The trip started on Feb. 13th, loading up the rental car and then dropping it off at the Åre-Östersund Airport. This is a very small airport with only about 5 gates and one security line. And you walk out onto the tarmac to board. So of course it was snowing.
We had a couple of hours at Arlanda to change plans for the flight to Keflavik, where we spent a night at Hotel Duus.
Some art at Keflavík airport.
And the view from our room:
Another lovely dinner at Kaffi Duus....
Lamb chops again!
The have quite a wide selection of desserts. We went with the cheesecake.
Apparently people eat later than 6:30 in Iceland!
Getting to Keflavik at 11AM seems to be just about optimal! No lines at security... we were through in about 5 minutes.
And the Saga Lounge was almost deserted. If you HAVE to hang around an airport for 4 hours, this is where to do it! We were pretty much the only people there for the first hour or so.
The buffet for lunch was pretty extensive:
Nap couches!
And a chance to get totally sloshed before your flight.
Not our way to fly.
Although we DID accept the onboard Prosecco and macarons.
This dinner just raised the bar on airline food into the stratosphere!
Chicken Caesar salad,
rye bread with unsalted butter
(with sea salt crystals so you could salt it if you wished),
perfectly-cooked lamb shank with gravy,
baby carrots and asparagus,
a lovely Shiraz,
finishing with a caramel-chocolate mouse with Oreo crumbles,
coffee and a piece of dark chocolate.
Worthy of a good restaurant!
We made it to our gate with 7 minutes to spare....but then the plane was late getting in. We were not seated together, since we hadn't been able to check in early. Seating was fairly tight (we'd been spoiled by the IcelandAir flights). We hadn't considered how long it had been since that lovely dinner, or how long it would be before we arrived in Denver at 11PM. Long wait for luggage. Hotel shuttles stop running at 11, and it was hard to find and identify a taxi.
Finally got to the hotel somewhere after midnight, after being awake for 25 hours. Got a couple of microwaveable burritos, sat on and couch for awhile, winding down enough to sleep.
We did both sleep pretty well, and the hotel breakfast was better than average. Got picked up by a car service at 11, finally got home to find out house-sitter had locked the storm door, to which we do not have keys. There's a keypad to get into the garage, but the previous owners didn't know the code when we bought the house. Luckily, there were enough tools in the garden shed that Lars managed to pop the storm door and we got into the house at about 1. Went to a nearby cafe for sandwiches and then hit the grocery store.
Not the ideal ending to our wonderful trip, but we ARE home and settling back in.
