Iceland 26 – day 16 and trip home

And that was already my last day. I walked around Reykjavik some more. Mostly in the shopping street and I went up to Halgrimskirkja as well. Nothing unusual. In the evening I could see green in the sky again but I was too tired to go out and I think it was only a few minutes anyway. It was cold too.
What was really remarkable was my drive to the airport the next morning. In Reykjavik they have an airport bus. The system works like this: there are small busses that drive around Reykjavik in different areas to pick up people and bring them to the Bus Terminal where you get on the big bus to the airport. That usually is fine but not when it is that cold and you have to stay on the cold for 30 minutes or longer to wait for the pick-up. From my room I had been able to see the bus station for the pick-up and had noticed that people had to wait 30 minutes nearly every time (when they have luggage you can assume they go to the airport). So I had decided on taking a taxi. The hotel called it for me on check-out. And I was positively surprised when I saw that it was a woman. The way to the airport is a longer one (about 45 minutes) as Keflavik is not on the outskirts of Reykjavik. So I chatted with the driver. If she hadn’t told me that she has only one leg left I wouldn’t have known. It was a very interesting chat with her. She told me that after she went swimming for the first time after loosing her leg she jumped in and started to swim normally – only to find out that she was going in circles. She said she had laughed so hard and then had to learn to swim again. But the most interesting story that she told me that there is a gentleman in Reykjavik who ended up in a wheelchair. When this happened he realized that the shops and restaurants on the shopping street (and other streets) in Reykjavik all have steps. So this is nothing for people in wheelchairs. Since that guy is rich he started then to have ramps built. He was paying for them. And my driver told me that people with handicaps are sending him money even though he doesn’t need it but they are so happy that he did this. If I knew the name of this guy I would probably thank him as well. I really liked that driver and I have her card so the next time I am in Iceland she will be waiting for me and drive me to Reykjavik. 🙂
At the Airport I had never seen a Lounge. When I checked in the guy told me where the Lounge is. If you don’t know it you won’t find it. Interesting that there are no signs for it… but I liked it.