We made it, luggage and all.

The flight out of Boston went smoothly; we were among the few people in the departure terminal. We were through security in record time, and killed time in the overpriced and nearly empty bar, eating chips and watching Olympic diving. Neither of us slept well on the plane. They showed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was alright.

London Heathrow airport is like a coral reef, teeming with life. Representatives of seemingly every religion, ethnicity, and human morphology were seemingly contained therein. The effect was a little nauseating under the circumstances, it being 4:50 AM Boston time at our arrival. I finished Michel Houellebecq's The Elementary Particles, which was good, but too unrelentingly bleak. I don't think it fully warranted its darkness.

We killed almost six hours in the terminal. We had a breakfast of sorts - Jenna got a vegetarian English breakfast with beans, veggie sausage, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, and eggs. I had fries, and sampled the various exotic condiments (brown sauce, Chipotle Tabasco, West Indian pepper sauce, etc.). Our flight to Edinburgh was delayed by forty minutes. We read and drifted in and out of consciousness.

We touched down in Edinburgh at about 6:30. I've been to Edinburgh a few times before and was pleased to see the familiar city from the airport shuttle bus. My aunt, Joan, walked with us to the first-floor apartment near the iconic Holyrood Park.

Jenna writing here- We had a nice little walk with our packs through some nice parts of Edinburgh to Joan's house, near the Old Town. As is to be expected with European cities versus most American ones, most of the buildings were just so charming to look at. This was probably the first walk we'd taken with our full packs, so it provided a helpful assessment. The verdict for me? Very heavy, but bearable. I am still not sure how that will change once we are hiking the Laugavegur trail in Iceland- it will probably feel pretty bad.

Once we settled in at Joan's she made us delicious and refreshing gin and tonics (tea for Aram, who doesn't drink) and soon afterwards we headed out to dinner with Joan and Aram's uncle Steven. They had made reservations at a vegetarian Indian restaurant nearby which was quite delicious. When we got back we shared a pot of tea in the sitting room together before going to bed. I have already grown very fond of the British/Scottish habit of tea.

The next day Aram and I wandered around the same area we had been through before, but more extensively. There are lots of nice little shops and because the Fringe festival is in full swing in Edinburgh right now, lots of people wandering around in costume, which was fun to see. (I actually have an old friend who works at the festival, so when we return from Iceland I'll get to cach up with her for the first time in about five years! Love when things like that work out.)


After our wanderings we returned to the house for a change of clothes and some lunch, and then we set out to climb the Salisbury Crags to the top of Arthur's Seat. It was quite steep and provided some really incredibly pleasing views of Edinburgh and the sea.

Holyrood Palace

After a nice dinner cooked by Stephen at the house, we slipped on our packs and headed to the airport shuttle bus. We made it through check in and security without any problems, and had a pleasant and relatively short flight to Keflavik airport. Iceland is cold and it stays light crazy late! When we stepped off the plane at about midnight, the sun was just setting, and it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Aram again. We were pretty puzzled about everyone at the Edinburgh airport referring to our destination as "Keflavik.". Was it a local name for Reykjavik? And if "Reykvavik" is an English exonym, why did we choose such a mouthful? Our bemusement was swiftly eliminated when we arrived at Keflavik airport, some 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik. Reykjavik has it's own airport, which is the one I'd assumed we were flying into. How we got this far without figuring this out, I do not know. Unfortunately, round-trip shuttle transportation to and from the airport set us back $75. If there was a cheaper way, I wasn't up to finding it at 12:30 AM. Our hostel room was shared with two other travelers, one of whom thanked us for our quietness and consideration, leading me to wonder if she was sarcastic or what. The jet lag, incidentally, hasn't been too bad.

This morning, we walked into the center of Reykjavik, about half an hour from our hostel. One of the most notable features about Reykjavik is how new everything looks, especially on the outskirts. Much of the city must have been built since 1990. The effect is furthered by the way that the old buildings have been kept up to date with tasteful modern additions. The city has a very particular postmodern Nordic style, combining rustic wood and painted plaster with bright colors, brushed steel, and corrugated tin roofs and siding.

More on this - much, much more on this - to come

We had some coffee at the first place we came across. Pretty much everyone speaks beautiful English, which helps. Iceland is expensive: coffee was about $3, and an entree at a regular restaurant will cost at least $15. Apparently, before the country's economic collapse in 2008, the cost of living was almost double what it is at present.



Our plan was to stay one more night in Reykjavik before taking off to the Laugavegur trailhead tomorrow morning. Jenna's friend Andy put us in touch with a friend of hers in Iceland, Alex. We met up with Alex in the early afternoon. We are a great vegan lunch and went some amazing hot pools and steam baths with Alex and her friend. More on all this later, as it's becoming hard to use Jenna's phone to type.