Innocents Abroad: Better safe than sorry

It's been quite an adventure trying to get to Nuuk, Greenland. Trying, because we're not there yet, although we hope to be this evening.

Let's rewind to yesterday. We had a farewell "brunch" with Jacob and Laura Jo at the Mega Diner in Flint; they then dropped us off at Bishop Airport. Our departure to Cleveland was delayed for an hour due to thunderstorms: we were very concerned that our connection time had shrunk to nothing. But our flight to Washington DC (Dulles) was also slightly delayed, and the plane was waiting for us in Cleveland. Our luggage made it, too!

We had to tramp across the terminal to retrieve our luggage. The line for security check was full of bright yellow T-shirts: AFS exchange students returning to Indonesia. Their T-shirts displayed that they came with the YES program (which the State department sponsors to improve relations with countries with significant Muslim populations). Relations seemed good; there were lots of happy faces. We are hosting a YES student from (the former Yugoslav republic of) Macedonia next year.

I napped during the flight to Iceland, while Noralynn watched a movie. We were both impressed with IcelandAir; their Economy Comfort class gave us a bit more room by not using the middle seat between us.

We arrived in Keflavik Airport at six AM local time. Our departure wasn't until the afternoon, so we had lots of time to explore the airport, and try and stay awake.

A shuttle bus to us to our plane

Safety instructions: survival in the cold

On the phone to headquarters

Soon into our flight we noticed the mountains and glaciers of the northwest Icelandic peninsula. But the stewardess had barely served a snack before the plane turned around. The first officer informed us (in Greenlandic, Danish and English) that the plane was not holding cabin pressure at altitude. So it was back to Keflavik, back to the terminal, and on to a hotel for the night while AirGreenland attempted to repair or replace the plane. The hotel chef even stayed late, and we had lovely dinners of leg of lamb (Greg) and Icelandic shad (Noralynn) before falling into bed.

And this is what happened the next day. We had the morning to take a walk.

The "beach"

The service had started in this church, but we lingered outside to listen to the nice hymn singing.

passengers of flight 711

Once at the airport, the scheduled departure kept being delayed. Finally at 10pm (notice how light it still was!) we were checked in at the gate, and bussed to the plane.

But once at altitude, the plane again would not hold cabin pressure. We were diverted to Rekjavik, and spent another night at another hotel.