Canada and Home - Day 8 November 17, 2019

pologies as I'm a little late in typing this last part of our Anniversary Trip to Iceland, work and life in general got in the way.

We woke up fairly early at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, we repacked our bags to make adjustments to some of the items we were bringing home with us (AKA: The Starbucks Cups) and to just generally try to take as little as we had to on the plane flight.

After packing up our stuff, we decided it was time to see about getting a little something to eat... We thought we had looked on the hotel's website when we booked the room and it said breakfast, but were apparently sorely mistaken.. We could of course eat there, but had to pay for a standard breakfast. Upon that discovery we decided to head for the airport, check our bags, and just get something to eat by the gate area restaurants.

Now the night before when we checked into the hotel, we asked for a shuttle ride back to the hotel and decided we'd leave I think around 730am or something to that effect. When we went down to the hotel lobby, we asked about getting on an earlier shuttle and were told there was only room for one person and then the other person would have to wait a little longer.

UBRER UP!!!!! So with that being said, we decided to pay for an UBER to the airport and got there a little bit faster than everyone else. The Uber ride from the hotel to the terminal is only about 10 minutes give or take.

Once back at Toronto's Pearson International Airport we were dropped off at the WestJet Terminal, inside the terminal we went back to the automated check-in kiosks to get our new boarding passes cause stupid me left the other ones on our Icelandic Air flight the night before.

The Check-in Kiosks. all seem to be the same no matter where you go. You walk up provide all of the information you need and you get your boarding passes and luggage tags if you need them. Ahh the luggage tags.....

So when we checked-in for our flights our of Keflavik our baggage was checked all the way through to Los Angeles, now remember that when we arrived the night before we had to pick-up our bags and re-check them. Well we didn't do it cause we were staying the night in Toronto.

Now in Toronto's airport the luggage system is pretty different from that of here in the United States. They actually have an automated luggage system.. Yup, all you have to do is load your baggage on to Kiosk type area, scan your boarding pass and then the baggage disappears and is loaded for your flight. Sounds easy right? Yeah well there is as always a catch to the system, like they don't always read your baggage tags, or your suit case is to heavy etc... So when we tried to check our bags, we had to get one of the local airport employees to help us.

The young lady came over and tried for several minutes to help us out, but she couldn't figure it out why our bags wouldn't be accepted, then comes over her co-worker/ supervisor and she tried and it didn't work. Then out of the blue, they're like "It's your baggage tags" I was like "HUH WHAT?" our bags shouldn't be the problem we were checked all the way through to Los Angeles from Keflavik. Now I'm getting aggrevated…

Okay fine, we'll go get new baggage tags... After another 10 minutes of screwing around with the Check-In Kiosks, we finally got our baggage tags put them on our bags and proceeded back to the baggage drop off. Well after another 10 minutes and with the help of the local airport folks we finally got our bags dropped off and now we get to go play with the airport security...

So apparently when traveling to the United States from Canada you still go through a TSA type screening of your bags, and such. Hell there is even signage saying that as you walk up to go through this. The Canadians seem to have their stuff together a little better than we do here in the States and we were able to get through the check within a few minutes. Now on to step "2".

Step two (2) you ask? Yup, apparently getting through the Canadian TSA check is only the beginning, now you have to go to station two (2) to see if you have any additional screening to go through. So here you are at another Kiosk answering questions. You answer the questions and depending on how you answer them, you get to move on to the next step in the process. Well we didn't make it through to the next step right away and had to go over to another area to wait to see our names on a screen to make sure our screening was good to go and that the customs people in Toronto didn't have any additional questions. Luckily we only waited for a few minutes and they pushed us on to United States Customs...

Now I didn't realize that we could go through our Customs screening and not have to worry about it when we got back to Los Angeles, but apparently we can. Cause of some medical issues with my wife, we were able to get pushed up to the front and cause we have "CLEAR" it gave us a priority as well. YEAH US...

Once you are through the Customs area they stick you straight into the "Duty Free" store....We did go through the store and thought about buying more stuff but decided against it... Didn't really need anything in there.

We walked down towards our boarding area, there were several different shops and eateries there and wait there was "STARBUCKS"... Damn it.....

Once down by the gate area, you'll notice the places to eat and the fact there is plenty of places to sit and you are able to plug in and re-charge your stuff as well. We chose to go and sit down at the "Nobel Burger Bar".

A couple of things to tell you about the "Nobel Burger Bar".

If you sit at the bar itself, the chairs do not move and you will then notice that every station has an IPAD there. Kinda cool. There is seating all over the area and most of the seating is tied back into the burger bar.

The food at the "Nobel Burger Bar" was okay, it wasn't anything to really right home about, but we had breakfast there. Bacon and Eggs for me and a Spinach & Onion Omelette for my wife...You couldn't get any type of alcoholic drink at the time of morning we were there. That doesn't start being served until about 10am if memory serves me...

While we were sitting waiting for our flight, my wife did go over to "Starbucks" to see if there was another cup that she didn't happen to get the night before, and damn it there sure was. She ended up with her "Niagara Falls" cup to add to her collection... ARGH!!!!!

At around 1030am we headed to our gate which I believe was A15 to board our flight for Los Angeles.

WestJet if you don't already know is a lot like Southwest Airlines, the planes are all effectively set up the same way and there is no business class or first class, it's essentially just an open plane with no real special purks as to say. But the seats have a place for you to charge your electronics and internet is also available on the plane as well. The cabin crew does serve drinks and gives you the option to purchase foods from the menu that is available in the In-Flight Magazine.

The flight from Toronto to Los Angeles was about 4 1/2 hours (I think we were breaking the law by speeding) and it was an uneventful flight and we arrive at around 1230pm.

Walking from the gate to the baggage area is easy, and kinda funny since you walk through the same tunnel that the movie "Airplane!" was filmed in... Getting the baggage took a little time, but once we did have it we were out the door and gone.

Something that people should keep in mind when traveling to and from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), is that right now the airport is under construction and they have made a number of changes to the traffic flows and such, so pay attention to the information that is posted all over the place.

Overall the trip was great, and I really would like to go back again, and spend some more time there as I think we missed out on the northern part of the country and of course the weather didn't help for squat either.

Hope you enjoy reading all of my blogs about this trip. Let me know what you think.

The biggest suggestion I can make is that before you go to Iceland is that you do as much research as you can, learn about the country and plan out your road trips.. I think that driving on your own is so much better than relying on tour buses and such.