The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other things.

[Major]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

AA have a very civilised attitude to wine

I know you will both enjoy the trip

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

A short time after awakening we were served a light snack-

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I had the scallop,prawn and mushroom pie.Very disappointing with very little filling.I then watched some TV and then listened to the music of the 70s.Mrsdrron took up her knitting again.The headsets were collected nearly an hour out from ORD.They made up for it by handing out choccies.
As we deplane mrsdrron was given a big hug by the FAs.Once again we did enjoy the service.As usual for us the plane was at the furthest gate from Immigration.A Qatar plane was at the next gate.We walked quite a way when we came around a corner and there was this long queue.But this was only the queue to get into the queue which was the one to enter the lines at the booths.Some 2 hours later we were through.We had been held up in our line when the 2 fellows in front of us who looked like they were off the Qatar plane were extensively questioned by the agent before being taken away.
Now ORD is really a place for HCO.There is a One Stop booth you can use if no checked luggage.Rather than our 2 hour wait that line only had 2-3 people in it at the most.
When we reached the baggage carousels our flight was no longer listed.Mrsdrron spotted our bags and we were very quickly through Customs even though we declared our Tim Tams.Straight to the AA baggage drop then to the train for the change of terminals.We had our BPS so straight through the premium security.That still took quite a while.Mrsdrron was getting anxious.However the boards were showing our flight as being an hour late so time to breathe easy and go to the Flagship lounge and have a couple of relaxants-mrsdrron the Pinot Grigio,I the Pinot Noir.
A reasonable selection of hot snacks-curry puffs,meat balls,spicy sausage,pigs in blankets and mini quiches.Also some prawns,veggies and dips.
We went to leave the lounge but the agent told us it was delayed another 30 minutes to a 2025 departure.A reasonable walk so we left just before 2000.By the time we reached the gate the departure time was now 2040.A little time later our plane arrived.At the next gate was a plane for DFW.They were calling out a Chinese sounding name but no one arrived so the gate was closed.As we werte about to board an elderly Chinese couple arrived at that gate and asked in halting English where is the plane.The GA replied-Up in the air.She did though put them on the next flight to DFW.

 

[amaroo]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Great up-date.

May I ask - how are you able to post more than 5 photos at a time?

Will be handy to know for my forthcoming TR.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

AA 288. ORD-BOS. ETD-1855. Push back-2043. Take off-2049.
ETA-2210. landed-2339. At gate-2343.
Boarding was a shambles.We missed out on the aggro because as usual premium boarding worked.
However it was a full flight and pax were coming on with 2 or 3 carry ons.Some came on with baggage as large as ous smallest checked bag.At least 20 carryons were gate checked.
There was only the 1 FA for the 16 F pax.But she worked very hard and kept everyone happy-my wine glas was never allowed to get completely empty until I called a halt.The meal is a salad and cheese ravioli-

.

As usual for AA it tasted a lot better than it looked.
It was midnight before we got our baggage-priority baggage didn't work on this occasion.The terminal was empty as we set off walking to the Hilton at the airport.A lot further than stated on their website.Plus if you have baggage you have to take an elevator down from the car park to the Hilton level.Pushed the button and nothing happened.A few more people arrived so I pushed the Emergency button.That got them to activate one of the lifts.
Had to wait at checkin as this American fellow was doing the greatest DYKWIA act I have seen.Didn't have a booking and the place was full."
So what are you going to do for me"
'well we can call you a taxi to the nearest hotel".
"But I am diamond."
"We are still full".
"I have spent 300 nights in Hiltons in the last 2 years".
"I am sorry but there are no rooms"
At that point the agent calls the duty manager to come out and comes to us to do our check in.
He was still going on as we left for our room.Got in to bed at 0100.
Next morning we saw the view.

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The gate we saw was where our Icelandair plane would be in a few hours.

 

[Fifa]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Once again, I am really enjoying your TR. Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.
We are off to Iceland for a week in early October so looking forward to reading more.
Also staying at the Hilton Narita on our way home.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

So impressions of the Hilton Boston Logan Airport.Comfortable,quiet so a good sleep.But-no tissues,clock inoperative,bath plug not holding water and a very limited breakfast selection in the EL.Just relaxed and got the 1130 shuttle to E terminal.
The checkin had just opened.not a long queue at security though a group of young Japanese took a long time organising themselves.Icelandair uses the Virgin Lounge.It is very nice so this pst is a pictorial of that lounge.Only negative-totally enclosed so no plane spotting.

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Now I decided to try out the beers.What better way to select them but by the labels!

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[jetlagger]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Enjoying your TR.
Look forward to next instalments.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

FI 634. BOS-KEF. ETD-1435. Push back-1433. Take off-1444.
ETA-2340. Land-2323. At Gate-2329.
We bought J tickets on this route being the 4th day of flying.However it would have been better value to have bought what they sell as Comfort Economy.Same seats as J and actually get to deplane before the J pax.Probably a difference in meals and alcohol but it says that you get lounge access.I am not sure though whether this means just in FI lounges or whether in BOS you do get access to the Virgin lounge.
As usual we are in seats 2A,C.So the foot shot-

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Unfortunately as soon as we took off the pax in 1C reclined and did not put her seat upright until told by the FA on descent into KEF.This reduced my space-

A good view whilst taxiing out and just after take off-

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Pre take off we were given a bottle of water and then a champagne.Then given the menu-

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We both had the lamb which was OK-

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Watched a few travel documentaries on Iceland though my screen went dead twice and had to be rebooted.We were offered an Orange Juice and Croissant before landing but declined.About 2300 there was a nice sunset-

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Icelandic is obviously a difficult language-

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As is our usual we parked at the furthest gate from Immigration.They just open your passport and stamp it.No one manning Customs.The Blue Car Rental guy was waiting in the arrivals hall.Driven to their office a short distance away.Paperwork over quickly and soon we are in our Suzuki Grand Vitara.The GPS was thrown in without extra charge.So soon on our way to the Hilton.That next.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

The first day was driving the Golden Circle.At first the scenery was a little bleak-

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It soon improved-

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The farmers were out making hay even though the sun was barely shining-

Then we reached Pingvellir the site of the first Icelandic parliament over 1100 years ago as well as the meeting place of 2 tectonic plates-north American and Europe-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Some more of Pingellvir-

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We found a waterfall-

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And a little stream with incredibly clear water-

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

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There were crowds and lots of tour busses,many of them from the Brilliance of the Seas-

They were also secretly testing the latest Mercedes product there-

Didn't seem to faze the ducks though-

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Pingvellir certainly has a lot of interest with a naturally beauty,geology that is virtually unique in being able to see the meeting of 2 tectonic plates but also because this was the second attempt at democracy after Athens.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

It was now off to Gullfoss passing the odd sheep-

and babbling brook-

then stopping at the Falls-

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And more pictures of Gullfoss-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

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From the road we were able to see the mountains and glaciers of Langjokull-

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[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

But back to the action.Leaving Gulfoss we passed lots of Icelandic horses and rushing streams-

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Until we arrived at our next destination-

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As we arrived Strokkur performed meaning a wait of 11 minutes until the next performance-

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Old Geysir of course has stopped performing-

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But got back in time for Strokkur's next performance-

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There are some other colourful hot pools-

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And then back to Strokkur to watch it wax and wane-

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Before it's last less impressive performance-

However I must say Old Faithful and New Zealand's Rotorua are more impressive geothermal areas.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Then it was back to the Hilton via Selfoss where we ran into very heavy long weekend traffic.At the Hilton we freshened up and went to the Executive lounge.Comfortable,good views,nice food but little variety-

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Then it was off to dinner at the Lobster House.Now we had done our research and knew that Iceland was expensive and their lobsters were not Maine lobsters but little baby ones.So we enjoyed our meal.I started with the lobster soup which was good and then we both had the lobster in garlic butter-

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Then it was back to the Hilton where we both slept soundly.
Sunday and we start with breakfast in the main restaurant.A bigger selection but really only an average spread.It was also very busy.
Off to an early start as it is a much greater distance today.The first thing that commanded our interest was a 5KM tunnel on the main highway to the west which goes through a mountain and under a fjord.This is looking back to where the tunnel is.A large expanse of water to traverse.It bamboozled the GPS which had us drowning-

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The scenery was impressive-

We saw a waterfall direct into the sea-

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Many lagoons-

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And lots more horses-

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With waterfalls at every turn-

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The road was long though.

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

But then our first sight of the volcano-

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then an unusual sighting of large trees-

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And picturesque farms by the sea-

And a hotel in the middle of...well nowhere-

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But it was still the mountain that took our attention-

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Now this next series of photos is just to show off.First a waterfall as we saw it-

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then with progressive zoom on my new nearly idiot proof camera-

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[TraceyK90]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Drron, thank you this is a great report. If we are lucky the other half has a bit of work over there next year and we will be able to cross this off the bucket list!

 

[drron]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

The road wound round the hillsides-

Which took us to the place where Iceland's worst serial killer took 18 lives in the 1500s-

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The country was quite stark-

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We saw evidence of older forms of dwelling-

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and the lava flow from an earlier eruption-

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The wind was nearly at gale force at times which whipped up the snow on Snaefellsjokul-

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You could see where the lava flowed into the sea-

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There was a road over the slopes of the volcano,Snaefellsjokul, but I was too chicken to take it-

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We began to go round the volcano so getting new views-

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[Major]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

How do you go about pronouncing those place names ? I wouldn't know where to start

 

[parsonstrish]

Re: The time has come the walrus said to talk of planes and ships and many other thin

Thank you, always a delight reading your informative and interesting tr's. I always feel I'm doing a history lesson but unlike in school, yours are alive and great fun to read.

I stayed at the boston a/port hilton once. Came in about 1 or 1:30am due to weather issues in sfo and cancelled flt. and lucky to get one later in night. It seemed I went all over that terminal looking how to get to the hotel. Finally phoned reservation, I didn't find the signs helpful at all, but could have been me. Room small but I was only there for quick sleep, at least it was quite.

Looking forward to the rest of your report. Hope Mrs DrRon's back has improved greatly.