The 26 Year Promise Continues | Leaving for Our New Year’s Eve Trip

Ampelmann – Now do you know where I am going?

After an enjoyable family Christmas with my husband’s family in New Hampshire, we said goodbye to our son who was spending the week there and we hurried back home.  It was time to pack, check in for our flights on the 26th of December, and catch up on sleep.  My husband was even going into work for a few hours before we left.  Crazy — I know!  Lists after lists were made and I double and triple checked those things that I usually forget on a trip including my glasses, contacts, makeup, pajamas, and so on.  All looked good and we headed straight to the airport without issue.

At Boston Logan International Airport we even found a parking space easily, which I can tell you has never happened to me on any previous trip there.  I always feel so giddy with excitement at the beginning of a trip and this was time was no different.  All international flights leave out of Terminal E and we made our way to the IcelandAir ticket counter.  Did I forget to mention we were stopping first in Iceland?  IcelandAir offers a program where you can stopover on the way to or from Europe at no additional cost.  Considering my new found love of Iceland, I really wanted to share it with my husband and so we would spend one day in Reykjavik before continuing onto Berlin.

For Christmas my husband received a new passport holder and was carrying both of our passports.  This is important to note because I usually carry them along with everything else.  Remember that list I made?  It included “wallet,” which was sitting on my desk next to the list when I wrote it, but somehow it neglected to make its way into my bag.  That’s right — I was traveling commando without my wallet!  I was glad that Rich was with me because I would have had no money, no credit cards, no ID whatsoever.  Thank goodness he had my passport with him because I would have had to go back home to get it and that would have stressed me out completely.

After taking a few deep breaths to get over that huge mistake, we went through security and then onto the Virgin Atlantic lounge to wait for our flight.  As we were flying Saga Class, IcelandAir’s business class seating, we had access to the Virgin Atlantic lounge.  Before heading there we decided to try to get some Icelandic Krona from the currency exchange desk.  However, after waiting about 10 minutes in line, we learned they no longer had any.  No big deal as we could get them at the airport or at an ATM machine.

We checked in at the desk in the Virgin Atlantic lounge with the agent who greeted us dressed in a bright red suit and big bun sitting atop her head.  Always excited to have internet access and beer, Rich sat down and started his vacation early while I continued to search out the lounge.  They have snacks as well as an entree, soup, cheeses, etc.  I mistakenly ordered the tortellini quickly only to take a bite and realize it had a meat sauce over it.  Yikes! Mental note to self: Read menu descriptions more carefully!

Since this lounge accommodates both Virgin Atlantic passengers and IcelandAir passengers, you can expect it to be packed most of the time.  We sat at this long communal table that you can see above and for the majority of the time we were there, there were only a few empty seats.  The Virgin Atlantic flight left before ours and we had maybe 30 minutes before it was time to leave for our own flight.  I will always embrace the opportunity to sit and relax quietly instead of perhaps finding a spot on the floor in Terminal E, the international terminal, at Boston Logan.

The time came for us to board our flight and begin our adventure.  Onward to Reykjavik!