Before we begin with the travel, I must let you know that we decided to get a credit card that was specifically geared toward those who travel a lot. While this has had, and likely will have, many benefits, one of them is free access to certain airport lounges. While we have enjoyed this a time or two since getting the credit card, waiting for our flight in Boston was the first time we got to go into a Chase Sapphire Lounge and, holy moly, there is no comparison. Far more delicious and gourmet food and drinks, comfortable areas, wi-fi, beautiful bathrooms. Did I mention the wonderful food we got? Anyway…
We began Traveling Neverland in an Icelandair Jet. The flight was uneventful, the plane fine, the staff slightly more curt with people than I expected. I did get to watch the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, on the plane. I thought it was decent as biopics go with exceptional acting from both Timothy Chalamee and Edward Norton. I actually thought Ed Norton was extremely accurate as Pete Seeger, both incredible and eerie to watch!
Iceland is a 4 hour forward time difference compared to the eastern time zone of the US, so we landed just before 10pm Iceland time. The first odd thing that happened to us involved clearing customs. We were seated in the last row of the plane and after getting off the plane, we used the restrooms and filled our waters. Maybe, in total, it was a 20-30 minute delay. When we got to customs, literally no one was there, official or traveler. After a moment of looking around, I noticed that a customs official was behind the glass doors/walls on his cell phone. I got his attention and he motioned for me to wait a minute. He then came to a customs window and helped us out. He asked us what took us so long and told us we were lucky that he was on the phone talking to a lawyer (an odd detail to include unprompted, haha) as otherwise he would have left and no one would have been there to help us. It was a bit strange since, by this point, another traveler had gotten in the customs line. Ultimately he was nice enough, and it was certainly the fastest we ever made it through customs!
(Side note about the flight: We flew over fucking Greenland! Holy shit, y’all. I have to say, I was on the airplane looking out the window like a kid on Christmas. It was very cool!)
The second odd thing that happened to us involved a quest for food for four hungry people in a mostly closed airport. We went upstairs and there was a hot dog truck. We had heard that Icelandic hot dogs were good, mostly lamb, and also the cheapest way to eat in Iceland. When we tried to order hot dogs, the guy asked us to show our boarding passes. I explained that we had just arrived and he said he could only sell hot dogs to people who were about to depart. I kind of did an “Ooooohhhh kay” and walked away. We ended up being pretty hungry for while because of the next crazy story…our rental car.
I thought I rented a Kia Sportage. I remember renting a Kia Sportage. A Kia Sportage is marketed as a car that can hold 5 passengers and 4 suitcases while also being a 4×4…which is exactly what we needed in Iceland. Apparently, however, I clicked the wrong button when reserving and instead rented a Kia Stonic (a car name I have never heard of). Let’s just say there was no way we were going to fit into it with our luggage, much less enjoy it as part of our temporary home as we explored Iceland for the next month. Sadly, they only had three other options available for a 25 day rental. Option 1, a jeep. The very kind Blue Rental Car worker pulled it around. We tried very hard, but again, no way our luggage was getting into that with any room to breathe. The second option was a manual-transmission Dacia Duster. I don’t know what a Duster is, but it was big enough. Sadly, there is no way I am driving stick in the Westfjords, even if I survived the rest of Iceland with it. Which brings us to the final option…a brand new Tesla Model Y. We were not excited about this as I have never driven an electrical vehicle, we had no idea of the access to charging stations throughout Iceland, much less the more remote and rugged parts of Iceland, and, of course, Elon Musk sucks. We gave it the first test: luggage. Surprisingly, it passed with flying colors. Who knew you could fit so many little areas of cargo space in a car?!? In that particular way, it is engineering genius. There is a massive trunk, a spot under the main trunk in which I put a full carry-on suitcase, and, drum roll please, a frunk! Yes, because it doesn’t need space for an engine, it has a smaller, but decent sized, front trunk or “frunk” as it is called on the Tesla digital display.
Realizing, now past 1am, that the Tesla was the only automatic transmission option that fit us and our luggage really juiced the conversation, let me tell you! We quickly got on apps to determine if we would be able to charge it everywhere we hoped to go (answer: sort of…we will have to be very thoughtful and careful in the more remote areas) and just decided, “how hard can it be to figure out an electric car?” So, after paying the way more money that it costs to rent a Tesla without a prior reservation during the high season, we, finally!, drove away from the airport to begin Traveling Neverland. We got to our apartment 15 minutes outside of downtown Reykjavik and finally got to bed around 2am Iceland time. After a long day of travel and adventure, we collapsed in our beds!
The hot dog thing intrigued me so I researched it and found it is common in some airport stores in Europe due to VAT tax but it is not a law. It has also become somewhat of a scam because the public is not usually getting the benefit.
The shop sets one price for everybody and supposedly includes VAT tax of 20% which the vendor pays to the government. But if you show a boarding pass that you are leaving Europe, they scan it and do not have to pay the government the VAT tax on that item. Problem is they don’t pass the savings on to that customer, they just pocket extra money on the sale. So some vendors won’t sell to you without it because they make less.
Only a duty free shop is legally allowed to ask you for a boarding pass because they make less customers do benefit from the savings.