy the balance of the journey …

Landed in LAX and had a quick transfer for our flight to Vegas…

It was a quick flight to Vegas via Virgin America and our Uber driver was waiting for us for the short journey to Planet Hollywood.

We booked a standard room online but a smile at reception and a tip contained within the Passport resulted in an upgrade to a suite on the 17th floor. Massive would be an understatement.

It’s just on 23:00 in Vegas however our body clock is still on RKV time, being 0650 – so definitely time to count sheep and sleep…