From 5F in Saga class of a Icelandair 757 the North Atlantic looks pretty nice. Onboard it’s relatively quiet; it should be now that it’s 12:24am local MSP time. I’ve had my 2 hours of white wine aided sleep and as I look around it appears that I’m not the only one who has enjoyed the Icelandair hospitality.
Today started as most workdays do; up around 6ish, at work around 7:30ish, reviewing the weekend work for the fleet. Restlessness hit me earlier than normal, my desk cleaner than normal. Anxious. Pensive. Focused miles ahead. A mission to embark upon. C’mon let’s get this show started already.
I’ve been looking towards this trip for weeks now. Some reasons more obvious than others (as time moves forward I may or may not reveal more about that) I’ve been looking forward to this trip and as the days have flown and minutes dragged I’ve wanted to step forward into this journey.
I left work a little early, finalized my packing and after the bus dropped Stanley off we loaded up the car and headed to the airport. With tears in his eyes Stanley gave me his Father’s Day card. Grant gave me his with no tears as he wanted to use Dylan’s Slip-and-Slide more than he wanted to ride to the airport. Stanley and I sat on the living room steps and cried a little bit. So did Brenda.
So I got to the HHH Terminal 3 hours before departure as prescribed by Icelandair, checking in with the Sun Country staff. Behind me was a large group of high school kids, bandmates ready to head to Europe. I knew that I had to get in front of them. So I check my bags and take my seat assignment: 22E.
My internal seatmap tells me I’m in the middle seat back in steerage. Ah shit. I kindly ask if there is anything left on an aisle or window and the guy behind the counter lets me down easily saying that it’s a full flight. Hey, no biggie, I can deal with anything for 5 hours right?
So up the escalator I go, rearranging my carry-on before I head through security. I hear my named being called from behind me and there is the counter agent telling me that he thought that I was part of the band party. Oops, his mistake, his manager tells him to get me another seat and sure enough in his hand is another boarding pass for seat 7C. Emergency exit row on the aisle. Oh yeah. Things are looking up.
After a couple of beers and some wings at Fletchers I head over to the gate. The genral boarding/cattle call comes so with the others I shuffle down the jetway to the aircraft. When I get close to the entry door I notice that my particular seat is right at the main entrance aisle, and that people would have to turn around my knees if I took my seat. I tell the lead flight attendant that I’d stand to the side to make sure that the boarding process would go off without a hitch as we were already going to be running late. I also She see’s that I’m a non-rev and asks me if I want to sit in Saga Class…..well sure….why not! Let’s see – middle seat surrounded by a bunch of high schoolers? Or 1st class? Duh!!!!
Needless to say I enjoyed my time sitting in front. Wide seats. real silver. Actual glass. Something you don’t’ get too much of anymore. The only downer was the fact that when we landed in Iceland I had a head-cold.
Serves me right.
BTW, if you have the chance to fly Icelandair please do so! I’m not saying this because I got to sit in first class. (In fact I sat in the last row on the way to Amsterdam from Iceland). Fly them because the service is first rate and friendly.
Next entry: Stan learns how to drive a manual transmission in Amsterdam
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