August 14, 2010
Barely in Iceland and I already anticipate the withdrawal. Just like the post-Olympics letdown leaving Whistler, that I wasn’t expecting, this time I know it’s coming already. I love this place so much already that I’m sure I will be so hungry for it my life will be at least partially focused on how I’m going to get back here.
The reality of going to Iceland and being in Iceland didn’t sink in at all until the airplane. Prior to that I was completely distracted by Kevin’s sudden death and Shambhala and how I was going to get to Calgary, and then how awful Toronto was (abominable! Even without leaving the airport, I felt bitter hate for Toronto. What an awful place.)…that I didn’t feel the reality of going to Iceland until settling into the very back seat of the AirIceland cabin with my brother. The flight attendants in their distinctive wool hats were murmuring in deep, guttural Icelandic to each other and our chairback TVs played scenic advertising to us- then I got SO excited! Finally struck by the uniqueness of this adventure, and gratitude that it’s possible for us.
We were lucky to have been given the only vacant seat on the plane between us, so we could sprawl a little, and we were both so excited that we didn’t sleep the whole flight, even after next to no sleep the night before (I’d caught what sleep I did on a bench of airport seats). We used our extra seat to full advantage, as it gave us an extra touchscreen “tv”. So I could listen to music on one (a huge selection, like plugging in an ipod, with an all-Icelandic playlist), while watching advertising-laden info-documentaries about all the things to do in Iceland on another, and then watching flight-progress reports (Are we over Labrador?) on the third. Plus fawning over all the Icelandic on the antimassacars, napkins and flight magazines; cracking the Lonely Planet book for the first time and roughly “planning” our itinerary. So we were so busy and stimulated and thrilled that we didn’t get a wink of sleep on the overnight flight, like owls with ADHD.
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