Day Drinking- Iceland Style

What else is there to do in Iceland??


"Comeon, Danny... let's go for a drink at Paddy's!"



A Pitcher of Icelandic beer.... and a dice game?? How bout it?





Outdoor patio... loving the 70 degree weather... unheard of here in Iceland!

Cheers!

Perfect game I rolled... See the dice?? Knock those blocks down!

My favorite... could be their ad in the 'Icelandic Times'! Number 1 customer...

Downtown Keflavik... love it.

Hello, vein!

TOBORG... local beer = delicious



Well HELLO, Ari.. :-) local bartender extraordinaire...


I love Iceland!

Cheers!
-Lisa :-)

Paddy's Irish Pub

Ladies night out! We went and saw a movie & grabbed a couple drinks at our favorite spot- Paddy's Irish Pub! SO cute! This is our favorite booth... tucked in the corner!



I LOVE the ambience of this place! The entire bar is lit up with these old bottles and candles. When the candle burns all the way down (which, believe it or not, we are there to see by the end of the night :-), the candle falls into the bottle! This bottle in particular was STUFFED with them!





We met some new Canadian army pilot friends! They were SO fun... 'Shitter' is to the left of me and Derek is to the right of me. I particularly liked Derek :-), and 'Shitter' particularly liked my scarf!



What a great night with our new friends! They're staying at the hotel down the street and will be here until September 8th. Hopefully we run into them again! With a great place like Paddy's right down the street, I'm sure we will!

CHEERS!
-Lisa :-)

HUNGARY for more BUDAPEST!

Ohmygosh... I had NO idea I would fall in love with Budapest the way that I have today! Right now I am typing this in my luxurious InterContinental hotel room, lounging comfortably in my white bathrobe (all Julia Roberts-'Pretty Woman'-ish), with a white bath towel wrapped around my head, and the super fabulous flat screen TV is chatting in the background... and as I look out my window, I'm not kidding, I can see both BUDA and PEST at the same time. We're RIGHT on the river, and it is a BEAUTIFUL late August day. The funny thing is... I have been up since 11pm LAST NIGHT, and it is about quarter after 7PM here now, and I'm NOT EVEN TIRED. How am I even doing this? Well...

We ended up having a mechanical delay yesterday morning leaving from Keflavic. Not a big deal, really. We ended up having to order a part that was being flown in last night, so they put all 25 crew members (Us + a deadheading crew that was going onto Thailand) AND 145 U.S. ARMY soldiers up in hotels. But that's not the best part... Our 'old faithful' Hotel Keflavic was all booked, so they had to put us up in Reykjavic, Iceland, instead... which is a completely different city that I got to see... entirely as a bonus! AWESOME! I love the surprises of this job. They don't faze me one bit... if anything, I was excited about the detour! So anyway, our showtime this morning was at 2am. I went to sleep around 7:30pm for as long as I could and woke up around 11pm. I've been up ever since. To make things worse... I have to be up again tonight (or this morning, however you want to look at it) at 12:30am for a 1:30am showtime to head back to Keflavic tomorrow. BIG DEAL though... Vicki told us today (over a deeelicious glass of wine on a sunny patio in Budapest), that we don't even have PASSENGERS on this flight. Its a ferry flight!! Thank goodness! We'll be on our way back to Keflavic to take it easy and REALLY get some rest after these CRAZY and LONG past 72 hours. Tomorrow we are on reserve, (AND Vennie, Carolyn, and Deb join us with their crew for the next 5 days... YAY! more FRIENDS!), Thursday we are on reserve, Friday we are on reserve, Saturday we have a quick trip to Bosnia and back, and Sunday is our day off. I don't think I'm going to think twice about spending at LEAST 2 of those days in and out of my bed... IF I'm not hopping off to the Blue Lagoon or possibly going shopping back in Reyjkavic to poke around for the day. :-)

SO ANYWAY... really quick, wanted to share some tidbits about our flight today with all the fantastic ARMY folks. They were SO polite, and respectful, and funny, and personable... that I seriously got a little teary eyed when I had to say goodbye to them. I have such respect for what they are doing for our country... how can you not?? They are men AND women of ALL ages. I had 2 women sitting in my section (which was first class, by the way... thank you Vicki for giving me such a GREAT assignment!), that I REALLY got a chance to talk to. One of them looked like she was in her 50's and the other in her mid 30's. They were both wearing wedding rings, and they both had sons. I can't imagine how PROUD those boys must be of their Moms. What amazing women! I asked them how long they'd be over there (they were heading onto Kuwait, eventually) for and one of them answered, 'We don't know. Three months, six months, a year, we're all going to different places. We just hope for the best!' Vicki, our lead flight attendant, always says on th PA when we land, 'Thank you for flying with us today, good luck, and we look FORWARD to bringing you HOME.' That always gets me... I hope we bring each and every one of them home to their families. I don't want it any other way! This job is so rewarding. I can't wait to meet more and more troops as I have more flights. :-)

Today in Budapest, we all took an hour to shower and get ready, and 7 of us headed out for a much needed glass of wine and some shopping! Budapest is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't possibly see even half of it in a week here. Let alone a day! I would LOVE to be assigned 18 days in Budapest... and I have a funny feeling it MAY happen someday, if I play my cards right. :-) I made my first international purchase today... an orange pashmina scarf that just SCREAMS Budapest. It was 1000 FORES, equal to about $10 american money. I wrapped it around my neck immediately and continued on in glamorous Hungary style! The 7 of us stopped at a cute corner cafe for a couple glasses of wine and an appetizer, then went down further to this indoor market with fresh veggies, souvenirs, drinks, and food. Another Flight Attendant Deb and I split this fried dough thing with a sour cream mixture, ham, and cheese on it. I honestly don't know WHAT it was, but it was DELICIOUS! Maybe it was the wine... maybe I've just been eating crew meals and Iceland sandwiches too long. Either way, I was happy as a clam. We eventually decided to make our way back, took more pictures, and strolled along the opposite side of the river by the fountain. I can't believe how much we saw in such a short amount of time. I officially LOVE Budapest, and can't WAIT to come back again... NEXT MONDAY!!!! :-)






















Now I'm getting tired... ha! It's about TIME!

CHEERS!
Lisa :-)

'Betra Lif' music video-'Iceland style' music

Iceland has some GREAT music. I'm telling you... everyone here is so upbeat and friendly, and colorful! And this video is the perfect example of it. I've caught this song on MTV & VH1 a couple times since I've been here now... and I have to admit, each time it grows on me more and more! I love this little guy! Wow!

Cheers to a 'Betra Lif'!
-Lisa :-)

Excuse me while I go dance in the streets...

Walking tour of Keflavic, Iceland

Ahhh... beautiful Iceland. Nevermind the fact that it's been cloudy and cool since I got here... I still think this country is beautiful and so unique. I went for a walk yesterday morning and took some pics... that honestly don't do it justice!

Tomorrow morning we're moving onto Budapest for the night! Showtime is 9:00am, KEF time. Switching crews, and continuing on carrying soldiers from Norfolk, Virginia. Staying the night at the InterContinental- Budapest. Hear it makes Hotel Keflavic look like a motel! I can't wait!

CHEERS!

-Lisa :-)

Hotel Keflavic

Hi guys!




WOW. Keflavic, Iceland is SO cool! It's really great, and it's SOO different from what I am used to! From the minute we stepped into the airport yesterday I was scoping out the crowd... noticing fashions, languages, and... the weather! It's been chilly and cool here... but it's honestly a nice change from the humid 80's I'm used to! It reminds me of a cool November day in the midwest, actually. But the one thing I noticed about Iceland is the colors of the houses and buildings... they are all so quaint and cute. It's almost like the people of Iceland try to make up for the dreary weather by painting their houses shades of reds, yellows, and blues! It's great!




Without further ado...




Here are FIVE THINGS NO ONE told me about my hotel in Iceland (but I figured out myself):

1. The beds are THE MOST comfortable beds I have EVER slept in in my entire life! They're low to the ground, so you just sink down into them. The TWO down comforters are so soft and squishy, and with my window open and the fresh Iceland air blowing in, it makes me want to snuggle all day long! (AND I DID yesterday... ha!)

2. You'd think this would be worth mentioning either by one of my crew members or by, perhaps, the person that checked me into the hotel?? Ha! I walked into my Junior Suite (Lucky me!) room yesterday and was thrilled that I had a bathtub, a queen bed, and a great view of the ocean to the left. I wanted to rifle through my suitcase and get settled with the TV on in the background. It didn't work. Neither did the light. Or the hairdryer in the bathroom! NONE of the power worked! Hmm. I chased down the maid, and she motioned to me (she didn't speak english) that I needed to put my room key in the 'HOTEL CARD' slot in the wall right next to the door. What? I didn't even see that thing! Ha! I guess it's to save electricity when I'm not in the room. I bet she thought I was a dumb American. Oh well, maybe I am! I'm new at this stuff! :-)

3. They only have HALF shower doors! It's only a partition! And what you can't see in the pic is that it's one of those shower heads you have to maneuver yourself... I didn't even want to TRY that yesterday so I just took a bath. OH! And the water smells like sulfur! Hahaha! It's not THAT bad though... I got used to it... althought it's hard to feel REALLY clean when you're bathing in water that smells like I just boiled a dozen hard boiled eggs in! Ha!

4. THIS IS THE HAIRDRYER! Hahaha... It either looks like a scary piece of medical equipment, or a vacuum extension you'd use to clean the blinds with! Hahaha! I was relieved that it BLEW OUT air when I turned it on for the first time and didn't suck it in! Ha!

And finally...

5. Hotel Keflavic DOES NOT skimp on breakfast! As a matter of fact, it's FREE! Probably the only free food I'll find the entire time I'm here in expensive Iceland. Which means, I'll be eating this EVERY day! Ha! There was even a sandwich station next to this impressive display, so I made 2 ham, cheese, hardboiled egg, & cucumber sandwiches to bring up to my room to eat later. Hahaha... I'm gonna be so sick of this by the time I leave here. I'll be CRAVING a deluxe junior cheeseburger from Beef-a-Roo so badly that I'll probably have to stop and get one on my way home from the airport! :-)

Cheers!

Lisa :-)