A Brief Introduction to the Many Adventures of The Past Three Days, or, Traveling is Stressful

Hello!

I am in Utrecht, safe and sound, well-rested, and expecting the last of my bags to arrive any moment. But more on that later.

Getting the airport was a hoot - except for the part where I was crying, and my mom was crying, and my dad was crying, as we parted ways. But my family and I arrived to the airport almost four hours early. Needless to say, I was good and ready when I got up to the counter. Both my bags made it (weight-wise) which I had been worried about, so that was a huge plus. And let me tell you something. I shoved those bags full, in order to have my carry on (my backpacking pack) have only 13 pounds in it - the IcelandAir requirement for a carry-on. And did IcelandAir ever check that carry-on? That's right. Never. Not once. Ever. In fact, I never even had a chance for IcelandAir to check my bags because the minute I set foot in DC (where I was connecting to my first IcelandAir flight) I went to the IcelandAir counter, the nice man asked if I was the young lass from Cleveland, I said yes, and he made sure my checked bags were good to get on the IcelandAir plane. Did he want to check my carry-on? Of course not. Did other people have carry-ons that looked like they contained a small part of Fort Knox? Of course they did. In other words, a lot of anxiety and re-packing for naught. Oh, well.  Complaining about things that work out to your advantage is unbecoming.

In the DC airport, after obtaining my IcelandAir tickets, I ate this thing.

 
That, my friends, is a giant plate of waffle fries covered in chili and cheese. It was, as they say, AMAZING. 

Extremely healthy and well-balanced dinner consumed, I waited for the Iceland plane. By some sad circumstance, I got the middle seat of a three seat row. I thought I booked a window seat, but who knows. Sitting in the middle seat on an overnight, transatlantic flight is, as many of you are probably aware, EXTREMELY comfortable. As in one of the worst experiences you will ever have, ever. It is uncomfortable, you're exhausted, and if you are like me, you are probably drugged (dramamine, people), making the whole experience that much more surreal and painful. And I sat next to this guy, who, first of all, was taking a weekend trip with two of his lady friends to Iceland. That's upwards of $5,000 for a weekend trip. And he didn't seem to have a sense of humor. He would even say things that were funny, but he never really smiled or laughed at his own jokes. He talked to me a little bit about my trip, etc., but then, when I tried to get some sleep, every time I would kind of flutter my eyes open, he would be right there, and he would be like, "Are you okay? You seem to be really restless." When he said that, I just wanted to die. Like, dear God, it's not bad enough I am stuck in this small, crunched, uncomfortable position, but now I have to be questioned about why I don't like it by some fool from DC who's taking a weekend trip to Iceland? He continued his strange questioning, in response to my semi-hostile and exhausted glare by saying, "I mean, you really shouldn't be that nervous about moving, you know? Just chill out, meditate maybe?" At which point I just closed my eyes and resumed my fight with my small 2 foot wide space to sleep in.

Landing in Reykjavik was wonderful, though. We landed just as sunrise was occurring, and Iceland is beautiful, even if it is completely barren for the most part. There was so much open space - and off in the distance, across this giant lake, were mountains. There were steam vents everywhere, piping smoke into the chilly morning. It was like going to the moon.

I briefly considered buying food at the airport before I realized I was just too tired and pooped to ask people how many Kroner or whatever were worth one euro. Customs, by the way, was completely fine - a very short line, but they make you go through a metal detector to get into the country. Does that seem a little odd to you? I mean, we were a flight from the US, so we all had to go through US security to even get into the airport we came from...I don't know. Perhaps it's for flights from other countries. All the IcelandAir flights had these little advertisements on the TVs that said things like, "The most amazing thing about Iceland isn't the beautiful abundance of waterfalls, or the fact that 99% of our energy comes from renewable resources...It's that the Prime Minister's phone number is listed in the phone book." They were funny, I liked them. But they reflected how small the country is - so maybe that's why they have super-bizarre security.

The flight from Reykjavik to Amsterdam went off without a hitch, too. I sort of half-slept my way through that flight as well. Though I think I did wake up long enough to ask for a bag of gummy bears...

In Amsterdam, there were nice big signs that directed me to the baggage line, and the whole time I was walking I was praying, "Dear God, let them have my bags, just let them have my bags." As it turned out (The baggage claim area was a hectic hot mess) they only had one of my bags. Which was okay, though I was so exhausted when I went over to the lady to make a lost baggage claim, I was sobbing with frustration. That lost bag is on its way to me as we speak (I just got the call that IcelandAir had found it about two hours ago), and so I feel much better about the whole thing.

After the baggage fiasco, my wonderful, WONDERFUL friend Siri came and picked me up at the airport. Now, a few words about this little lady. Not only did she pick me up at the airport, but she and my other friend from the lab, Juliette, took me out to dinner, coffee, and dessert, and Siri took me to both Ikea, and the grocery, just to help me get set up in Utrecht. They made getting here easy, and stress-less, and I just can't thank them enough.

On a side-note, on our way home, Siri and I did get amazingly lost in these sketchy, terrifying back alleys, where cars had just parked every which way, and we had no idea where we were, and we almost got hit several times as people came hurtling down one way roads right towards our car, but all in all, getting to Utrecht was great! Ha.

After we got back to my new house, I unpacked the one bag that did make it here on time, and below is a video tour of my new house, and my room with bags unpacked. Enjoy!