Finally... off to Iceland!!!

 After a very hectic few weeks of preparing to leave the country for three months (purging a majority of non-essential belongings, sorting & storing the stuff I'm keeping, moving out of my apartment and packing for a 3mo bike tour) I'm finally here in Iceland. Scrambling down to the last minute before my departure, the trek overseas has been a smooth one. 

Not exactly what you expect to see when boarding an airliner:

"Welcome to Iceland Air, where we tell you you're going to hell!"

The flight was smooth... I was so exhausted from the past few weeks that I fell asleep before we even took off. When I woke up later I thought we were still on the ground, but discovered we were at full cruising altitude. Iceland Air gets an A+ in my book for this flight: the ticket agent didn't charge me the standard $40 surcharge for my bike box, and they delivered it and my 2 panniers in good condition! Not to mention 100+ free movies to choose from and the flight attendants wear cute 1960's era hats :)


I landed in at the Keflavik International Airport (about 55km from Reykjavik) at 6:30am local time and got my bike & luggage in short order. Next was a phone call to the Alex Campground, who showed up to drive me and my bike to their facilities about 5min away. A major perk of this campground is their offer to store (for free!) my empty bike box during my tour. I'll pick it up when I stay with them on my final night here.

Alex Campground airport shuttle service

I spent the morning assembling my bike (luckily it arrived unhurt except for a broken speedometer mounting bracket- damn you, TSA) and reorganizing my gear. I've been pedaling around the old shipping/fishing town of Keflavik this afternoon, procuring a few supplies and admiring the scenery. Tomorrow I'm off to Reykjavik for a couple days before heading north to begin my circumnavigation of the island. On July 5 I fly to Paris, so the clock's a tickin!


Everyone here has been great- the Icelandic folks seem fairly reserved but very friendly and they transition instantly into fluent English. Most signs also have either English or a picture, so language hasn't been an issue. Yet. The weather's cool, cloudy and breezy with an occasional drops of rain... but its pleasant and about what I expected. Mountains in the distance, rolling plains to the east... feels a lot like Colorado minus the blazing sun.