We played with the scale, then drove off; of course, as we're on our way to the frozen North, snowflakes started in DC.
Our journey didn't have the massive amount of traffic that we allocated time for (as we guessed it wouldn't, but you know what they say about assumptions). We parked, shuttled to the airport, and were at the check-in counter at 6:15, to look up and see that our original 6pm flight was now delayed a second time to 11:20. Rachel (who was on our ticket but took the MARC up from D.C.) met us there. We did some final suitcase fiddling, then went through security to have a leisurely dinner and meet up with Kamila and Tommy for drinks before hanging out at the gate for the final hour.
The six of us got on the plane. I had booked the aisle and window seats for me and Mark, thinking it might discourage others from taking the middle seat. Instead, we asked to displace a girl, who Mark ended up talking to toward the end of our red eye flight.
The five hour flight went by quickly for me - slept like a champ. Not everyone was so lucky, so watching the sun rise while we landed at 10:30am, Iceland time (+5 from D.C.) did feel like 5:30am.
We did our due diligence by wandering through duty-free; I educated everyone on the value of krona (10,000 ISK is $88, so divide by 100 and then subtract another 10% if you want). Right afterward, I went to an ATM and failed at my own math, not moving the decimal place enough and ended up with ten times the amount of cash I wanted. Especially since we heard that Iceland is very plastic-friendly (with a Mastercard ad in the airport to prove it).
I had arranged a driver for us, since the bus was actually slightly more expensive. (A multiple of 6 is big!) He drove us through the desolate peninsula that the international airport was at, while we coordinated with Rachel's Icelandic friend to meet.
A few months ago, I had booked us an AirBnB. Reykjavik gets crazy around New Years, with hotels and houses getting booked solid, so I wanted to get at least that off my plate.
Worked well until November 1st when I got a message from the host that they were during unexpected renovations and had to cancel on us. (We were all understandably cynical, but the apartment wasn't available later when I looked, so it thankfully wasn't just a scam to get more money.)
I went through a lot to try to get a place within our budget, but, long story short, Rachel's college friend (who is in Reykjavik doing a PhD) had a friend who was going to be out of town for New Years. We still ended up in an AirBnB situation, just coordinated through a friend!
We were dropped off at the apartment complex, and Rachel's friend showed up a few minutes later - not quite long enough to start a snowball fight with the snow Reykjavik had gotten two days ago (and was still the reason for our delayed flight). We didn't have to kill time before meeting her, so the flight delay was perfectly timed.
It was a four-story walk-up, so the giant suitcases got hauled up the stairs. The view though - we can see Hallgrimskirka, and the surrounding downtown Reykjavik. Stunning.
We headed out to find lunch (ended up with burgers at a Big Lebowski bar - Icelanders like their burgers and hot dogs) and hurriedly buy groceries for the day ahead. The Bonus grocery is closed on New Year's Day, so it was now or never!
We peeked through the buildings to the Atlantic and the Esjan mountain range as we walked the mile back to the apartment.
Nap time!
We awoke in darkness at 6:30, then began a noodle dinner as the popping sounds that had been going all day started to increase. In Reykjavik, fireworks are illegal except from
Dec. 28th to Jan. 4. The bangs from earlier started having lights and color along with them, and we ended dinner staring out the window and finding the bursts of sparkle happening around us.
The other tradition I wanted to make sure we got in on were the bonfires. In Iceland, it is literally out with the old as 20-foot wide pallet fires get started in a dozen places around the city.
On our walk, we passed by the city cemetery. The graves had small lights on them, casting a spooky glow. The hill continued down to the water to the north of downtown Reykjavik, and the bonfire did not disappoint.
We were all dressed appropriately for slightly below freezing temperatures, which actually shielded us from the fiery inferno. The fireworks were continuing in southern Reykjavik, on the other side of the water, as the fire burnt down from fifteen feet high to ten.
We took a different route back, since Kamila wanted to check out a pagan temple that was trying to be built by 2016. Based on the fence still around the site, it was not completed. We did get to take a great walk through a park, with the cosmetic mortals and shells still firing around us, and ended up at the Perlán. This dome-shaped restaurant was the original plan for us, but it was sold out in June (and like $200-a-head). Instead, we got to revel in the good fortune of having an apartment that gave us the same view for far cheaper.
We spent the last 45 minutes of 2016 at the window as the amateur fireworks increased in density. I hopped out on the balcony, tweaking camera settings to try to capture the panorama of drama, but mostly failing.
At 11:59, I ducked back inside, we queued up "Auld Lang Syne", and we let the New Year turn. After another thirty minutes, we turned the lights back on and chatted until 2am. Going east for New Years is highly recommended - no one had any issues making it to midnight!
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