It was raining constantly for the first time since I have been here. Today is the day that we are flying Icelandair to Reykjavik, with carry on only. It was also the day that the Christmas Tree was packed away and Scott’s lounge room was less festive.

The challenge is to pack under 10 kilo of warm clothing for a very cold climate. Sunglasses are apparently an essential item for Iceland in summer or winter … plus sun screen.

After careful consideration I packed the thick (140 denier) stockings, a couple of thick fleecy leggings (I bought from previous trips in Europe for cold weather), 2 long sleeved tops for layering, a merino wool fitness jacket, some warm scarves and some dresses. For the plane I just wore the stockings, with the intention of putting the extra leggings on at Reykjavik airport (which I didn’t until later). I wore a black wool jumper under my denim dress and took my new warm green jacket. I left the black euro coat behind as it is quite bulky. My warm long boots would be too hot for the plane, so they went in my luggage and I wore black sneakers for the trip.

We found a share car right outside Scott’s apartment so the rain wasn’t an issue. It was a nice Fiat, although someone had inconsiderately left their rubbish in the car.

The weather forecast for Berlin for the next few days is rain so we are escaping the miserable wet.

We drove to Berlin’s new Brandenburg airport and parked the car in the designated share car park. The trip took about 30 minutes from Scott’s place. It was a quick walk in the rain to the massive terminal.

We had a bit of a wait at security because of all the people leaving everything to the last minute (liquids etc). … and also the fact that you have to take off layers. Gate 35 was about 10 minutes walk from the duty free area.

We bought some supplies (alcohol is very expensive in Iceland) of Vodka, Hendricks Gin and Kylie Minogue Prosecco. Closer to the gate we saw a food outlet and decided to buy lunch since we had 20 minutes until boarding time. The food was supplied by one of our favourite food chains in Europe called Marche. The service here was frustratingly inefficient and took about 15 minutes to buy a couple of sandwiches.

We then followed the moving walkways to our gate. We did not board for a good 20 minutes after that, so we didn’t have to rush after all.

Scott was impressed with the seats I had chosen for us on the plane – row 5 seats were the ones with extra legroom, immediately behind premium class. They were an extra fee for this privilege.

Once in the air, Icelandair does offer WiFi but it is limited so I ended up using the option of paying 10€ for good Wifi while we were in the air. It was worth it.

In economy, you have to buy your drinks and snacks. Of course they have the ‘buy 2 bottles specials’ so I bought white wines and Scott bought beers. We didn’t need snacks because we had eaten before we boarded the plane.

My ZipZap charger was needed on this flight because my iPhone was draining battery for some reason.

We were offered to buy more drinks about an hour before the flight ended. I love that every airline has English speakers so it is easy to communicate with staff …. It is the universal language in these parts.

The flight took about 3 1/2 hours but because Iceland is one hour behind Berlin, we landed at 3:20 pm …. Just on sunset 🌅

While we were in the air, Aunty Irene turned a year older, so Happy Birthday to you, Irene 😘.

Flying into Reykjavik was awesome….. the snow covered mountains and the sheer cliffs of the ocean. We needed some sustenance before continuing onto the city. At the airport, you cannot buy food to eat until you have passed the border. The offerings were not as good as in the duty free area.

We ate at the only food outlet in the exit section of the airport, it had a very American feel about the food.

We decided that we could hire a car since the forecast is not too sinister. We do have an allocated parking space at our apartment so why not? It cost about 300€ ($468AUD) for the 4 days we are here. The airport is 50km from the city centre so it took 45 minutes to drive past snow covered vistas on the well maintained highway.

We found our apartment in Tryggvagata 13, Reykjavík, Hauptstadtregion 101, Iceland. The allocated parking space was across the road in a boom gated parking area which we did not have access to before we went inside. So Scott managed a creative manoeuvre to get around the boom to find our space. The thick snow obscured the plaques but we managed to find ours.

Narelle and Andreas are friends from my time living in Coffs Harbour. Andreas is a native Icelander and I am so excited that they are in Iceland while we are here. We met in a new food establishment in the old Post Office called Pósthús. It was a mix of different food outlets and bars patronised by the locals …. and some tourists (they are the ones who are wearing the matching Icelandic jumpers 😆).

Scott bought 3 rye martini cocktails which cost 55€($86AUD), unfortunately Andreas had a previous engagement so he had to leave us but it was great to see him.

We then sought out food choosing some chicken bites, spiced cauliflower bites, chicken tacos and a plate of fries topped with grated Parmesan. Every dish is accompanied by a different sauce, including the fries which Narelle pointed out as being an Icelandic habit. The meal cost around 60€($93AUD) and it was delicious. We also bought a bottle of Organic Prosecco which, when I checked my account, cost $100AUD (we were warned and it’s all part of the experience).

The local currency is the Icelandic Krona so 152 ISK is equivalent to 1 Euro or $1.55AUD. So we now know that basically you divide by 100 to get the roundabout Australian conversion.

Narelle then took us on a mini tour of the main street to point out where some good, and not so good places are. We met the Christmas Cat statue and marveled at the claw and teeth details. The temperature was -12C as we wandered around. Narelle also showed us the local supermarket where we could gather supplies when needed.

We finished the night with more cocktails in a swanky bar called Apotek. It was cosy and warm. It was absolutely lovely to spend time with Narelle and I so appreciated her advice about what to do in Iceland. We then said our goodbyes to Narelle and retired to our lovely apartment for a good night’s sleep.

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