It has been a whirlwind trip… really good in many ways, but too much in too short a time with little down time. And no sleep on the flight home, despite the lovely business class… main problem is that the seats, although comfy and wide, are not going down very far and that just makes it hard to sleep. I did doze a bit but no real sleep.
I am supposed to go renew my passport tomorrow, but I’ve decided that even if the copy of my birth certificate has arrived, I am postponing my trip. Given I didn’t have any sleep and that I feel like I am fighting a cold, it is not a good idea to go for a 6 hour round trip (three there three back) for that. I’ll give them a ring and rearrange for next week or the week after… I can’t leave it too long, since it officially expires on the 8th of November.
I am definitely glad I did this as business class instead of a direct premium economy… much better, and it is actually nice to get out of the plane for a bit. And in Reykjavik they are so well organised that there is not even time to go shopping or to a lounge or anything, it is get off the plane and on to the next.
The other good thing was the support I organised. In Dulles, I was wheeled around the entire immigration queue and only had like 3-4 people in front of me. That still took 15 mins or so, and I would have had trouble standing that long (especially after sitting for 6.5 hours). The guy wheeled me to the baggage claim and took my suitcase off the carrousel and on to a luggage cart and I told him that I could manage from there. If I have something to lean on, I am managing quite well.
I was lucky at the immigaration, normally your passport is supposed to be valid for at least 3 months (since that is the length of a tourist visa), well.. mine expires on the 8th of november, 3 weeks after arriving. But I was nice and friendly to the guy and explained about the wedding etc and that I was going home the following Tuesday so he let me in but with a restriction that I needed to leave by 29Oct16… which was totally fine with me, since my return flight was on the 25th.
While in line for the customs, I saw one of those cute service dogs in action, it sniffed for food stuff. He did a good job and found someone that had tried to take some foodstuffs into the country (couldn’t see what) but they were plucked out of the line and taken to a separate area etc. I wasn’t carrying any food… just bears and a poffertjes pan :D. And a Simon’s Cat book that I got years ago as a Christmas present for Kate and promptly put away so safe I forgot about it until I found it again after moving house :).
Anyway.. we are 1 hour away from Frankfurt… I’m going to pack this u for now.