Flight 201, 7:50 am, Copenhagen, Denmark - Keflavik, Iceland
The on-board breakfast was served in a small black box. At first sight it appeared to be fried potatoes with cheese and scrambled eggs. But as I dug in, to please my hunger, a thin slice of smoked ham, cut in the shape of the box reviled it self, as a mattress supporting the rest of the meal.
An eight hour wait at Keflavik airport wasn't as fun as expected. My plan was to go in to Reykjavik and spend my time there. But due to a really strict budget (and a rather expensive airport shuttle) and a 40 min bus ride in to the city I decided to just stay at the airport. Stupid choice. The airport was dead boring. A ghost-airport. Everything was closed, the corridors were empty (things actually changed as it got closer to departure time, but that didn't help). I usually love to be at airports. I love to look at all the travelers. It's similar to IKEA you find people from all stratas in society. I go in to a rich man state of mind. Spending money on expensive hand-creams and champagne in the Tax-free shop. Walking with a busy look on my face, a tall skimmed vanilla latte in one hand and my sand colored cabin bag in the other. I walk back and forth in the airport, really fast even though it's three hours until boarding. Keflavik didn't inspire to any strutting, not at all!
To compensate for my boredom I went outside the airport in hope of getting a glimpse of Icelands supposedly spectacular nature. I didn't expect to see a erupting geyser, but maybe a glimpse of a glacier or at least the silhouette of a volcano in the distant skyline to capture with my camera. The only thing I could see was gray. Thick gray fog. I don't think I could see further than 500 meters. It was flat, it was grass, concrete and asphalt. Silent and empty. Like a battlefield of the dark ages, at dawn, before the soldiers arrived. I had no hard time imagining a horde of crazy vikings coming running at me out of the fog. There was also a peculiar smell outside. It smelled like a newly lit barbecue, the smell of evaporating lighter fluid. I don't know where the smell came from, it might have been exhaust from the planes or maybe Iceland smells like this because of volcanic activity. It was cold as well, coming from summer temperatures, made this seem awful. Anyway it was depressing, everything was depressing. I understand that this has been the inspiration to pitch-black comedies like "Börn". I was very pleased that I wasn't going to stay here for long. Ok, I admit, I haven't done Iceland justice. I'm sure it's great if you just move further away than 20 meteres from the airport terminal.
From now on the trip was an absolute joy!
Flight FI 615, 5:00 pm, Keflavik, Iceland - JFK, New York
No entertainment and awful food, still, six hours just flew by (literary). I was so exited to get to New York. I had some quite entertaining reading. "Manhattan" by Torgrim Eggen. A guide to our contemporary cultural history. Light and interesting. It covers (at least the basic) of important New Yorkers, Manhattans architecture and history.
The first sight of a yellow cab. I was really there. It was a rush! I'm sure all of you, who have already been here, has felt it. As we zoomed trough Queens, there was a smell of doughnuts in the hot (27 degree C) summer air blowing in my face trough the open window. But the real kick came when crossing Williamsburg bridge, when the Manhattan skyline revealed it self for me. Thousands of lights, Empire state building, the Chrysler building. It maybe stupid, but it was great! We past upper east side with its famous museums. We drove through lower Harlem. A white van with no windows except in the front, and these where blackened drove by our side. I was sure that any second the van was going to bump into us and two men would drag me out of the cab and in to the van and speed away. That's what New York has been like for me (so far), everything I see, reminds me of a Hollywood movie. The houses, the firefighters, the smell (that couldn't really come from a film, but it smells like I imagine that it smells in Films located in NYC, it fits).
And finally I was there, 25 houres after waking up in Copenhagen, 36 West, 106th street, Manhattan.
The on-board breakfast was served in a small black box. At first sight it appeared to be fried potatoes with cheese and scrambled eggs. But as I dug in, to please my hunger, a thin slice of smoked ham, cut in the shape of the box reviled it self, as a mattress supporting the rest of the meal.
An eight hour wait at Keflavik airport wasn't as fun as expected. My plan was to go in to Reykjavik and spend my time there. But due to a really strict budget (and a rather expensive airport shuttle) and a 40 min bus ride in to the city I decided to just stay at the airport. Stupid choice. The airport was dead boring. A ghost-airport. Everything was closed, the corridors were empty (things actually changed as it got closer to departure time, but that didn't help). I usually love to be at airports. I love to look at all the travelers. It's similar to IKEA you find people from all stratas in society. I go in to a rich man state of mind. Spending money on expensive hand-creams and champagne in the Tax-free shop. Walking with a busy look on my face, a tall skimmed vanilla latte in one hand and my sand colored cabin bag in the other. I walk back and forth in the airport, really fast even though it's three hours until boarding. Keflavik didn't inspire to any strutting, not at all!
To compensate for my boredom I went outside the airport in hope of getting a glimpse of Icelands supposedly spectacular nature. I didn't expect to see a erupting geyser, but maybe a glimpse of a glacier or at least the silhouette of a volcano in the distant skyline to capture with my camera. The only thing I could see was gray. Thick gray fog. I don't think I could see further than 500 meters. It was flat, it was grass, concrete and asphalt. Silent and empty. Like a battlefield of the dark ages, at dawn, before the soldiers arrived. I had no hard time imagining a horde of crazy vikings coming running at me out of the fog. There was also a peculiar smell outside. It smelled like a newly lit barbecue, the smell of evaporating lighter fluid. I don't know where the smell came from, it might have been exhaust from the planes or maybe Iceland smells like this because of volcanic activity. It was cold as well, coming from summer temperatures, made this seem awful. Anyway it was depressing, everything was depressing. I understand that this has been the inspiration to pitch-black comedies like "Börn". I was very pleased that I wasn't going to stay here for long. Ok, I admit, I haven't done Iceland justice. I'm sure it's great if you just move further away than 20 meteres from the airport terminal.
From now on the trip was an absolute joy!
Flight FI 615, 5:00 pm, Keflavik, Iceland - JFK, New York
No entertainment and awful food, still, six hours just flew by (literary). I was so exited to get to New York. I had some quite entertaining reading. "Manhattan" by Torgrim Eggen. A guide to our contemporary cultural history. Light and interesting. It covers (at least the basic) of important New Yorkers, Manhattans architecture and history.
The first sight of a yellow cab. I was really there. It was a rush! I'm sure all of you, who have already been here, has felt it. As we zoomed trough Queens, there was a smell of doughnuts in the hot (27 degree C) summer air blowing in my face trough the open window. But the real kick came when crossing Williamsburg bridge, when the Manhattan skyline revealed it self for me. Thousands of lights, Empire state building, the Chrysler building. It maybe stupid, but it was great! We past upper east side with its famous museums. We drove through lower Harlem. A white van with no windows except in the front, and these where blackened drove by our side. I was sure that any second the van was going to bump into us and two men would drag me out of the cab and in to the van and speed away. That's what New York has been like for me (so far), everything I see, reminds me of a Hollywood movie. The houses, the firefighters, the smell (that couldn't really come from a film, but it smells like I imagine that it smells in Films located in NYC, it fits).
And finally I was there, 25 houres after waking up in Copenhagen, 36 West, 106th street, Manhattan.
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