Date: Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Location: Reykjavik, Iceland and London, England

Icelandair had the most leg room of any airline I’ve ever been on.  Even though I’m short enough that a lack of leg room doesn’t bother me that much, I could definitely appreciate it while flying across the Atlantic.  The headrests were covered with small notes about Iceland, which is how I learned to recognize the word for “thanks” in Icelandic.

I didn’t realize that the airport in Reykjavik would be so remotely located.  It reminded me of the airport back home in North Dakota.

During my hour long layover, I went through security again, got two stamps in my passport, and learned that Keflavik won the award for best European airport.  They even had the trophy on display.

I got two pictures while the plane was taking off for London.  I guess I don’t put a lot of stock in that warning to turn off all electronic devices.  The plane made it into the air safely.

When we landed in London we were locked in the jetway.  I found this a bit annoying because I Dean and I knew we were going to have similar layovers in London at the same time so we had arranged to meet in the city at a specific time and place.  As a result I wanted to get through customs as quickly as possible.  Eventually somebody unlocked the door and let us out.

I made my way to the Tube stop at Heathrow to head into the city.  It was about an hour ride on the train from the airport, but I had a twelve hour layover so it seemed like as good a way to kill time as any.

I met Dean outside the Westminster tube stop.  I didn’t see him at first so I tried calling him from a local payphone.  The phone ended up charging my credit card a fortune and his phone never even rang.  I guess I won’t try that again in the future.  We walked to a nearby pub Dean had found on a list of “Best pubs in London” for a pint.  Then we took a walk around the city and checked out some touristy spots.

I got the single greatest picture ever taken in front of Buckingham Palace.  Smiling is for chumps.

Dean also gave me the single greatest tour of Buckingham Palace the planet has ever seen.

Eventually we decided to find a place to sit down and get something to eat.  We each had a Guinness pint because they’re oh so much better in England.

After a long day of walking around the city, we were pretty tired by the time we caught the train back to Heathrow.  Dean got a nap in.

Dean and I had different flights to South Africa so we separated at the airport.  The next leg of travel I purchased as a round trip flight from London to Johannesburg, with a stop in Doha on Qatar Airways.  Off to Africa!