Back in November we received an email from Icelandair regarding a sale. Yes, those always suck us in! We looked right as the email came in, and were able to score the really cheap tickets, so booked it on the spot. Flying from SEA to KEF for less than $550 pp/rt. Then a few days later, Center Hotels announced a 40% off sale, so we scored our hotel rooms for $136 per night! How could we pass all of this up! Plus the dates were over my birthday, so even better:)
OnTuesday we drove to our daughters as she is our dog sitter. We stayed the night there and took a Lyft to SEA in the morning. The Icelandair desk opens right at 3 hours before the flight, not a minute earlier. As usual, they made everyone put their carryons into the sizer and weigh them, even Saga class. I knew our bags were good as they came in at 14# and 17#. Thankfully TSA Pre and Clear were both operating, so it didn't take long to get through security. We headed to the lounge and relaxed for a bit before heading to the gate.
The flight was one of the new Airbuses, so it was quite clean. The only drawback was it was really warm on the flight, whereas in the past that has never been an issue in all of our flights to/from Iceland.
Upon landing at KEF, we had to do the EES which is the entry/exit system now in place so we had to have our fingerprints taken when we showed our passports. It was super quick, no big deal.
Since we did not check bags, we were out of the airport in under 20 minutes from landing. We had pre booked a taxi with Hreyfill and the driver called us right as we were walking out of the terminal, so we didn't have to wait at all. It was a flat 22500 KR, so about $180.
We got dropped off at Center Hotel Plaza right in the heart of town. Our room was not quite ready, so we left our bags for maybe an hour and wandered. It was around 7:30am, so we went up Rainbow Road and had it pretty much to ourselves. We grabbed breakfast at Loki Cafe, right across from Hallgrinskirkja, the big Lutheran Church at the top of the hill. J had the lamb soup and I had smoked trout and cream cheese bagel and one of the best hot chocolates ever.
Our room was ready so we headed back and got settled in, and promptly headed right back out. We took a walk along the waterfront from the Sun Voyager to Harpa on back through the center of town. J wanted coffee, so we stopped at Braud for that and shared one of their famous cinnamon rolls.
This was our only day to do any shopping. A stop at the Handknitting Association store was a must, as usual. I found a sweater for our daughter as a thank you for dog sitting, and then I inquired about a vest sort of sweater. A few years ago I saw many local women wearing this style, but never saw them in any shops. The lady I asked knew what I wanted and said yes, they are not in the stores, but they could make one for me. So she did her measuring and we discussed colors/designs and it should arrive here in a couple of weeks. Along with a wool blanket that I have been eyeing for a few years and finally caved on buying;)
There is a really good store along Laugavegur called Taste of Iceland that has a wide array of Icelandic foods. Salts, chocolates, dried skyr, you name it. I found a lot of what I was looking for there and the owner was such a kind man.
We also went to the local grocery store, Bonus, to get drinks and snacks for the next few days as we had tours arranged.