I am awoken to the bouncing of the plane in the turbulence, and by an announcement from the pilot. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be beginning our descent into Reykjavik shortly. There are light rain showers around the airport, so the descent may be a bit bumpy. The local time in Reykjavik is 6:30am GMT. Thank you for flying with us today! Hold on, what do you mean 6:30am GMT and we're still in the air. Boarding for our connection to Zurich starts at 6:45am GMT! Apparently, due to the turbulence, the flight ended up taking longer than the pilot anticipated. On top of the both of us forgetting the Eurail tickets, this made her stress like crazy. I was more calm about the situation, as there was nothing I could do about it, but I was still slightly annoyed.
Reykjavik 6:40am GMT; May, 30th, 2018
When we finally got to the gate after we landed at 6:40, my hope was dwindling and my sister's was non-existent. I was perpetually asked the question "Do you think they'll hold the plane if enough people aren't there on time?" My response was either the go to I don't know noise and shrug combo, you know the one, or 'Probably not.' The biggest problem with the whole ordeal was that we didn't know if we would have to go through passport control here in Iceland or in Switzerland. We hoped Switzerland for the sake of time, however that turned out not to be the case as we would find out in just a few minutes.
Thankfully, through the chaos of leaving the airplane and trying our best to decipher the hieroglyphics the Icelandics call words, we were able to make a quick phone call to our mother describing both the situations with the Eurail Pass, and the fact that we might not make our connecting flight to Zurich. However, as we were nearing our correct gate, we saw something that destroyed all the hope and time we made up while running through the airport. Passport control. Initially this made us worry that we had accidentally found the exit of the airport and were completely lost, but then we remembered that by landing in Iceland we had officially entered the European Union. Thankfully unlike the Department of Homeland Security officers at home, the Icelandics appeared to actually enjoy their jobs which made the endless task of stamping passports and making sure you weren't a serial killer or a fugitive much easier and quicker. All told we probably spent 15 minutes where we expected to spend hours.
We finally arrive at the gate for the connection with Zurich to find that the boarding had been delayed by 20 minutes. This was both fantastic for us as it meant that we were able to board the plane, but was also rather annoying as we just ran from one side of the airport to the other while trying to talk on the phone and figure out where we were going all at the same time. When boarding finally started, the might of Icelandic thinking showed again and we were in the air within 10 minutes of the gate opening. Thankfully, the only thing of note for this flight was that we were in the emergency exit row, which meant I did not have to sit with my knees at my chin for the entirety of the flight again.
Zurich 1:20pm CEST; May 30th, 2018
For the most parts, all airports look exactly the same. The type of place you don't want to spend too much time in because even the shortest amount of time can feel like an eternity. I was expecting more of the same when we landed in Zurich, but I could not have been more wrong. The buildings looked sleek and futuristic, as if they were ready to welcome the spacefarers and reopen as a spaceport. The gates were reminiscent of a giant living room, and the concourses appeared as if they were first designed as a shopping mall. There was even a gift shop you had to walk through to get to the baggage claim. A GIFT SHOP. Baggage claim is another one of those things that makes the whole airport experience nothing more than a hassle. You finally get to your destination, everyone rushes directly to the bathroom or baggage claim, and then you just sit there waiting for your bag to arrive.
Luckily, however, Zurich is in the German part of Switzerland, so everything is as efficient as humanly possible. It seems to be timed just perfectly so that when you make it to the baggage claim, wait in line for the bathroom, and then come out of the bathroom, the luggage starts coming out of the chute. It was a welcome surprise to say the least. Leaving the baggage claim while dragging luggage and trying to figure out where to go from there was the most stressful part of my day. My sister was texting our cousin that we had landed, but had not yet received any response due to the poor connection underground. We knew we were supposed to meet her there, but we didn't count on the airport being the size of a small suburb. Through what seemed like dumb luck, we made it out of one door and she was just standing there, arms open and waiting for a hug.
She asked us a myriad of questions ranging from how were the flights? (good), How was the airline food? (not provided and expensive so we didn't get any), Are you hungry? (more thirsty than anything). After that response she told us to follow her, so we did of course. While walking back into the airport and through sections we didn't even know existed she was telling us about the whole Eurail pass fiasco. Essentially, our mother, our aunt (her mother) and her were up all night (morning for her) trying to figure out how to solve the problem. The first thing they tried was to see if the paper pass was just for fun and you could access the entire pass online, which turned out to not be possible. They then looked into sending scanned copies, however, they only accept actual passes at the train stations. They even looked into purchasing a new one while we were there, which ended up costing much more than the option they chose, overnighting them in the mail. However, as we were 6 hours ahead of home, they wouldn't be shipped till the FedEx at the airport opened in the morning. Which meant that before they even got sorted by their system it would be the start of Thursday here. And we had reservations for an 11am train on Friday to Paris. The estimated delivery was 9am, but it was not specified if it was EST or CEST.
Because the topic of the Eurail passes was so important I was not paying attention at all until we arrived at a grocery store. In an airport. And not a small one either, it was massive. I won't get into details about a grocery store mostly because you've probably been in one before. Just picture that and change all the English words to German and you've got the picture. After we purchased our drinks, we walked through what looked like a shopping mall mixed with a city center. It was all indoors and all part of the airport. Apparently, some people go there to do all of their shopping, or just even hang out. Finally, at 2:20pm CEST, we left the airport and plunged directly into the heart of Zurich.
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