![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Comfort to Reykjavik
Sep. 5th, 2013 04:35 amWe have not traveled to a lot of Bear Weekends but when the opportunity came up this one really seemed like an adventure. We were making arrangements to go to a family reunion in Oregon when we spotted a Weekend event in Seattle. The XL Bears weekend was over Labor Day. They had an extension into the next week then a chance to go onward as part of their event to Bears on Ice in Reykjavik. We considered that for some time but decided that the Seattle part wasn't very interesting. I wasn't very interested in flying seven hours to the US then driving three days to get home. Our advantage came in that IcelandAir had recently added Denver for a non-stop flight. So we booked Bears on Ice without the XL Bears and flew direct from Denver.
We had been to Iceland once before and enjoyed it. When we started looking to book the flights we found IcelandAir had a nice alternative to Economy seating. It was called Economy Comfort. The plane was configured with three seats on each side of the cabin but in our row they had a table over the middle seat. The table actually was the lumbar support which lowered to reveal a small indented surface for drinks. Our seats were about 50% more but it included lots of perks. In addition to not sharing the row we got food, drink and baggage allowances.
Our ride to the airport was early but that was ok because we had plenty of time to get to our gate a A45. The plane had already arrived at the gate. IcelandAir names their planes and ours was named Askja after an Icelandic Volcano. It was a modest sized 757-200. The flight departed at 5:15 and took nearly seven hours. However, we were late because of a passing storm. The flight path was over the great lakes north of Chicago across Canada then crossed the tip of Greenland and landed at Keflavik Airport. Keflavik is the International airport for Iceland.
Our seats were comfortable enough. We were directly behind first class with a little valance to protect their privacy. As we ascended the curtains hung straight down like a plumb bob revealing only Ron's foot and calf to the First Class passengers. Because of our position in the plane we had more than enough space. We were just ahead of the exit row. The spacing actually gave us much more leg room. We were across from the toilet so there was no seats A, B or C in that row. Our seats were like bulkhead seats. They had trays that came up from the armrest and televisions that came up from below on an arm. It was a puzzle to get the tray and the television up at the same time.
Dinner for me was a Ham and Cheese Sandwich with a Twisted Doughnut. Ron had the “Warm Chicken” which was sort of a curried chicken breast. Soon the plane was in a food coma and we headed over huge thunderheads in eastern Nebraska. We settled down to get some rest. We arrived in Iceland around 6:30 am Local time. Our body clocks said with was about midnight.
The International Airport is 30 KM outside the city. We took Flybus to get into town. I sprung for the Flybus Plus service that delivered us to our accommodations which was Alfred's Apartments.
We had been to Iceland once before and enjoyed it. When we started looking to book the flights we found IcelandAir had a nice alternative to Economy seating. It was called Economy Comfort. The plane was configured with three seats on each side of the cabin but in our row they had a table over the middle seat. The table actually was the lumbar support which lowered to reveal a small indented surface for drinks. Our seats were about 50% more but it included lots of perks. In addition to not sharing the row we got food, drink and baggage allowances.
Our ride to the airport was early but that was ok because we had plenty of time to get to our gate a A45. The plane had already arrived at the gate. IcelandAir names their planes and ours was named Askja after an Icelandic Volcano. It was a modest sized 757-200. The flight departed at 5:15 and took nearly seven hours. However, we were late because of a passing storm. The flight path was over the great lakes north of Chicago across Canada then crossed the tip of Greenland and landed at Keflavik Airport. Keflavik is the International airport for Iceland.
Our seats were comfortable enough. We were directly behind first class with a little valance to protect their privacy. As we ascended the curtains hung straight down like a plumb bob revealing only Ron's foot and calf to the First Class passengers. Because of our position in the plane we had more than enough space. We were just ahead of the exit row. The spacing actually gave us much more leg room. We were across from the toilet so there was no seats A, B or C in that row. Our seats were like bulkhead seats. They had trays that came up from the armrest and televisions that came up from below on an arm. It was a puzzle to get the tray and the television up at the same time.
Dinner for me was a Ham and Cheese Sandwich with a Twisted Doughnut. Ron had the “Warm Chicken” which was sort of a curried chicken breast. Soon the plane was in a food coma and we headed over huge thunderheads in eastern Nebraska. We settled down to get some rest. We arrived in Iceland around 6:30 am Local time. Our body clocks said with was about midnight.
The International Airport is 30 KM outside the city. We took Flybus to get into town. I sprung for the Flybus Plus service that delivered us to our accommodations which was Alfred's Apartments.
