Getting to Iceland, AKA The Water Bottle Incident

We got up and out by 7am. Our first stop was Katherine and Kristofor’s house to drop off the dog and pick up Kristofor, who will bring us to the airport for our 10:30 flight to Iceland. We arrived the requisite two hours early, got through security, got a cup of hot tea, and waited. At 10:30 nothing happened. Then the dreaded announcement – our connecting flight to Boston is cancelled. No other flights are available to get us on our 2:30 flight to Iceland. Ken gets in line and the US Airways guy puts him on a flight from Washington to New York then New York to Boston then Boston to Iceland. The new flight to Iceland will leave at 9:30pm - a 7 hour delay. I get back in line. Why the extra flight to New York? Is there no other flight from Washington to Boston in the next 5 hrs? US Airways guy has NOT got a talent for listening. Each time I try to tell him I think going to New York adds another chance for delay and why can’t I just …….….

”As I told your husband….this is all we have………you can cancel your entire flight and get a refund…………….all we have……………as I told your husband……….cancel your flight……refund….”

“JUST LET ME FINISH ONE ENTIRE SENTENCE! Why can’t we take a later flight out of Washington to Boston?”

“Well, if you want to take that chance, there is a 5:30 plane to Boston to connect you to the 9:30 flight to Iceland.”

“Good. I’ll take that.”

Then I go to customer relations to ask if we can get credited for the hotel we will no longer be sleeping in and complain about Listening –Deficient-Guy. The Men in Black track me down. Three men in suits. No credit for the hotel room – that’s what travel insurance is for, but they are very interested in Listening-Deficient-Guy. Seems he is not an ideal employee and I am offering another nail in the coffin.

So we hang around for 7 hours. We have a few movies on DVD to play on the computer. Black Swan. Not sure what to say about that movie except that it killed time. Newspaper, crossword puzzle, lots of Angry Birds, and then it’s off to Boston.

For some reason I am OK with all this. Everything is fine. We arrived in Boston and cleared all the security hurdles and found a place to eat. The waiter is running around like mad. Nobody has silverware or napkins or condiments. The British couple at the next table inform us that the “waiter” is actually the bus boy who is frantically covering for the waitress who has had a melt down and left the floor. I’m still OK. We got through the bus boy situation and left to wander some more before the 9:30 flight.

Then I lost my water bottle. I LOST MY WATER BOTTLE! That’s all it took. The last 12 hours, and it all came down to a lost water bottle. I buy more water and we board the plane. The first thing we see on the way through the plane door is a basket of water bottles for each traveler. Of course I snatched one right up because now my entire link to sanity revolves around securing, and then keeping, a water bottle.

IcelandAir is a pretty nice plane. The seats are comfortable and have good leg room. The two flight attendants are tall, young, thin and pretty. They have a cute uniform with high heels and a little hat. The seat between us empty – thank you Jesus – because I am under the delusion that I will get some sleep on that plane. Five minutes of sleep and five hours later, we land in beautiful Iceland. We still have our hotel room so I can get a few hours kip and then wander around the city.