Just a brief update for now. Monday was spent shaking off what was perhaps the most uncomfortable plane ride of my life – back row, which means no seat-reclining possible, but the people in front of us felt free to back-dive into our laps, a crime which should be punishable by flaying, in my opinion.
But hey! We’re here! Reykjavik is welcoming, almost entirely English-speaking, and bright with sun. Alan, the night owl, stayed up to watch it set while I pulled my sleep mask down and tried to adjust my body clock. (Didn’t work.) I was up at 7 am and set out for the pool. The one near us is closed for renovation, so I ended up at the next-nearest one, which is? Heaven. HEAVEN, I TELL YOU. I tried to swim a few laps (in the 50-meter outdoor lap pool) but the water was so warm I yielded to its siren call to relax, stop trying so hard, just accept this amniotic bath in the spirt it’s offered, and got into one of the hot pots. Then got into another hot pot. Then tried another until, Goldilocks-like, I found the one that was juuuust riiiight. (There are at least six or eight. I lost count.)
And decided that, if Donald Trump is elected, this is where I’ll be living. Liquidate my 401K, buy a season pass and just poach myself until the nation comes to its senses.
I didn’t take a picture; I carried only my towel into the pool area. Tomorrow, I’ll snap a few. For now, there’s just this, a snap from last night as we wandered home. This was around 11 p.m.; sunset was still 50 minutes away and it never really got dark afterward. Sunrise was around 3 a.m.
Carry on, and I’ll check in later.
beb said on June 7, 2016 at 7:57 am
Has there ever been a comfortable airplane ride? At 6’2″ reclined seats are a lot worse for me than thee. Anecdotal evidence suggests that battles for knee space os the leading cause of on-flight conflicts. As airlines struggle to squeeze more seats into the cabin seats really need to be locked into their up-right position.
How does one get a good night’s sleep when the sun sets at midnight and rises at 3am?
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Dorothy said on June 7, 2016 at 8:15 am
Keep that sleep mask handy – I hope Alan brought one. Are there heavy blinds on the windows to help you stay asleep? Hope your week is full of fun stuff and a few surprises!
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Pam said on June 7, 2016 at 8:20 am
Never really gets dark? I’d be a wreck. I DETEST airplanes! There should be some standards set for seats, width and knee space and the ability to recline them. I would have coughed A LOT on those people in front of you, or just asked the flight attendant to request they move their seats up a bit. If all else fails, try the “moving around like a toddler” technique. When they look around at you, say “well, you seat IS in my lap.”
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ROGirl said on June 7, 2016 at 8:37 am
I was in the front row of a section on a 747, and when I put my purse and bag under my seat the guy behind me kicked them out. When I stood up and asked him what he was doing, he got all indignant and said, “It’s MY seat.” He was an older man,otherwise seemingly normal. The flight attendant took my things to stow. When I got up later, I looked the man in the eye and mouthed the words, “You’re an asshole.”
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Danny said on June 7, 2016 at 8:54 am
Sounds wonderful, Nancy. Enjoy your time.
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BethB from Indiana said on June 7, 2016 at 9:46 am
I haven’t been overseas in years, and have only flown domestic once, maybe twice, since then. Now with a walker, regular wheelchair or power scooter, a cane, AND luggage (including “tons” of medicine I can’t go without and my pillow), I will probably never fly again. Even driving and trying to find a hotel with a walk-in shower is so much trouble, that it is easier to stay at home and travel vicariously through you here who travel and through the other blogs I read. When did I get so old??
Iceland sounds heavenly and the hot pots wonderful for my achy body.
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Deborah said on June 7, 2016 at 9:46 am
I experienced the midnight sun when we went to Finland a few years back. I loved it. I could live like that all year long if it were possible.
Airplane seats don’t recline very much to make you comfortable anyway so I don’t know why the airlines bother. They just end up making people mad.
The pool sounds divine. What a great experience.
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Dorothy said on June 7, 2016 at 10:07 am
ROGirl you’re my hero. I would have done the same thing.
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MichaelG said on June 7, 2016 at 10:34 am
Slippurinn(?)(!)
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Kirk said on June 7, 2016 at 10:47 am
I keep uncrossing and re-crossing my legs a lot, which bangs into the back of the seat in front of me if it’s reclined. People are such assholes. They shouldn’t be allowed to carry on luggage, either.
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adrianne said on June 7, 2016 at 11:17 am
I second Kirk’s approach, and have regularly performed it on the Coach bus that I get into Manhattan. Fight fire with fire!
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Hattie said on June 7, 2016 at 11:30 am
It’s important not to take things out on one’s fellow passengers. They are suffering, too. Since we live in Hawaii, we fly a lot and have worked out a lot of routines to make it all easier.
I’m looking forward to looking around Iceland with you, Nancy!
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brian stouder said on June 7, 2016 at 11:31 am
So if I ran an airline, it looks like I could charge a $20/seat premium for a ride on a plane that has non-reclining seats!
I can’t believe they’re missing this opportunity
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Heather said on June 7, 2016 at 11:49 am
Looking forward to more pictures and descriptions. People who have similar taste in travel to me say I have to check Iceland out but I’m not feeling it. Maybe I just need more info.
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Julie Robinson said on June 7, 2016 at 11:51 am
Welp, good ol’ Allegiant has only non-reclining seats (along with such a dearth of legroom that anyone over 5 feet will be uncomfortable).
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 7, 2016 at 11:57 am
Hope you get to read some of the Younger Edda, even in translation, while you’re up there, and commune with the spirit of Snorri Sturluson. Enjoy!
Erst was the age | when nothing was:
Nor sand nor sea, | nor chilling stream-waves;
Earth was not found, | nor Ether-Heaven,–
A Yawning Gap, | but grass was none.
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Sherri said on June 7, 2016 at 1:38 pm
The long daylight hours are great on vacation, but difficult to maintain a schedule. We only max out at about 16 hours of daylight, but even that can make it challenging. I’ll be doing something, and think it’s 5, but it’s really 7. When my daughter was young, trying to get her to bed on school nights when it was still light outside was difficult. And, of course, you know you’ll pay a price for all that June sunshine in December.
That said, I might consider relaxing my constraints on how far north and join Nancy in Reykjavik if the unthinkable happens. The UK would probably be easier, though, because my husband could just transfer.
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Joe K said on June 7, 2016 at 1:48 pm
The airlines customers service is my best commercial, the worst they do the better my businesse.
Only took a towel? Are we clothing optional?
Waiting on those pictures, you with me gang?
Seriously have fun you deserve the down time.
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on June 7, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Hillary Clinton becomes the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. Donald Trump says he’s really the one who has broken the glass ceiling on behalf of women.
I’m less and less afraid of the Donald, but more concerned that he will simply explode before the convention, and the Republicans will replace him with somebody else. I don’t know how or who, but can they really tolerate this until November?
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brian stouder said on June 7, 2016 at 2:36 pm
Unless the Donald pulls a Prince-like surprise exit, the R’s are married to him
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Scout said on June 7, 2016 at 3:20 pm
My FB feed is exploding with all the True Bernlievers screaming they little heads off about the AP calling it for Hillary last night. The TBs are one of the main reasons I’ve cooled to Bernie’s campaign and warmed to Hillary’s, but I do wonder why that announcement couldn’t have waited one more day. It’s like some faction WANTS to further alienate the Berners, and that doesn’t make much sense from a Democratic party standpoint. This piece by Nate Silver is very good, however I’m not holding my breath that the TBs will believe a word of it.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hillary-clinton-clinches-democratic-nomination-according-to-ap/
The Donald is having a couple of very bad, no good, terrible weeks, and he is doing all the work for the opposition in how he is handling it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some “freak accident” between now and the convention.
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basset said on June 7, 2016 at 3:41 pm
I’m with ya, Joe… pictures, or it didn’t happen!
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Sherri said on June 7, 2016 at 3:47 pm
Scout, I doubt the Clinton campaign wanted that announcement last night either, but conspiracy theories aside, they don’t control the AP.
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Dexter said on June 7, 2016 at 3:50 pm
The last time I got crammed into the last seat-row was on board a 737 bound for San Jose from Phoenix. The engine noise was really bad for some reason but the real problem for me was a bit of nausea because my seat was right beside the damn toilet and the blue water was not doing its job if its job was to provide a modicum of anti-poo-smell. Gaw-DAMN! What a miserable flight. I bet ten people evacuated themselves on that flight. I’d wager all carnivores. https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQs2JTQFjhPQR4AhvAuEpDDb4YMv-NK27Uiwg1Yws8Wo7ECDvOI-Q
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brian stouder said on June 7, 2016 at 4:53 pm
The best thing I’ve read, about the Stanford rapist who (more or less) got a pass –
Why the Stanford attacker’s smiling photo is far more telling than any mugshot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-the-standford-attackers-smiling-photo-is-far-more-telling-than-any-mugshot/2016/06/07/a3c007b0-2c9d-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_1_na
Genuinely troubling stuff
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brian stouder said on June 7, 2016 at 5:04 pm
…and by the way; I betcha that, by around February of 2017 – all over right-wing radio and websites – ‘stage-whispers’ will transform into ‘respectable opinion’ that the Donald was an evil left-wing “drive-by meeeedia” “establishment plant”.
They’ll call him Kamikaze-Donald, and insist it was all a con-game, to “stick us” with President (HR) Clinton.
Mark it down
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Deborah said on June 7, 2016 at 5:54 pm
I agree that the Hillary campaign probably didn’t want the AP to come out with that the night before the primaries. I saw Hillary last night on Rachel’s show and she looked a bit peeved but kept as much of a poker face as she was able, IMO. I have absolutely no poker face, if I’m thinking it, it’s apparent. The people I worked with knew in an instant if I didn’t think their designs were up to snuff when they presented to me. I wish it wasn’t so, but that’s the way it is.
Little Bird and I had to drop something off in Abiquiu for the guys who are working on our project, they weren’t working today because of the New Mexcio primary, they work in some capacity for elections in Taos, I think that’s great.
I have a long travel day ahead tomorrow. I’m waiting around to get my boarding pass online, which you can’t do on Southwest before exactly 24 hours prior to your flight. Here’s hoping I get TSA-pre again but there is no guarantee. I do take carry-on luggage on board but my bag is very small compared to most others. I always travel pretty light and usually don’t check a bag unless it’s a special reason. I pride myself about how light I travel, I always have. I also don’t like to carry a purse around with me either, anywhere. I use my pockets and make sure I wear stuff with pockets for incidentals.
We’re going out for dinner tonight, having something New Mexican to tide me over until I come back in about three weeks.
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Sherri said on June 7, 2016 at 6:43 pm
The big problem I have with Bernie Sanders is that he has encouraged this narrative that the nomination has been rigged against him, which contributes to a sense of cynicism about the whole process. Nobody suppressed the votes of Sanders supporters. There’s nothing rigged about Hillary having lined up the support of superdelegates prior to Sanders entering the race; of course she did, that’s what you do when you’re running for office. It’s not nefarious, it’s not rigged, it’s not evil. We can discuss whether or not superdelegates are desirable, but I bet the RNC wishes they had superdelegates right about now.
By constantly complaining about voter suppression at every turn, and by painting everybody who didn’t support him as equivalently worthless, he’s been teaching a new generation of followers that our elections are pointless and our government doesn’t work. Funny, I heard that message before, when I was a young voter, only it came from the other side.
The misogyny from the Bernie supporters, though, has been really depressing. Several female reporters today have been harassed today just for reporting the AP news.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/07/the-bernie-bros-are-out-in-full-force-harassing-female-reporters/
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Sherri said on June 7, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Brian, there is a good point about showing that rapists look like the guy on the swim team. The problem is, there seems to be a distinct racial bias in which type of pictures are shown. A perpetrator who’s a nice looking young white man like Turner is more likely to have a yearbook photo displayed, while a victim who is a young black man is more likely to have a mug shot shown.
https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/739920123281199105
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Deborah said on June 7, 2016 at 7:09 pm
Meryl Streep does Trump http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/theater/meryl-streep-donald-trump-public-theater.html?module=WatchingPortal®ion=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=4&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F06%2F08%2Ftheater%2Fmeryl-streep-donald-trump-public-theater.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0
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Suzanne said on June 7, 2016 at 7:16 pm
Brian @ 26: I’ve already heard people say exactly that! Trump is really just out to ensure that Hillary gets elected. Even if that were true, you can’t escape the fact that tons of GOP voters fell for it and voted for him! So, who really got fooled?
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Deborah said on June 7, 2016 at 7:33 pm
Yay, I got TSA-pre. Makes it so much better knowing that for tomorrow.
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 12:30 am
So, the question of the campaign is, who has thinner skin, Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders?
Convinced as Sanders is that he’s realizing his lifelong dream of being the catalyst for remaking American politics—aides say he takes credit for a Harvard Kennedy School study in April showing young people getting more liberal, and he takes personal offense every time Clinton just dismisses the possibility of picking him as her running mate—his guiding principle under attack has basically boiled down to a feeling that multiple aides sum up as: “Screw me? No, screw you.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bernie-sanders-campaign-last-days-224041
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Dexter said on June 8, 2016 at 12:46 am
Eight years of a fuddy-duddy Alzheimers victim who thought his movie roles were his own real-life experiences, in The White House, followed by a former CIA director for four years, then eight good years albeit riddled with scandals of Bill’s personal sex adventures, then a flat-out crooked slanted awarding of the office to a nincompoop son of the CIA man whose claim to fame was as a cheerleader…not a political persuader but an honest-to-God cheerleader, then the public re-elected the man. (Not well-played, John F. Kerry)
President was revered at first then attacked daily for 7 years now.
So look who we have now , another Clinton versus another incompetent repugg, with old former repugg Gary Johnson heading the Libertarians. Hillary backed Bsh43’s war and I’ll never forget that, as she was a saleslady for funding and war expansion during the whole time period. Trump is a bigot and a general goof ball. What horrible choices.
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Jakash said on June 8, 2016 at 1:25 am
Hillary is more of a hawk than I’d prefer, Dexter, but it’s gonna be either her or Rumplethinskin. Even if it weren’t Rump, none of the Republicans running would have been less hawkish than her, anyway. If you were equally offended by the “flat-out crooked slanted awarding of the office to a nincompoop”, the one thing that’s for sure is that Hillary won’t be appointing S. C. justices that would have joined that majority, nor will she be disqualifying native Hoosiers with IU law degrees because of their Mexican heritage.
It still concerns me that that Hillary had so much trouble putting away a guy like Bernie, but she beat him fairly and relatively soundly, in every way that counts. Any Bernie Bro or Gal not willing to concede that is just deluding themselves, at this point. I’m still optimistic that they’ll gradually get on board, though.
As with Sherri, Scout and others, I’ve been wondering whether Rump can actually make it to November, at the rate he’s going. I’m becoming more comfortable with the idea that he can’t actually win, but if he were somehow replaced by someone who wasn’t actually batshit crazy, I’d have to count on the fact that his crazy followers would never play along and certainly wouldn’t vote for the replacement. Right?
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MichaelG said on June 8, 2016 at 2:35 am
I just watched the speech of Bernie Nader, dead ender. He said all the right things right up to the end where he promised to continue his doomed contest against Ms. Clinton. At this point (11:00 PM here) he’s trailing 60 – 40 in the California vote. I don’t believe that that will be the final tally but it’s an indication. Tonight was his big chance to be a man and to do what’s right. He blew it.
Here in Sacramento we have seen a Democrat blow another Democrat out of the water in the mayoral race. The senate race will see a Democrat face off against another Democrat in the November election. That will be historic as it will feature a black woman from Northern California running against a Hispanic woman from Southern California. My congress person, a Japanese woman, a Democrat, is running basically unopposed. I know I live in a nice place.
I’m disappointed but not surprised by Sanders. He seems to suffer from some kind of messianic thing that blurs his view of reality. The polls that show him doing so well against Trump are totally worthless. Ms. Clinton is leading him in California despite having to fight a vicious two front war against he and Trump. He has not heard any negative words from the Republicans. None. And few from Ms. Clinton. Of course his uncontested poll numbers against Trump are high. I can’t understand how he is so stupid as to believe them. It’s like Bernie just fell off his own turnip truck.
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adrianne said on June 8, 2016 at 8:03 am
Key paragraph from the Politico story on Bitter Bernie: “I don’t know who advised him that this was the right route to take, but we are now actively destroying what Bernie worked so hard to build over the last year just to pick up two fucking delegates in a state he lost,” rapid response director Mike Casca complained to Weaver in an internal campaign email obtained by POLITICO.
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brian stouder said on June 8, 2016 at 8:10 am
It’s like Bernie just fell off his own turnip truck.
I think MichaelG just won the thread!
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Linda said on June 8, 2016 at 9:06 am
“It’s like he fell off his own turnip truck.” Reminds me of the scene in The Harder They Fall, where Bogey tries to convince the palooka that he really has no talent, and was just blown up and promoted as a setup, but the palooka won’t believe him.
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Danny said on June 8, 2016 at 9:31 am
You know, I was wondering if Prospero would have been feeling the Bern. Would have made for some epic diatribes.
And though I don’t have a solution, I do understand Dexter’s sentiments. This election will largely be hubris on hubris violence.
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Bitter Scribe said on June 8, 2016 at 10:42 am
brian @ #13: Spirit Airlines isn’t missing it, except they charge $30. For that, you get a first-class seat repurposed from another airplane: big, soft, comfy as a bed, tray coming out of the wide armrest, two to an aisle. Best 30 bucks I ever spent.
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 11:55 am
Most of that Bernie article is just sad, though not unexpected by now since we’ve seen what Bernie is. I found it this just amusing though:
Sanders and aides laugh at the idea that he’s damaging the party and hurting Clinton. They think they don’t get enough gratitude for how much they held back, from not targeting more Democratic members of the House and Senate who opposed him to not making more of an issue out of Clinton’s email server investigation and Bill Clinton’s sex scandals, all of which they discussed as possible lines of attack in the fall. They blame Clinton going after him on gun control for goading him into letting loose on her Goldman Sachs speeches.
He was mad that she went after him on gun control? It’s like he wanted to run for President, but not be criticized. She barely touched him on gun control. Guess he’s not used to having to really having an opponent.
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Jolene said on June 8, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Sanders is doing such a huge disservice to his supporters. The way to reward them and try to keep them engaged is not to give them false hope about his candidacy or encourage them to try to create chaos at the Democratic convention. He should be saying, “Look what we have accomplished. Let’s stick together and work to make the Clinton administration the best ever.” Seeking vengeance is only going to make him look bad, turn off his more moderate supporters, and cause his more radical acolytes to become bitter and disaffected.
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Jakash said on June 8, 2016 at 12:40 pm
This seems to be the consensus the last few days, but, as usual, Neil Steinberg expresses it so well:
“predicting the political demise of Donald Trump has so far been a loser’s game. He has been the liquid metal Terminator, blown apart into a fine spray of mercury droplets by whatever godawful idiotic blast came out of his mouth. Yet able to reconstitute himself with the encouragement of his rabble of supporters…
“Maybe Trump will do it again. The dust cloud settles, a single moment of hope, then instead of the credits rolling, the wreckage stirs, the red eye glows, the thing stands, shedding rubble, a big shrug and a grin and forward march toward November. It happened before.
“But this feels different. …
“the truth remains, clearer this week than it was last… Trump is a demagogue opposed to the rule of law, the rule of decency, anything but the rule of Trump. His candidacy is not about a squeezed middle class or dissatisfaction with the establishment. It is about contempt for America, the America of immigrants, of ethnicities and faiths.”
http://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/steinberg-the-beginning-of-trumps-end/
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MichaelG said on June 8, 2016 at 12:51 pm
The polls had Sanders and Clinton running virtually neck and neck in California and many expected Sanders to win. Clinton won by 12 points. I realize that there are still a bunch of mail-in ballots to be counted and that the margin could close some but still. How could the polls be so far off?
Sacramento made me feel good with this one: A measure to fund the library pulled 78 points.
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brian stouder said on June 8, 2016 at 1:26 pm
MichaelG – other than public schools, our local public library system is a point of pride, to me.
I’ve always told the kiddos that, as long as they’re reading, they can read whatever they want; and we visit our main-branch downtown at least monthly, if not more often (especially in the winter)
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St Bitch said on June 8, 2016 at 1:26 pm
I was expecting Sanders to take Cali because everyone I know there, including my baby brother, support him. Sigh. I’ll keep my satisfaction that Hillary prevailed to myself where they’re concerned.
As for tRump, I’ll start tuning into the news again if I can bear witness to his self-immolation. As a terrorist candidate, he and the wall-to-wall media coverage have succeeded in terrifying me at worst, sickening me at best. I suspect that, in the recesses of his shriveled soul, the Donald has terrified himself with the enormity of the office he’s seeking. Hence, the wild, unconsciously self-sabotaging behavior.
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Deborah said on June 8, 2016 at 2:14 pm
I can’t tell you how excited I am that Hillary is the presumptive nominee, now on to win the election. The first woman prez. Wow.
I’m waiting for the train, the first leg of my journey back to Chicago. I started a ritual about a year ago that when I get to the airport in Albuquerque I get myself a pralines ‘n cream ice cream cone. It’s the only part of the trip I enjoy.
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 2:41 pm
I’m with you, Deborah. People kept talking about the enthusiasm of the Sanders supporters, but there’s plenty of enthusiasm among Hillary supporters, it’s just women over a certain age are invisible.
Zeynep Tufekci, a data scientist/sociologist I’ve started reading, has a TED talk that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of social media in political movements. It’s easy to start a movement and spread it rapidly and get lots of people, but it’s not any easier to turn all that into success because skipping all the organizational steps that used to be required to kick things off are still necessary to sustain movements.
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 2:58 pm
To provide some perspective on why Hillary being nominated is such a big deal for some of us, consider how much talent our country has wasted for over two centuries: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/06/08/as-clinton-makes-history-remember-the-women-whose-talents-america-wasted/
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brian stouder said on June 8, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Any idiot can “like” a tweet, or hash-tag a sentiment – but who’s going to go door-to-door, and register voters? (I helped my mom do that, decades ago – when she was precinct committee-person)
HRC did door-to-door politicking (for Goldwater!) when she was a kiddo.
Expressing sentiments is one thing, but expending physical effort is an orders-of-magnitude-bigger thing
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brian stouder said on June 8, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Excellent article, Sherri.
Over the past 240 years, at least one of the hundreds of millions of American women would be the equal (or better) of Lincoln (A1A on my list)
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