So Icelanders are not the warmest of all people you have ever met. Maybe they like to match their climate. Who knows. Shuttle drivers will open the hatch for you, but they aren't getting anywhere near your luggage. The lady at the checkout counter at the market scanned our items, gave us our change, and walked away without a word... but it's all good, we managed to find the plastic bags ourselves. My point is we were not overly surprised when we got picked up from the airport for a transfer to the Blue Lagoon and met another warm-hearted local when two older ladies had printed out confirmation of the transfer, but not the specific voucher itself. Well. That was just not going to fly for the tourism lady in charge of checking tickets. We had A. Bus driver yelling at tourism lady that we were going to be late and he needed to get on the road; B. Two ladies vehemently explaining they were told the paperwork would suffice; C. Tourism lady just as vehemently chastising for their lack of following protocol. The bus was to leave at 7:30. At exactly 7:33, the ladies were approved to enter, but not before the tourism checker stated oh-so-nicely, "The bus is now late and it is because of you." I slouched down in my seat, tried to control my blood pressure, and prayed she wouldn't call on me to answer a question.
We arrived at the Blue Lagoon right on time and felt like such experts since this was our second time (after being rejected entrance our first day). We checked our luggage in (NOT FREE), got towels (NOT FREE), cashed in our prebooked tickets (SO NOT FREE), and headed out to the lagoon. It was warm, the outside air was crisp, and there were silica masks... The equation for a perfect morning.
Post-lagoon we got dropped off at our hotel. Our hotel is in the most perfect spot... But we thought we would be leaving the most perfect spot when they didn't have us listed for checking in. That got all squared away but the room wasn't ready so we left to return our camping equipment to the rental store in town. When we returned, the receptionist said, "Are you ready for your cheaper room?" I thought I heard her wrong because nothing is cheap in this country, and turns out that's true. But I'll get to that... So we get to our room, marvel at this, marvel at that, etc etc etc. We set our alarms to wake us from a two hour nap. It was not our alarm that woke us, unfortunately. It was the same receptionist banging on the door, asking why we had accepted a three person room when that is not what we paid for. Our faces looked like this: ???! (with a side of drowsiness). You know when she said "cheaper room"? She actually said "three person room". A failure to communicate, if you will. They had the family downstairs wanting their cheaper/three person room and of course ours was the last one. Luckily we didn't have to move after all, they felt a little bit bad, we got a voucher for the restaurant, and all are happy.
Tonight we hung out with a couple thousand of our closest Icelandic friends watching the soccer finals of Portugal vs. France. I mean fútbol. Don't tell our closest Icelandic friends I said that. Anyway, it was not easy to figure out who we, as a nation, were rooting for because why would they cheer when something good happens? Or boo when something bad happens? Why should they make any noise at all that would show they have joy in their hearts? SO not the Icelandic way. (We decided they might be a tad cranky because they just can't sleep right in this country. They just want it to be dark for a little bit. Just enough for a snooze.) We managed to figure out they are rooting for France, so we were concerned for a group of overzealous Portugal fans. No need for concern here, though. This isn't America... Or anywhere else, for that matter. No fights, no words, no... anything. Portugal won, our French fan friends merely lifted an eyebrow or two, then dispersed.
Staying up late tonight to watch the gymnastic trials... Who is with me?! Stay tuned... :)
Ha! Team USA all the way!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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