The Prelude to Fanfest

Reykjavik - I made it to Iceland in one piece.  By this time the routine is not very hard: pack my bags, hop in a limo, shuffle thru customs and get on the plane.  Except this time was for pleasure, not business.

There are no direct flights from Chicago to Reykjavik so I had to fly to Boston first.  I took a flight that gave me a four hour layover because I wanted plenty of time to get my luggage transferred from United to Icelandair.  Not that United has ever lost my luggage, but I decided to walk it over myself.  I'm pretty happy I did because I ran into a pilot from Against ALL Authorities who got in line right behind me and we struck up a conversation for the entire stay.  It was an interesting conversation that lasted over dinner at a Sbarro Pizza stand (although he was good and got a salad from someplace else).

I flew in Monday night, which means I missed the unofficial CSM flight by a day.  That's okay, because I probably flew in with a "normal" crowd, meaning not a plane full of Eve players.  My plane was full, which surprised the nice Swedish couple that were flying back home from a trip to Dallas.  I had to explain why.

I liked that the flight was less than 5 hours, because the seats in the 757 were kind of cramped.  I managed to get a few hours sleep on the plane so I didn't break out the iPad and watch Clear Skies 2 or 3 again.  Sleep is good.  So is arriving in country at 6:30am.  Lots of time to adjust my body clock in preparation for Fanfest.

The hotel reminds me a bit of the hotel I stayed at in London two years ago.  Small.  That shouldn't matter because I don't plan to stay in it much.  The one disappointing thing is that I can't get Eve Radio on the WiFi network.  I was able to get another streaming site, by not Eve Radio.  But I do have my iPad with my music collection so that will have to do.

I did do some running around Reykjavik.  The first thing I did was find Harpa, the convention center Fanfest is held in.  Okay it was the second thing.  The first thing I did was run back inside the hotel and put on a sweater underneath my coat.  While it isn't that cold, it is a humid cold.  Something to do with being right by the sea.

One thing I didn't know is that Harpa is right on the water.  I walked past the gates to a harbor facility to get to it.

View from the Harpa building

After bookmarking the Fanfest site, I stopped by a hotdog stand to get lunch and then took a nap.  Did I mention sleep is good?

After my nap I did a little more roaming around.  I found the site for the Eve University meetup, which, as direction-challenged as I am, I can't miss.  I also managed to pick up a shot glass for my boss.  Now I don't have to worry about getting it.  The hotel is also close to a lot of bars and restaurants.  And I mean a lot.  The hotel is also adjacent to a supermarket.  That is big since it means I can get bottled water, a necessity not only because I get headaches when dehydrated but the water smells like rotten eggs.

I finished the day getting dinner from Tabasco's, a Mexican restaurant that also serves seafood.

This ad worked for me

I am beginning to think that fish is to Reykjavik what pizza is to Sofia; served everywhere. Of course, I took advantage of being in a port and ordered fish and chips instead of something Mexican.  I didn't get the whale steak because I am on a budget.  Did I mention that Reykjavik is expensive?  I only purchased $300 in króna and my meal of fish and chips plus a beer cost around $30.  I know I can get more money, but I would like to stay close to what I planned to spend.  I'm beginning to think I should have planned to spend $500.  I hope people in Iceland are paying their taxes through a sales tax and not an income tax.

Nothing really more to add.  It's time to do a little more wandering around before heading on the Golden Circle tour.  Maybe I can find the spot of the #tweetfleet meetup.  It is farther away than the Eve Uni meetup and I do tend to get lost.