Everything made it to Iceland in one piece, including me! All the news stories about long delays at Pearson didn't impact my travel out of Canada. From getting dropped off by my Uber to getting through baggage check, security and to my gate, it took a total of ninety minutes - and that included having me unpack and repack my bike box for inspection. That was fun.
I'm assuming it's because it's just the start of their big summer season, but Keflavik airport was chaos. I was in a huge, densely packed mob, with no idea where to go, or where lines were supposed to be formed. After muddling my way through that madness, I was pleased to see my bike and duffel bag had arrived at baggage claim ahead of me. Even better - the airport had a bike assembly station all set up for us two-wheeled travelers.
A fellow cyclist on my flight wasn't as lucky as me; his box was already opened and he was missing key tools for his trip. He said he was packing it and going home, but I like to think he made a trip to Reykjavik to source the tools he needed.
By the time I got my bike assembled, it was about 12pm local time, making it 8am my time. I wasn't able to sleep on the plane, so I've been up for 26 hours. Not a good recipe for a long ride in an unfamiliar place, but what the hell, I wanted to get moving.
Because I put my bike together before leaving the airport building, they didn't let me bring it back in when I wanted to get supplies and water, so I decided to leave with the food I had, and just find water along the way. Turns out there isn't anything along the highway between Keflavik and Reykjavik except highway.
After five hours of dry recycled airplane air, I was probably a little dehydrated to begin with, and I didn't get a drop of water until I reached Reykjavik 50km later. I'm certain that's the farthest I've ever pushed myself without hydrating (won't be doing that again), and the lack of sleep wasn't doing me any favours. When I reached my hostel, that first sip of water felt like adrenaline.
I'm going to enjoy a hot shower and warm bed tonight before things potentially get more challenging tomorrow.
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