Well well well…the adventure continues…but today it took place in the Reykjavik Domestic Airport…And the day started so well with yet another delicious Iceland breakfast and a cheery sendoff from the proprietor of the little guest house I stayed…After slightly getting lost finding the airport, which was less than a mile and a half away, I successfully turned in my trusty and very dusty Toyota Yaris! She served me quite well…and took great care, especially on that gravel road & cliff incident…but now it was time to say goodbye…After I lugged my 2 packs into the small airport, I discovered my penchant for early arrival is not appreciated here…you can’t check in until exactly one hour before your flight…a little side note…I read somewhere in all my research that one should not bring wheeled luggage….mainly to the special lodge I will be staying on the glacier….but I must heartily disagree…wheeled luggage would not have been an issue so far…and I think my chiropractor will enjoy an economic boost from my visits when I return.

Once I settled in, happily reading my Dan Brown novel…an announcement came over the speakers announcing a delay…and it would be an hour before we would hear further weather updates…well this lovely announcement would continue to happen from 10am on…

On the bright side, this delay caused those of us in the small waiting area to start to coalesce  and discuss our hopeful future in Greenland…after the 3rd delay, they announced the next delay would be the last…what in the world did that mean?…the next delay was at 2:15…Well off to chat with the flight people…now, mind you, I have been up chatting with them about various issues like hoping to convince them to give us the wifi password….I, somehow, became the designated spokesman for our group…The Production Manager in me took over once the information was getting confusing…

I discovered that the reason 2:15 was the cutoff is because of the pilots work schedule…and unlike other areas, there is just one crew that flies this route…and ONE flight a day to the town we were going…This is when I went into real production mode…I asked about other flights to other areas…discovered we might get on one BUT then it might take days to get from there to our town…then I asked if there was any way the pilots would extend…they said no because they want to get home to their families(urgency was not on hand here…)…at this point I smiled and went back to report to the group…at this point an elderly German man who spoke very very little English beckoned me over to ask what was going on…I tried to explain but he was having problems understanding me…I did understand him when he told me he used to be a pilot….40 years ago…he is 89! I smiled and then offered to fly the plane if he would take off and land..he did seem to understand that!…although with my inner GPS issues, we may have ended up in the middle of the ocean! I asked a lovely German woman I had been chatting with to translate for me so the man could be put at ease…she kindly did and the man seemed to relax…then an American guy from CA came up and thought I was some kind of Tour Leader and wanted info too…I explained I was just another passenger but he seemed to be quite confused as to what to do…..So it was back to the desk to beg some more…we just wanted to see if the Pilot would be willing to extend the weather checks since we were confident that as the afternoon went on the sun would burn the fog off…meanwhile, a man from Holland pulled up a live feed on his ipad…and our hearts sunk…it was amazing how dark the town was…no way were we going to fly today…

At this point, we started to wonder about hotels and what we were going to do…I really had no belief this little airline would accommodate us. At this point the weather time shifted to 15:15! This shocked us since they said nothing passed 14:15…well, I went back over to the counter…by now, these guys are my old pals(see pic)…and asked for an update…the told us the pilot felt there was a clearing happening so he would continue to wait!

I ran back to report our good luck…and kept the optimistic spin…We were cautiously happy…this weather check went on until finally at 15:15 when they asked us to cue up in the line for check in…OMG the happiness was palpable…everyone has tours tomorrow and several have the big all day glacier one…and most are only going for 4-5 days so losing 1 day is a huge deal…and Greenland is very very expensive so losing 1 day is not easy to take….I was quite thankful  I had 8 days and nothing planned until the next night at 10pm to go on the Midnight Glacier Sail.

We all checked in and went through security…taking pictures and chatting happily…they opened Duty free for us…we watch them fuel the little plane…the pilot walked out…and then I did it…I went to the bathroom…yep…that jinxed it…I heard the announcement and could not believe it…the flight was canceled…and all who bought the duty free had to leave it…

I felt terrible since I had been deemed to eternal optimist by most there…how could I spin this, I thought…well I immediately got some info and discovered the airline WAS putting us up and feeding us for FREE…I guess I don’t need to use my Travel Insurance after all…well, we all got our luggage and stood outside waiting for the bus to take us…a huge bus pulls up a distance away and I start to head over…I look behind me and the entire group is following…Yikes…this may very well be the wrong bus and I now have the whole plane following my every move…I yell back to hold up to let me check but most were already well on their way…when I finally got to the bus, I discovered it was for the Russians…Russians!? (-:  At this point most of the group high tailed it back to the front of the airport…but another guy and the couple from Holland & I hung out there…believing the next Bus would be it…in the meantime, we see a shuttle pull up to the airport and I fear that is our “bus”…the single guy assures me that it’s not…so we five wait and the others are just watching us from a distance…Chilly as it was, all i cared about was getting on the right bus…and one came along at that moment…Bingo it was it…and I waved to the group and they headed over…

The hotel is nice and I actually have a  room with private facilities….and they are feeding us for free AFTER 8PM…I assume the real paying guests get the good food and we get the leftovers…all good…food is food…and free food, especially in Iceland is great…We all ate together and congregated around Mark, the guy from Holland’s ipad, as he had a live feed from Ilussiat…it looked like the fog was clearing throughout dinner…AND then we looked again and it was covered again…FINGERS CROSSED that our plane takes off tomorrow…losing 1 day is tough but 2 would be horrible…Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Patiently waiting for answers:

An International Consortium discussing everything from Literature to Weather

Trying to help us get information on Greenland’s weather

Check out the security guy in the corner with his thumbs up…as we ALMOST get on the plane

Believing we are getting on…happy optimism