Iceland and Canada - Day 7 November 16, 2019

Well as usual on this trip I couldn't sleep the last night on this trip so I ended up staying up most of the night, editing pictures and trying to write the blog from the day before.

I ended up working on about 5 different pictures during the early morning hours, while sipping on Coke Zero and munching on Chocolate Covered Raisin's. I think they pictures came out pretty good actually.

At around 0600 I decided to go upstairs and try to snooze for about an hour or so, it wasn't like we had a lot going on, expect to pack up, get breakfast and check out of the hotel, turn the car in and fly home!.

At around 0830 we finally woke up and went and got our last breakfast in Iceland, we took our time eating, but again knew that there was a few last minute things that we needed to do. My wife wanted to get her gifts and I suggested we get the gifts from Keflavik as it made sense to me to do this as we had to go to the airport there anyway.

Packing our things always seems to be a chore especially when we are traveling home. I can pack my things within a few minutes while my wife takes a little bit longer. Thank goodness I brought the suitcase that expands (thanks MOM!!) as with all of my stuff and a few extra things, it was almost packed to the brim. My wife stuffed her bags to the point that we couldn't put anymore in. I had to open my big mouth up about where she though she was going to put all of this extra stuff, and yup my suit case was going to be the place!!! and the last word from my wife was that once we were in Canada we were getting the Starbucks cups and I had "Better, deal with it". Yeah last word on that one...

Done packing, we proceeded downstairs to the lobby and completed our checkout process.

A couple of things about the CenterHotel Midgardur.

1. The location of the hotel is great, it's not in the tourist section of Reykjavik but its not exactly off the beaten path either.

2. IF you do rent a car to drive around Iceland, keep in mind that parking for the Hotel is located in the back and there isn't that much space. The front desk of the hotel recommended that we park in the pay parking area but had to wait until about 1800 (6pm) to park there and then you had to be out of that area by about 0900am the next morning or risk getting a parking ticket.

3. IF you can make "Happy Hour" at the hotel recommend that you do so, it's nice and you can get a late lunch from their menu or you can wait and get dinner in the restaurant and or if you really want too you can also eat in the bar too.

4. This whole trip I really didn't sleep much (I don't normally anyway, 3 to 4 hours on average for me) but you can hangout in the lounge area that is connected to the reception area. The only kicker is that you can't get a beer or anything to drink as everything closes down around 2330 (1130pm) or 2400 (1200am). The breakfast area opens up around 0300am and you can get coffee/ tea/ hot chocolate and a croissant if you choose to do so, this opens this early as many people traveling back to Europe or even the States this early.

5. The Hotel staff are great, everyone was nice and very friendly and were willing to go above and beyond to anyone out. The people that standout the most are two of the Front Desk Staff, Pedro and Katrine. They answered all of our questions and helped us out when we weren't sure about something. The two bartenders that worked behind the bar the whole week we were there were great too, they recommended to us a lot of the local beer, wine, gin and other drinks that we enjoyed.

Thanks to you all.

After checking out we loaded up the car with our bags and proceeded towards Keflavik. We followed our trusty phone GPS again to get us down to Keflavik, but didn't think about the time ( I didn't think about the time, my wife did). I really hadn't done my home work on Keflavik before leaving and made the stupid assumption that is was going to be much like Reykjavik with plenty to do there. YEAH UM NO.

The drive down to Keflavik was simple once we made it out of Reykjavik and head down Route 41. It only took us about 45 minutes to make it Keflavik and during this time is when I discovered that A. Nothing was open and B. There really wasn't much there.

Driving into Keflavik along one of the costal roads we came across the Icelandic Museum of Rock and Roll. Yeah I couldn't believe it either. WE didn't go in, as in my own mind I didn't think that there could be very much to see as the only Icelandic musician I think of was "Bjork"

We drove through the whole of Keflavik within a few minutes and again nothing was open too early. Most of the shops weren't due to open until about 1100am. We did a "Google" search of gift shops near me, and came across one shop, another one about 4 miles away (it was the airport FYI) and then back to Reykjavik for the others.

The gift shop went to that is located in downtown Keflavik was the only place open (I don't remember the name sorry), but it didn't really have a whole of of stuff to procure and everything "Google" was telling us was to either go to the gift shop at the Airport or go back to Reykjavik.

After talking it over we decided to go to the airport to see about the gift shop as we thought that maybe there would be one before the Departure Area. So at my wife's urging (and honestly it made sense) we went back to the Keflavik airport to see if there was a shop before the Departure Area.

The answer to the gift shop question is "NO" there is not one before the Departure Area, so after figuring this out, and only having free parking for 15 minutes we decided to head back to the car, turn it in and come back to the airport and prepare to head home.

Turning the car in is very easy at "Alamo, National, Enterprise" Car Rental, just put the key in the box grab your gear and go. So that's what we did, catching the airport shuttle bus back to the departure terminal at the airport.

Now we were once again flying "Icelandic Air" and even got our seat upgrades for the flight to Canada, we had to bid on them but we got them none the less. When you are ready to check in for your flight you have to pay attention to the information at the airport as if you are flying out to the States, you can't check in unitl 12pm (Noon). Luckily for us we were flying to Canada and even though the young lady behind the counter had to ask if we could check-in early, they let us.

The Desk Attendant gave us our tickets and explained to us where the First Class Lounge was at (just before gate A15) and we then proceeded towards the Departure Area.

Now when you are procuring things in Iceland you have to pay a VAT Tax (Sales Tax) on what you are purchasing. You can get your Sales tax back buy going to VAT counter where you fill out a form with your receipts and then you get your funds back. So make sure you do this.

Just like an airport anywhere in the world when you want to head to your gates, you have to pass through the security check points, taking off your shoes, belts and such. Now lucky me I have a Camera bag packed to the hilts with stuff. I made it though the check point unscathed but my bag didn't. So the local airport security folks got to check my stuff (hehehehe).

I had to laugh as the young lady that was checking my bag picked up the tub my camera bac was in and haul it to her station and the poor girl struggled just a little bit. She looked through my bag, did the standard swipes and such. Finally getting the all clear, I packed my stuff back up and proceeded through the next stop. Iceland Duty Free!!!!

My wife during this trip had grown fond of the Icelandic Gin and wanted to bring a bottle of it home, it wasn't going to be expensive at all, but after some discussion and her apprehension decided not to get a bottle as she didn't want to have to deal with US Customs when we flew home to Los Angeles on Sunday. I stopped and looked at the Cuban Cigars they were selling, almost jumped at buying some but I also decided against it as I liked my cigars at home and couldn't justify the cost of buying the cigars.

Once out of the Duty Free section we walked out into the main terminal and came across a number of other shops, one shop had small bottles of alcohol that we could purchase, and it was like 5 bottles for about $10. So we got my wife those as it would be easy to put in the bags. Then we hit the "Icelandic Souvenir" store, it was a pretty big store with all sorts of stuff in it, my wife found the shot glass for her best friend, a spoon for her cousin and another wool blanket for herself. She was happy that's all that mattered to me honestly.

After our last shopping sortie we headed for the Saga Lounge (First Class Lounge) to wait for our flight!!

If you can afford to upgrade your flights to Iceland I highly recommend that you try to do so, the service is top rate and the comfort excellent. The Saga Lounge at the Keflavik Airport is really nice, quiet and very well maintained. I think that it's better than all of the Airline Lounges that we have utilized in the States and Europe to be honest with you.

Once you check into the lounge area you walk into a kitchen like area where you can obtain food, coffee, cold drinks, beer and wines. The seating areas are of course stretched out all over, but every place allows you to plug in and charge your phones or laptops (bring your European plugs as you will need them). We sat down in an area that allowed you to kind of lay down and sleep if you chose too. Not really comfortable for me, but I sucked it up as my wife liked it.

We went and got some food from the kitchen area, they had Egg Salad, Icelandic Meatballs, a meat filled pastry, a salad, soup, crackers, cookies. And of course we both had a drink, I got my last shot at the Christmas Beer and my wife had some wine.

At around 1630 (430pm) it was time for us to head for the gate and get on board our flight to Toronto, Canada. Leaving the lounger you have to go through passport control, which took less than 2 minutes, as once again all of the lanes were opened and manned to make life easy and not very stressful.

We made it to our gate, had our passports and tickets checked and proceeded into the waiting area to get on board our Boeing 757-200 that would take us to Canada.

Once we had our tickets scanned we were asked by the staff to wait over by a bench so that my wife could take the Elevator up to the plane and the Jet Way to get on board. About 5 minutes of waiting and we took the elevator up and proceeded down the jet way, but had to wait several minutes more as they weren't exactly letting people on the plane yet.

Once on board the plane, we got situated and ready to fly out, the plane crew gave us a nice glass of champion to drink and then a copy of the dinner menu.

WE departed and took off on time and as we climbed up into the heavens the clouds were menacing looking, dark and grey. But once on top you could see the sun setting in the distance. I used my phone to take several pictures one of which I really like and have posted online.

The flight time from Keflavik to Toronto is about 5 1/2 hours and the service on the flight was really great again. The Icelandic air crew does a great job at taking care of their passengers.

Toronto, Canada

So 5 1/2 hours of flying time put is into Toronto's Pearson International Airport, and after parking at the gate we grabbed our things and walked off the plane. Once inside the terminal you are guided to a group of self-service machines which is the Canadian version of the Automated Border Clearance system. These kiosks allows you to go through the customs process for getting into Canada a lot faster and easier than standing line and it also helps with having to deal with the Declaration Card as well, as it has now become a part of the automated process too.

Once you have made it past the Border Kiosks you'll head down to the baggage area to pick-up your stuff and proceed the final checks to either re-check your baggage so you can continue on to your other flights or leave the airport for the great city of Toronto.

After picking up our baggage we proceeded through the last of the customs check-points and headed outside to catch our hotel shuttle to the Four Points Hotel. Once outside you will need to proceed to pylon #41 to catch the hotel shuttles and then have a little patience as the shuttle runs by about every 30 minutes or so, but when it's -10 below zero, your patience runs a little thin.

Once the shuttle did show up it was about a 10 minute ride to the hotel, you could actually walk to the hotel from the airport, but at night, when it's cold out and with a wife that has a bad hip, it wasn't going to really work so riding was easier. Currently the Four Point by Sheraton hotel is going through a construction phase and the front of the hotel is tore up, so they bring you through the back of the hotel, via the loading dock for the restaurant and hotel. Just a little to be desired.

Walking in through the back of the hotel, you have to walk up a set of stairs with your baggage that will put you into the hotel bar and then eventually the lobby area. As you walk up the stairs you will also see the hotel pool (indoor BTW).

The check-in process took about 5 minutes and we then proceeded up to our room on the second floor and of course all the way at the end of the damned hallway. Once in side the room, it was pretty nice, we had a King Size bed that was pretty nice, and comfortable.

But even after just walking in the room, my wife had one plan and one plan only, STARBUCKS!!!!

So to make my wife happy, we set about trying to find the closes Starbucks to the hotel, "Google" to the rescue and we also talked one of the bartends at the hotel bar and she told us where the closest Starbucks was.

On a map and based on the directions, this would have been an easy walk, getting to the Starbucks from the hotel, but because of the weather and my wife's hip it was time to "UBER".

Getting the "UBER" easy to order, but trying to get someone to show up to the hotel was another story as we had to call and talk to these drivers and explain to them how to get to the back of the hotel. Hint: Look for the "Orlando" business building and you find the parking lot behind the hotel!!!

After the driver finally showed up it took us about 5 minutes to get to the "NEW" local Starbucks. "NEW" you say, yup.. The store had only been open for about a week and still had that "New" store smell. Inside the store my wife found every single cup she was looking for, and then of course we had to buy a drink too, so after spending about $110 (Canadian Dollars) we had enough cups for her, my daughter and our best friends daughter to bring home.

Then it happened!! We walk back outside of Starbucks and then the wife says to me, "I''m hungry" Really? where do you want to eat? Well right next door to Starbucks was Popeye's Chicken a few local eateries to choose from. I had to seriously tell my wife "NO" to Popeye's. She wanted to try this stupid chicken sandwich and I just couldn't fathom it. I convinced her to go back to the hotel and get something to drink and eat there, I just didn't want to get something and not be able to relax.

"UBER"!!!!! So we had to rustle us up another "Uber" to get back to the hotel which actually took us only a minute to do, and another 5 minutes we were back at the hotel. We went to the room and dropped our stuff off and headed back downstairs to the bar and got some food.

The Hotel bar was pretty good, the beer was awesome, the wine excellent and the bar food was okay. Got stuck watching the local news and of course all of the information you could ever want about Canadian Hockey!!! The best news that I saw that night was that the original line-up of the band "Triumph" got together for a one off concert for a documentary that was being made about the Canadian Power Rock Trio..