Hello good readers!
To make a long story short, in my previous post I mentioned a connecting flight from Iceland to Greenland. But before I even made it to Logan airport I was notified that the connecting flight to Greenland was canceled due to bad weather. What followed was a series of calls between the MATE program’s internship coordinator, Maria and myself to determine how to proceed. We finally settled on booking another flight to Nuuk. The only potential drawback was that flights to Nuuk are not daily, and this new flight left on Sunday. So the decision was made to keep the first flight to Iceland and hope for the best for the Sunday flight to Nuuk.
This leaves almost 2 full days in Iceland that I wasn’t expecting, but first I had to get there! I was relieved when my flight from Boston to Reykjavík took off on time and was smooth the whole way over. Going through customs in Iceland and checking into the hotel I’d be staying at was also very smooth, as most people here in Iceland speak fluent English along with Icelandic. After checking into the hotel and catching a little sleep I took a bus about 45 minutes north to Reykjavík where I explored the downtown area a bit, taking in the sites and visiting a few museums. However I went back to the hotel early to try and go to bed and fix my jet lag.
So that brings me to where I am now, in Iceland! As I write this I am planning what to explore tomorrow in Reykjavík. The public transportation system is very good here, however Reykjavík is not a very big city so I will be exploring most of it on foot! I’ve heard some wonderful suggestions from crew on the Armstrong, so I plan to visit the Maritime Museum, the Flyover Iceland experience (If anyone remembers Disney worlds Soarin’ ride at Epcot, I’m told it’s similar), perhaps some of the many art museums and definitely several restaurants and cafés.
In the end this is already a wonderful experience, and despite the hiccups in the travel arrangements, this is the reality of traveling to meet a ship; and I fully plan on making use of every extra minute I have here in beautiful Iceland!