Gatwick airport is an experience I've not sampled since we used to use it to go sailing in Greece. However, I was pleasantly surprised - I walked straight from the train station into the check-in hall, there was only one person in the check-in queue and very small ones through passport control & security. Perhaps if BAA sold off Heathrow it might be a similar good experience !
There was a slight downturn in the happiness quotient when I boarded the Iceland Express's airplane - a leased 10 year old Boeing 737. It wasn't the best airplane, I could only just get my legs into the seat - it was a good job the seats didn't recline as I would have suffered broken bones, the in flight entertainment was a small screen in the ceiling every few rows showing a dark Icelandic film with English sub-titles, we weren't offered headsets, so I don't know if there was a soundtrack or other entertainment and there was a hefty charge for all food & drink (including water).
Thank goodness that it was only a 2.5 hour flight ! I was hoping to watch the British countryside flow beneath us on the way North but all we saw was a brief glimpse of Stornway and Benbeculla as we headed into the North Atlantic.
Our approach to Iceland was along the coast and into Keflavik Airport which still showed it's military heritage as bomb proof plane shelters zoomed past the window - it's 10,000 foot runway is still able to accommodate the world's largest aircraft (and the Space Shuttle). The striking feature that it seemed to be covered in a Blue/Purple carpet - we were later told that this was caused by Alaskan Lupins.
These were introduced to add richness to the soil - as member of the pea family it is able to fix atmospheric nitrogen into organic nitrogen by using specialized bacteria living symbiotically in their roots. An ideal property for a country where the soil is volcanic and has little nutrient - if you see just a small Birch bush in a lava field it means that the eruption was at least 2,000 years ago.
There were six of us on the flight from Gatwick and we soon cleared the formalities and met Steffie who was to be our guide for our exploration of her island - the locals spell their country as Island : so I've decided to adopt it also. There we also two couples on her list but when they didn't show up, we headed the 30+ miles into Reykjavik and our guesthouse : Borgartún.
It was some way out of the City centre but close to the seafront - my room was large, had two single beds, TV and on-suite facilities : what more could I need ? A meal had been booked next door at the Hotel Cabin which was a buffet - exactly what we needed and excellent. Little did we know that it was to be almost the last evening meal when we would have a choice as to what to eat. Before heading for bed, some of us went for a stroll along the sea front and found a sculpture museum
There was a slight downturn in the happiness quotient when I boarded the Iceland Express's airplane - a leased 10 year old Boeing 737. It wasn't the best airplane, I could only just get my legs into the seat - it was a good job the seats didn't recline as I would have suffered broken bones, the in flight entertainment was a small screen in the ceiling every few rows showing a dark Icelandic film with English sub-titles, we weren't offered headsets, so I don't know if there was a soundtrack or other entertainment and there was a hefty charge for all food & drink (including water).
Thank goodness that it was only a 2.5 hour flight ! I was hoping to watch the British countryside flow beneath us on the way North but all we saw was a brief glimpse of Stornway and Benbeculla as we headed into the North Atlantic.
Our approach to Iceland was along the coast and into Keflavik Airport which still showed it's military heritage as bomb proof plane shelters zoomed past the window - it's 10,000 foot runway is still able to accommodate the world's largest aircraft (and the Space Shuttle). The striking feature that it seemed to be covered in a Blue/Purple carpet - we were later told that this was caused by Alaskan Lupins.
These were introduced to add richness to the soil - as member of the pea family it is able to fix atmospheric nitrogen into organic nitrogen by using specialized bacteria living symbiotically in their roots. An ideal property for a country where the soil is volcanic and has little nutrient - if you see just a small Birch bush in a lava field it means that the eruption was at least 2,000 years ago.
There were six of us on the flight from Gatwick and we soon cleared the formalities and met Steffie who was to be our guide for our exploration of her island - the locals spell their country as Island : so I've decided to adopt it also. There we also two couples on her list but when they didn't show up, we headed the 30+ miles into Reykjavik and our guesthouse : Borgartún.
It was some way out of the City centre but close to the seafront - my room was large, had two single beds, TV and on-suite facilities : what more could I need ? A meal had been booked next door at the Hotel Cabin which was a buffet - exactly what we needed and excellent. Little did we know that it was to be almost the last evening meal when we would have a choice as to what to eat. Before heading for bed, some of us went for a stroll along the sea front and found a sculpture museum
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