^{Photo credit: Lovisa Photo} 

Planned departure: 5/27/2021

Available seats: (LAX-JFK: 110)  (JFK-Reykjavik: 38)

   To be successful, this standby trip can’t be approached with the usual lack of study and planning that I normally apply to my travels. In past trips to Europe, we’ve been able to adjust on the fly depending on seating availability at boarding. Once, while having coffee and a breakfast bun at LAX, we were able to adapt our flight plans, abandoning our hoped for LAX-JFK-Prague itinerary due to a full capacity flight, and over to an open LAX-Paris route before we’d finished our coffee.

   This one, though, is an all-in New York-Reykjavik or bust proposition. Since Iceland is the only country currently reopening to tourism, our options will be domestic only if we can’t get on the Reykjavik flight. One possibility might be  Florida’s Key West, since that state appears to be ignoring the fact that a pandemic ever existed. (We’re both fully vaccinated.) It would be more than a touch ironic to land in Key West  in late May, having packed for an expedition to the rim of the Arctic Circle.

   The other element that is quite new to me is the ground planning that appears to be necessary. Since this is a bucket list destination, anything of import that we miss will be missed forever. Another way to look at Iceland is that it’s a small country, and there’s less excuse for missing any of the stellar attractions.

   So we’re finding ourselves actually delving into all things Icelandic, if for no other reason than to avoid the penetrating glare accompanying, “You went all the way to Iceland and didn’t see that?”

So we’re finding ourselves actually delving into all things Icelandic, if for no other reason than to avoid the penetrating glare accompanying, “You went all the way to Iceland and didn’t see that?”

   So while I’ve been boning up on Icelandic history and current events (which wouldn’t require actual travel there, when you think about it) Carol has been linking to sites featuring communities of travelers sharing tips (like how to open a car door in the winds that swirl there so it doesn’t go flying off into the tundra), as well as asking pertinent questions on practical matters (such as buying your initial wine inventory at the duty free shop to save a bundle over the state stores, to say nothing of having to find one in the first place).

   A couple of Scotsmen opened up a brewpub in the heart of Reykjavik that promises a comfort food oasis from Icelandic cuisine, which I continue to find ranging from the simply scary (fish of the day) to the quintessential food dare (Hákarl, or “rotted shark”).

   Travel impresario Rick Steves recently penned an article titled simply, “Ten Ways That Iceland Can Kill You.” Steves listed getting lost (something baked in for me when I travel) at #3. (Getting lost looking for a state store because we ran out of duty free wine sounds about right.)

   The fact that we can contemplate travel anywhere, much less international, is progress enough following a year like we’ve all had. It’s enough that we’re still well enough to travel. If we have to wait a year to experience the wind, slip and falls, avalanches, volcanoes and scalding thermal water as Rick Steves goes on to warn about in Icelandic travel, so be it.

   My couch hasn’t killed me yet.