June 21st, 2026
My apologies to Clint Eastwood.
Life was looking pretty good where I left off on the last post. I made it to Portland after yet another ticketing mess at SMF, the plane to Reykjavik was nice and left on time, the flight was long but comfortable, with a really good dinner. And once we landed, I breezed through immigration, unlike the Panama trip. The agent was very pleasant, and I did not have to lie about being an employee of National Geographic. That was a big relief. I then headed over to pickup my luggage – this was a strange flight. Most everyone on the plane was going somewhere else in Europe, so there was not much of a crowd at the luggage carousel. Here is the very WEIRD part – as with most airports, there are large screens on the carousels which display tourist advertising – I glanced up as I was waiting and first saw one for some lava related movie, followed by an add for “Inside the Volcano” which I’m visiting and then there was … what? I stopped in my tracks, and stared up through the next cycle, and there it was again:
Yes, this is real, there is an Iceland Phallological Museum. I’ll pass on that one.
And now for the really BAD – a small bunch of luggage pieces slid on to the carousel, as I waited patiently for my brand new roller duffel bag, adorned with National Geographic tags. I was ahead of schedule, and looked forward to heading out to meet the ride that I had pre-ordered. And then the carousel shut down, and a message appeared on the screen, which stated that all luggage had been dispersed. Huh! Where’s my bag? I headed over to the luggage control windows, and calmly asked (not really) where my luggage was. A very nice lady checked on the computer and told me that the bag appeared to be in Portland! She must have been used to people breaking into tears, and/or started cursing. I was too tired for either of those, other than softly muttering a few expletives. She was well prepared to handle the situation. She had me fill in a form, and then gave me very detailed instruction on where to go to get any type of clothing or gear that I need, all paid for by the airlines. That would be a lot of stuff, given that I did not have any of my rain gear, hats, gloves, hiking poles, hiking shoes….not to mention underwear and bathroom stuff. All I had was my camera gear and medications. So much for my stress free trip. OK – I grabbed the printed instruction, and went out to the lobby where the driver was patiently waiting. At least that worked.
And now for the mostly GOOD. The drive to Reykjavik was really cool – lots of lava and volcanic cones. Sort of like the big island in Hawaii. It was beautiful, if you like volcanics. Which I do. The city center looked interesting – wide streets, clean with lots of shops.
She showed me how to get to the gear shop, which was just a few blocks from my hotel, and opened at 8AM. Plenty of time to get what I need before my pickup time for the whale/puffin trip. The rental place was great – I got everything I needed, including socks and underwear….but not toiletries. I needed to hit a grocery store for that.
The bus pickup spot for all of the tourist tours was a short walk from the hotel, and it was pure chaos – mobs of tourists milling around, a line of vans and buses with drivers calling out names. But it worked – I found my bus, and was deposited by the harbor docks where the various cruise boats head out. It was an absolutely beautiful morning – perfectly clear, sunny, blue skies, flat ocean. I was hoping to do the puffins first since I was just doing the whale tour to kill time. Unfortunately, the whales came first. My expectation were pretty low, and those were met. It was great seeing the coast, and looking back at Reykjavik from out in the bay, but the whales were not very exciting. It was like a bad day in Monterrey Bay. A few spouts, lots of whale backs, but nothing else. Once we returned to the docks to switch to the smaller puffin boat, the skies clouded up, temperatures dropped, and the waves were a bit higher. The puffin boat was packed, elbow to elbow – it was a short cruise out to the puffin colony, and there were lots of puffins on the island or in large clusters on the water. The problem was the boat driver never really slowed down much, or stopped for photographers to get some decent shots. That and it was hard to find an opening through the crowds, and almost impossible to focus with a bouncing boat. I did get a couple of good ones, and it was nice to see so many of the cute, colorful birds. I’ll have another opportunity later this week, and next year as well.
As we headed back to the docks, I did get some really good news – my wayward luggage was on its way to Reykjavik, and I should have it by the evening. There are other flights to Iceland, so they just loaded it up on the next flight out. I can wear my own gear tomorrow!
I did wander around the city a bit, walking back to the hotel (and walked past THAT museum), and then later in the evening (longest daylight of the year). I was really beat due to lack of sleep, too much sitting on a plane, and too much standing on boats. But, not a bad first day now that I was reunited with my luggage.Tomorrow..Inside the Volcano!
Peace
The Traveling Widower 