[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 18 May 2014]
20 January 2014, Monday
It’s free and easy today, as IJ and I spend the morning and early afternoon in London before meeting up with our two other travel buddies, SY and YS at Heathrow Airport, for our onward journey to Iceland. SY would be flying in from Singapore, while YS would be flying in from Munich.
YS was on a pretty epic trip himself, having travelled since New Year’s Eve to London, Brussels, Munich, Prague and Vienna before joining us for Iceland and Manchester. YS is a travel buff too, and one of my favourite travel partners. He’s super easy going and it’s stress-free travelling with him.
But before we get to Iceland, there’s one important bit of business that I had to deal with first – my DSLR. It was damaged from yesterday’s cycling trip due to the vibrations, and it couldn’t lock focus. I did a Google search last night and found a camera repair shop that was located nearby. So I was hoping to get my camera repaired before going to Iceland, because I am sure there won’t be any camera repair shops over there.
After a quick breakfast at the hostel (muffin, coffee and juice set at GBP 3.95), I started my mission to fix my camera. IJ and I would be on free and easy mode today, going our separate ways.
The shop I had found was Camera City, a shop specialising in secondhand still and cine cameras and equipment, plus repairs and processing. It was located at 16 Little Russell Street, about 10 minutes away by bicycle. I managed to find it quite easily, with the aid of Google Maps.
It was a small shop but surprisingly, I was not the only customer there. I told the man about my problem, and he told me he could get it fixed within a few hours, and it would cost up to GBP 80. I felt the price was quite steep, but I was very desperate then, so I agreed to it.
After I paid a deposit and left my camera at the shop, I continued cycling and did some record shop hunting while waiting for my camera to be fixed. I found a couple of record shops – Sister Ray and Reckless Records, and a few other smaller ones. I love record shops and flipping the huge LP covers, and the smell of the old vinyls. As usual, I was looking for rare Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson stuff but I didn’t find any. So I left empty handed.
For lunch, I popped into a nice café located just down the street from our YHA hostel. It’s called Yumchaa Tea Shop and it’s really comfortable and chill. I ordered a sandwich and a pot of Chelsea chai tea for GBP 7, and just sat down and watched the world go by. It was a nice sanctuary amid the hustle and bustle outside.
I also found time to visit the Superdry store and this time, I couldn’t resist anymore. I initially thought Superdry is a Japanese brand, but a friend commented on Facebook that it is actually a London brand and it is much cheaper over there, so I was swayed and gave in to temptation.
I bought a windbreaker (GBP 54.98) because the North Face jacket that I brought along was not fashionable. Wearing it, I stuck out like a sore thumb in fashion-conscious London. And I had seen many other people wearing Superdry windbreakers on the streets and it looked really cool, so I had to have one too. I also bought a T-shirt (GBP 16.99) and a funky orange bag (GBP 34.99), which I’m really pleased about.
It was damage maximus and I was about to incur even more damage as I collected my camera and the guy told me that the repair works cost GBP 75. He quoted me up to GBP 80 and final price turned out to be GBP 75. I was like, “What the hell?”, but beggars can’t be choosers. Buying a brand new DSLR would have been even more expensive, and I really needed a DSLR for Iceland. So I paid the GBP 75 grudgingly. With my wallet considerably lighter, I went back to meet IJ and got ready to depart for the airport.
Our flight was at 8:35pm and we met SY and YS at 6pm at Heathrow Terminal 1. Finally, our party of four was complete. We checked in our bags and went through the security checks. Boy, were they thorough in their checks. YS forgot to unpack some liquids from his hand carry luggage and the security officer practically emptied his whole luggage. I think London has one of the strictest airport security checks in the world.
After finally clearing immigration, we went to have dinner at a restaurant before boarding our Iceland Air flight FI455. I loved that the back of the headrests had common Icelandic phrases imprinted on them. It was a nice touch and a great welcome to Iceland.
The flight took three hours, so we touched down at Keflavik International Airport at 11:35pm. The airport is like an art museum – so chic and classy. I loved Iceland the moment I stepped foot into the airport. I immediately felt a really good vibe about the country.
After we exited the immigration counter, we looked for the contact person from our car rental company, Reykjavík Rent A Car. Despite the late hour, the rep was already there waiting for us, and he gave us a warm welcome. We quickly grabbed some supplies and a map of Iceland from the convenience store, before hopping onto the rep’s vehicle. He then drove us to his company where our rental car was parked – it was less than 5 minutes drive away.
After processing the papers and making the necessary payment, we were on our way. The car we rented was a big Suzuki Grand Vitara 4WD, and it was left hand drive as well. As I was the most experienced driver among the group, and I wasn’t feeling too tired, I volunteered to drive us to our accommodation in the city. It took a while to get used to the left hand drive but there weren’t many cars at the time so it was pretty alright.
Along the way, I saw some faint green lights dancing in the distance in the sky, and I pointed it out to the other guys. We had a closer look and realised it was the aurora borealis! How lucky we were to see it on our first night there! However, it was very late and we were all quite tired, especially SY, who had just taken a long flight from Singapore, so we didn’t stop the car to marvel its beauty. At the time, we thought we would be seeing it a lot more, so we didn’t think twice about it. As fate would have it, we would not be seeing the aurora that much for the next 7 days!
By the time we reached our accommodation, Hlemmur Square, it was already 1:45am. We dragged our luggage into the lobby and checked in without much fuss. We had a room to ourselves, with two double-decker beds. It was clean, spacious, well-equipped and comfortable. There was also free Wi-Fi. Hlemmur Square was recommended by a friend and it was cheap and good, and in a good location. I highly recommend it too.
Hlemmur Square
Address: Laugavegur 105, 105 Reykjavik, Iceland
Tel: +354 415 1600
Website: www.hlemmursquare.com
Rate: About 4,300 ISK (S$48) per person per night
By the time we showered and packed our stuff, it was about 2:30am. We were just going to sleep for a few hours before waking up again in the morning to set off on our road trip. But we were in Iceland and we were just too excited, tiredness be damned! Iceland is off to a great start already, I could feel it…