Iceland day 4

Today was a much less stressful day, full of museums, hot dogs, exploring, napping and swimming.

It was raining pretty hard today when we were leaving so we decided to take a cab to the Reykjavik national museum. When we got there we bought our Reykjavik city cards which covers our museums, buses and pools. This was a small museum but with lots of interesting stuff to look at. It had this great area with stuff for the kids to look at and play with.

We were hungry when leaving so we stopped and had some famous Icelandic hot dogs, and they were very good. The toppings were a little different, one extra choice was fried onions which were really good. It was just a food truck type place, and it was still raining so we went next door and found a table in the hotel to sit for a few minutes dry and eat our hot dogs.

Next we headed to the settlement museum. This one was also small but very interesting and held the girls attention much better. The focus of this one was an old Viking settlement and the museum was built around it.

Next we navigated the bus system for the first time. It was not all that hard and we even did it 2 more times this afternoon. They have an app to help you route the buses and it worked pretty well.

As you will read, we like naps on vacation. Makes the girls last a little longer in the day and well bill and I just enjoy them.  So this afternoon we napped.

After our nap we visited one of the many geothermic pools in Iceland. It was odd to be swimming when the outside temperature was 50, but it was very comfortable in the pools. Surprisingly it was very busy. They had waterslides, and lots of other pool toys. It was still raining while we were there and the rain was very cold on our heads and we kept having to go under water to warm up.

Below are a few random pictures of a few interesting sights we saw while wandering today. Reykjavic is a beautiful city. All the picture show the gloomy weather we were having all day

Iceland- days 2 and 3 run together

Since we were staying by the airport, we wanted to get an early start today so we could grab breakfast and make it to the Maryland science center at opening. We also did not want to eat near the science center as they were all expensive and chains.  We asked our uber driver to drop us off in an area near the science center where dining would exist in a neighborhood. He had the perfect plan for us. We found a neat diner place 3 blocks away and had a yummy breakfast. The pancakes were huge!!

We still had a little time before the science center opened, so we walked along the inner harbor and went to the visitor center to watch a short video on the history of Baltimore (realizing how little I knew about this topic).

When the museum opened we headed over there. We were able to get in free due to our university of Michigan museum of natural history annual passes we got last week. The museum was super nice and it was not very busy. The space section was especially interesting to my crew. We had one guide spend a ton of time showing pictures of the surface of different planets and moons. He was even able to show us a live picture of the weather on earth and we saw a tropical storm. The planetarium there was included in the price so we decided to watch a show. It was a typical planetarium show and we all enjoyed it.

After this we hopped on the free shuttle buses that run along the tourist attractions and went to lunch. I had found a restaurant (LCsteamers) know for crabs and was frequented by locals. For the family we ordered 4 large crabs, crab cakes, fried shrimp, French fries (served with vinegar) and Cole slaw. Emma was not in an eating mood and did not like anything but using the hammer. Leah liked the crab but did not care for the crab cakes.  Bill has never been a huge fan of crab cakes but liked the crab. I liked it ALL! Overall I am not sure we would go back for a crab meal again as this meal was expensive and a ton of work

We had enough time after this to clean up and make it to our 4 PM checkout. When we arrived at the airport we realized it’s the smallest international terminal ever. 6 flights a day total. And security did not open for another hour. Luckily they had a decent sitting area just outside of security. Once were able we made it through security quickly (no lines as you can imagine).

We had lounge access in the airport but it did not open until 6 PM.  Our flight started boarding at 6:30 but we were able to go in at 6 and eat a quick light dinner. They had soup, small sandwiches, chips, veggies, fruit, cheese, crackers, cookies, and dried fruit. It was a decent spread to fill up on.

Our flight on wow was completely non eventful. A very comfortable flight. On the place we were even able to buy SIM cards for our phone and the shuttle into town. Little sleep was had though and upon landing we were exhausted.

When arriving at our condo, our landlord suggested it was too early for breakfast in the area and suggested the Hilton. We had an enjoyable breakfast but it was $71, ouch. After that we went on a search for a grocery store. We found one but it did not open until 10 so we were stuck waiting an hour. Luckily it was in a mall and had stuff to keep the girls entertained. We bought a few groceries and walked back to our condo that was no available to us for check in. our GPS led us astray and we got a little lost making our way back. Our landlord ended up picking us up.

The rest of our day was napping/resting/ going to bed early. The girls made it to 7 PM though.

Our first day in Iceland was a bit frustrating but not bad. Looking forward to venturing downtown tomorrow.

Iceland trip day 1

Our first day was short and sweet. We left the house and drove to flint. On the way we decided we were hungry and decided to grab sonic for dinner. We had never eaten there, but except for the desserts the menu was not interesting, so I would be surprised if we ever go back.

We planned our arrival at the airport a little later than normal, one of the benefits of flying out of such a small airport. We parked close by and walked in. yes I said walked in. no shuttles. We had late B boarding passes for southwest and had a bit of trouble getting seats together for the four of us, but we found acceptable seats.

The flight itself was fine but not very smooth. Started out with turbulence. Later as we were descending the pilot made a very funky turn that made your stomach drop and a few people on the plane screamed. The landing was one of the hardest I had ever had.

During the descent Leah got a bloody nose which caused a little commotion, but we were able to deal with it with no real issues.

After collecting our bags at the airport, we headed to our hotel. The   BWI.  The hotel is very modern looking and clean. Bonus being it was so close to the airport. We were even granted a 4 pm checkout so we can get cleaned up this afternoon after our day in Baltimore before heading back to the airport.

Award Booking flexibilty

When booking award tickets its always best to be flexible. The more more flexible you are the more likely to get what you want. With southwest airlines there are no limits to the tickets that you can get with your miles(no black out dates or flight limits)

We are planning a trip to Cancun over spring break. We wanted to travel on 3/26/16. When I look to book our tickets I see this:

Over 40,000 mile for a one way ticket is way too expensive. So i decided to fly out on 3/23/16 instead. This flight is almost a quarter of the miles cost. The girls will need to take 2 extra days off school for this trip, which is the downside of our date switch. Overall the flexibility paid off though as we have the ability to go instead of canceling.

Iceland itinerary

Thursday we leave for Iceland. We depart from Flint and fly to Baltimore where we spend one night and then depart for Iceland on wow Airlines. We decided to spend the night in Baltimore since we are flying from Flint to Baltimore on Southwest Airlines and from Baltimore to Reykjavik on a separate airline. We needed to make sure we did not miss our Iceland flight, options were to fly in super early Friday morning or Thursday night. We figured if we flew in Thursday night we could spend the day just exploring Baltimore, where we've never been.

While in Baltimore we plan on visiting the children's science museum and eating crab cakes. YUM! we are staying the night at Aloft BWI Baltimore Washington International Airport which I was able to book for just 3000 spg points

Wow Airlines has very small luggage restrictions and really high fees on checked bags so it's been a lot of stress on me lately trying to figure out the best way to pack our stuff. We paid for 1 checked bag but then I'm hoping that we can get away with all the rest of our stuff in carry-ons. Wow Airlines has an 11 pound limit on carry-on so that could be tough. I have decided that the girls are going to take duffel bags. Bill and I are going to take our normal carry on backpack and hope that we keep it under the weight limit.

We will spend 4 nights in Reykjavik and  we plan on checking out a couple of the hot pools, a few museums and getting our bearings as well as learning about Icelandic food. we are buying Reykjavík City Card, looks like this should save us money since it covers the hot pools, buses as well as the following sights we plan on going to:

settlement exhibition

Videy Island

National museum

Maritime Museum

Whales of Iceland(discount only)

After we leave the big city we're going to rent a camper van and drive  The Ring Road around the exterior of Iceland. out there were going to spend our time seeing nature. We're going to see waterfalls, glaciers and the Glacial lagoon.  At night we plan on spending it wherever we can because you can do free camping in Iceland and that's what we're going to try. If we don't like that we may end up at some campsites. This is our projected route.

The lesson i apparently can't learn

In one of my first posts, lesson i learned today. I had made a mistake and not added the girls to an upcoming reservation and when i went to do it the flights were sold out. i had to move our flights and pay more points for us to be able to go on this trip. Did i learn my lesson....NOPE

A few weeks ago when we were traveling to St. Louis, I realized when checking in for the flight i did not have a ticket for Emma. No harm as many tickets were still available, and i was able to add her at the last second.

 Again yesterday i realized i had not yet added thee girls to our flights to/from Baltimore. This is our jumping off point for iceland. luckily these flights were not sold out and i was able to add them without an issue. This did cause me some stress though as these were important flights with little flexibility.

Now you may be wondering why we booked our flights without the girls in the first place. Bill and i both have a companion pass on southwest airline and this allows us to take a companion(the kids) for free on any flight we are traveling on. This has been a great benefit to us and has allowed our southwest miles to go twice as far. These tickets do not need to be added until later and there is a benefit to booking them later, if the price goes down they can be adjusted easily before the companion is added.

BUT I NEED TO LEARN TO DO IT EARLIER. so plans don't have to be changed at the last minute.

DFE trip to europe, cast of characters

our big trip to Europe is now 329 days away. Award availability opens up at 330 days. my departure date is not yet available. I am not a patient person by nature so this waiting now is killing me.

I thought as the planning is now getting fully underway i would start by giving a little background on this trip. the proposed dates for the trip are June 24-July 9th. We are visiting London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague.

the cast of characters:

first is me, I have been to Europe once but not to any of these cities, I am planning the entire trip for all 8 of us. I am excited to get to plan all of this but also nervous i wont be able to get frequent flyer flights for all of us, 8 people are a lot of people to try and coordinate.

second is Bill, he has been to Europe a few times but never to any of these cities. he is happy to let me do all the planning.

next is Emma and Leah. They will be 8 when we go. They have never been to Europe before, but will have been to Iceland before we go. Both are excited about these different countries. I think they are most excite about seeing big Ben in London.

My parents, Mike and carol, are also joining us. They have been to Europe once before. This trip was limited to Barcelona.

My nephew Tyler is graduating from high school a few weeks before we go and he is going with us as a graduation celebration. Tyler has never  been outside the united states. When asked where he wanted to go in Europe his answer was " go to some countries and see some stuff" so he will be hard to please.

lastly is Tyler's other grandma, Judy. Judy has never been to Europe and is excited to see all it has to offer.