June 16-17, 2019 Sunday and Monday, Days 28 and 29.
Sunday
We departed for the airport early, but not as early as I had planned. I wanted to get on the road by 8:00, but we left at 8:30. We had the grandson again and his dad, mom and brother would be following shortly since his plane was schedule to leave 30 minutes after ours. We were scheduled to be on the same airplane out of Reykjavik, but that was not to be.
Our host prepared an early breakfast for us and we said our goodbyes over breakfast. We got on the road first and followed the GPS as it took us through many back country roads before getting to the toll road. After driving for about 2.5 hours I took a few wrong turns around Paris before getting to the airport. We very slowly moved through the check-in line as Icelandair had only three clerks working and several flights departing. However we were only inconvenienced and still had adequate time to make our 2:00 pm flight. My son, the father of the grandson we were transporting learned that he had been bumped off his 2:30 flight. Apparently the airline had sent him an email early in the morning which he had not seen putting him on a 1:00 pm flight which he arrived at the airport to late to board. He spent a few hours trying to work out alternative arrangements which ended up being a flight the following day. The airline covered the hotel and meals. Much later he received cash compensation under EU rules. Passengers so inconvenienced in the US would not receive any of that.
We moved through Security and the airport uneventfully until the boarding gate where my spouse left her passport. After several frantic moments she recovered it and we settled into our seats for the flight to Reykjavik. The grandson handled all of this with aplomb. However we had a relatively short connection at Reykjavik and there were several security gates to pass through, so we were dragging him through the airport as I feared that we would miss our connecting flight.
The flight back to the US was uneventful and we were met at the airport by my daughter-in-law's mother. Everyone was pretty tired by the trip so after some dinner we all went to sleep.
Monday
It felt odd being back in the USA and without specific activities. Everyone spoke English and it was easy to get around. my only planned activity was to attend a previously scheduled dental appointment. I was assured that the dental cleaning procedure was completely covered by insurance and that point was reaffirmed in the office. I even purchased an electric toothbrush there and was told that I did not owe anything else. Since then the billing office has repeatedly billed me several hundred dollars for the procedure and is impervious to my protestations.
We took the grandson down to the playground at the park, but he was pretty wacked out by jet lag and he would not walk back.
His parents, my son, and their other child arrived late that afternoon. They too were pretty jet lagged and so we had a brief dinner and then went to bed.
Sunday
We departed for the airport early, but not as early as I had planned. I wanted to get on the road by 8:00, but we left at 8:30. We had the grandson again and his dad, mom and brother would be following shortly since his plane was schedule to leave 30 minutes after ours. We were scheduled to be on the same airplane out of Reykjavik, but that was not to be.
Our host prepared an early breakfast for us and we said our goodbyes over breakfast. We got on the road first and followed the GPS as it took us through many back country roads before getting to the toll road. After driving for about 2.5 hours I took a few wrong turns around Paris before getting to the airport. We very slowly moved through the check-in line as Icelandair had only three clerks working and several flights departing. However we were only inconvenienced and still had adequate time to make our 2:00 pm flight. My son, the father of the grandson we were transporting learned that he had been bumped off his 2:30 flight. Apparently the airline had sent him an email early in the morning which he had not seen putting him on a 1:00 pm flight which he arrived at the airport to late to board. He spent a few hours trying to work out alternative arrangements which ended up being a flight the following day. The airline covered the hotel and meals. Much later he received cash compensation under EU rules. Passengers so inconvenienced in the US would not receive any of that.
We moved through Security and the airport uneventfully until the boarding gate where my spouse left her passport. After several frantic moments she recovered it and we settled into our seats for the flight to Reykjavik. The grandson handled all of this with aplomb. However we had a relatively short connection at Reykjavik and there were several security gates to pass through, so we were dragging him through the airport as I feared that we would miss our connecting flight.
The flight back to the US was uneventful and we were met at the airport by my daughter-in-law's mother. Everyone was pretty tired by the trip so after some dinner we all went to sleep.
Monday
It felt odd being back in the USA and without specific activities. Everyone spoke English and it was easy to get around. my only planned activity was to attend a previously scheduled dental appointment. I was assured that the dental cleaning procedure was completely covered by insurance and that point was reaffirmed in the office. I even purchased an electric toothbrush there and was told that I did not owe anything else. Since then the billing office has repeatedly billed me several hundred dollars for the procedure and is impervious to my protestations.
We took the grandson down to the playground at the park, but he was pretty wacked out by jet lag and he would not walk back.
His parents, my son, and their other child arrived late that afternoon. They too were pretty jet lagged and so we had a brief dinner and then went to bed.
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