flying away...

 

Can't  remember ever writing a story about a flight home

but

this one 

we will always remember because ....

Well it started out early that last morning.

The owner of our "home" made two trips with his car, to the train with our 18 pieces of luggage. ( there were a few totes and backpacks, but we are not going to talk about them) 

8:26 train.   We were thankful for a non stop train to Zurich for the flight 

   

memo:  on the first part of the ride, a young biker sat beside me ( and his bike) I commented that we saw very few churches in the area.  He said there are two churches in Switzerland, Catholic and  "Protestant". The Catholic churches are large and the Protestant are small and in great number.  Yes, he was a Christian, his name was Christian and he was 24 years old.  His goal/career, to provide more efficient roads.  Oh, and he was very polite,  and cute  

 Zurich airport...First stop.... Pretzel King..and yes our last for who knows how long 

And then, with the help of several people we found where to check in to Iceland Air. It is not the major airline in Zurich.

Done and done !

Our Flight left at 1:40 p.m. 
I sat down on the aisle seat and smiled at the lady by the window. Soon the lady in the middle seat arrived and the two of them engaged in conversation,   German. 
 

  About three hours into the flight the pilot announced that due to a situation at Rekjavik airport, we were turning around and landing at Glasgow, Scotland.  And we did.  We were  there on the tarmac for over two hours.  

While we were waiting, the two ladies needed a little help with understanding in English/German what was happening.  

They seemed to understand, as well as the rest of us, a delay is temporary.
Before we landed,  I learned that the German ladies were strangers. One was on a business trip, the other a vacation. Just friendly passengers. 

News..the airport had reopened and we continued our flight which arrived too late to connect with our flight home.

The airline gave instructions to gather our suitcases and head to a bus that was waiting to take all 50 of us to a hotel

A storm was brewing...and did you know that the sun does not set in the summer in Iceland 

We had been riding for about 1/2 hour when the driver announced
" We should be at the hotel in 1 1/2 hours"
We thought he was joking.  He was not.  It is now late evening and the bus is loaded with tired passengers.

Tiffany to the rescue.  The bus driver had announced the name of the hotel and Tiffany found it online and called. 
 She asked if they were prepared for 50 guests.  Yes, they would handle them in less than 20 minutes. 
 How about food?  The kitchen is closed.   
Tiffany explained that these people would be hungry and tired. What could he do?   He said he would get back to her.  And he did.
 Upon arrival there was chicken, French fries and beverages ready for us all.

No complaints.   However, a few people were put in rooms with strangers, but not for us.  Our "manager" took care of all 9 of us.

The breakfast in the morning was huge.

We took our time and while we were waiting for the bus to return,

 Anita, Darrell and Tanner went for a little walk ...to a volcano.  Tanner was thrilled to see one of the 25 wonders of the world
Iceland has several volcanos.. and from what we could observe along the freeway, there is not much to talk about.  However, people come and spend days and weeks here, so there has to be something off the freeway.

Our two hour bus trip back to the airport...

This is what our plane looked like   

One of  the many ads to show there is more to Iceland than the highway 

Not our plane, but worth a picture.

At the airport, we checked in, got new boarding passes, checked our baggage, and had about 1 1/2 hours to find lunch and get to our gate.

 My first stop was customer service.  Why am I often behind the customer that takes so much time ? 
My turn: 
 Since we had paid for food in advance, was that "credit" moved to our new flight?   No. 
 Could they reimburse us?   No.  Go on line.  

Frustration was mounting. Hubby was staying right where he was told to wait and it was taking a long time.  Some of the family tried to use the "app" that would pay for our food, but it did not work.

In the end, we got on board, had a safe flight, and are now waiting to hear back from Iceland Air.

I live an exciting life

.