The journey of flying

Iceland Air provided the most cost effective way to go from London to DC, so I chose them. The flight had one layover in Iceland, so it was a 10-11 hour journey as opposed to a 7-8 hour journey. No problem because Iceland is beautiful, although I sure wanted to get to family as fast as possible. 

On the first flight I sat next to a young backpacker. She had just finished 3 months of backpacking across Europe. Her stories and experiences were great, her favorite moment was in Istanbul. She met people in youth hostels and would travel around with them a bit. In Istanbul, she hung out with many folks from many countries and on one day they celebrated  a birthday. They sang Happy Birthday in English because they all knew some English, but then, without preparation, they sang it 3 more times, each time in a different language. How great is that? She said it was a real moment of sharing and international peace for her.

I usually struggle to sleep on planes, but I did nod off for awhile on this one. I was kicked awake by the chair behind me literally being shoved full force forward. Startled, I looked behind me to see a guy jump up and yell Help! 

At least 3 stewardesses ran down the aisles. The lady behind me had passed out and was laying on the floor. I caught a glimpse of her eyes and the husbands eyes - they were chilling - absolute fear. I glanced at the on-screen map and we were over the ocean, just under an hour from Rekjyvavik. 

The lead stewardess somewhat pushed the husband into the aisle, she got on the floor with the lady and propped her head up. Seconds later an oxygen bag appeared and they gave her oxygen. The stewardess was saying "are you with us honey, are you with us". No response. Within about 15 seconds, which felt like an hour, the stewardess said "she's coming back!"

Then the gawking started, I was just as bad as everyone else, sitting there staring. The lady said "what's happening" as she was being propped up off the floor, clearly having no recllection that she passed out. The husband said in a London accent, "you got a bit weird", which I think means "you terrified me and the plane, glad you're back". She seemed to be just fine after that. The stewardesses really did a great job.

We landed one hour later than expected. So I walked very fast to catch my connecting flight, trying to read screens as I pulled 4 suitcases. Embarrassingly, but luckily, my gate was the same one I just left, so I had to turn around and take a bit of a walk of shame. My internet worked, so I texted a few folks, probably paying €1,000 per minute or something :) 

As I was texting and grabbing food, I clearly heard "John Hovell please report to customer service desk. John Hovell please report to customer service desk." I had two immediate thoughts and both were negative, I need to work on that. Why not default to positive thoughts?

I left my pizza and walked straight to the desk. The look on the lady's face was not positive, it was slightly concerned. So now I'm not thinking, I'm just feeling concern. She walks away saying "be right back", says something to her colleague in Icelandic, then grabs a key and says to me "you've been selected for random security screening". 

Now my international red flags go off. I smile and politely rattle off about 10 questions per minute as we walk up back stairs that clearly say "staff only". We get to a small room guarded by officers and she simply says "wait here", I was happy with her previous answers, so I wait.

Within minutes, I'm called into a separate room where someone is putting their coat back on with two guards. They look legitimate. They ask if they can look through my bags and scan my body. I look for cameras and say sure. It was quick and painless, seemed to be no problems at all, but I may have been visibly perturbed.

I left the room, said thank you and proceeded to buy a toy puffin for my youngest daughter and Icelandic chocolate for the rest of the girls. 

The second flight was full of good conversation and I tried their Icelandic non-alcoholic drink called Malt and Applesin. Forgot to mention, I tried it on the first flight as well. Really good! 

My wife picked me up at the airport and it was so great to be back together! Since I was a few hours late, one of our great neighbors stayed in the house while the girls slept. I shared all the stories with my wife and then fell right asleep as soon as got home.