20th June, 2026
This trip has probably been the most organized I’ve been so far – I had everything ready to go a few days ago, including a check-list to go through before I walked out the door. Yeah, I’m pretty anal of late about travel preparation. I’ve been working on stress reduction since my tachycardia event in Baja, and up until now it has been working well.
And then yesterday, I tried checking in to my flights, which turned into a great test of controlling stress. For some obscure reason, Alaska Airlines would not let me check-in at all. I wound up on the phone with them for the better part of an hour, and had to talk with Iceland Air as well. Turns out the travel agent that National Geographic uses, booked everything through Iceland Air, including the Alaska Air flights, so I had records with both airlines. They did get everything worked out, and all I needed to do in the morning was check-in with Alaska, and show my passport. Relax.
I headed off to the airport early today, just in case – and unfortunately for me it was a case. As the agent behind the counter was checking me in, she suddenly did a “Oh no!”. Not what you want to hear. I guess the ticket record was still a bit confusing since there were booking codes for two different airlines, and she somehow managed to delete my flight to Portland. It took two agents about 45 minutes to straighten the mess out. The agent at one point had a phone held to each ear, one to her airline, the other to Iceland Air. I should have taken a photo, but I doubt if she would have appreciated having that posted on my blog. But, she worked it out, and called me back later to confirm that the flight back home was OK. Good to know. I’ll still check when I get to Reykjavik tomorrow.
Hopefully, that will be the last bit of excitement on the way there. I did not stress out too much at the airport. But I’ll leave this post open until I get on the next plane to Iceland. Once again, just in case.
Peace
Looking good so far…made it to Portland, and the plane is at the gate. Woo hoo! I checked with the agent at the gate, and I’m checked in, with a valid boarding pass. As long as I don’t have a repeat of my Panama security problems (please let me in!!), I should be photographing whales and puffins tomorrow.
And I just don’t understand who selects the art to display at airports.
The Traveling Widower 