This morning Seth is running in Iceland. Though there is cool, thick fog, it is easy to tell it looks rather flat and brown out there, at least from the airport. For ‘fun’, we are going to break down our trip into stages. We figure by now, after leaving Waltham, going to New York, flying to North Carolina, and flying back to New York, and completing our first long day of traveling, we are somewhere around stage 8. This came after, of course, several longer days of packing and last minute trip preparations; Seth had two more visits to the dentist, his car was taken off the road for the next year (thankfully his parents were car-sitting the neighbor’s little Miata so we had some sporty wheels with which to run our errands), we got our hair cut, Lorenzo made two trips to the vet for a physical (the second visit was because the first vet was not certified to fill out the paperwork, ergh), and we spent an awful long time on the phone and on the internet making sure Lorenzo would be allowed out of the US and into Italy. We still don’t know.
Seth with the family, heading out the door
After debating the best way to get to Boston with gerbil in tow (not many domestic airlines allow rodents), we decided to rent a car and drive it one-way. Yesterday morning Seth’s dad drove us the hour and a half back to Syracuse airport to pick up the rental car. We took it to Waltham to reunite with two large suitcases and the guitar we left in Seth’s office, repacked and reorganized, then were able to drive straight to the Boston airport. It was so nice to not have to suffer two hours on the bus and T like we normally do when going to the airport!
Back at Brandeis, now with all our stuff!!
When you have lots of luggage you overlook how precious little things like shuttle rides and trolleys/carts are. Taking four very large suitcases, two back packs, two carry-on suitcases, a guitar, a bag of food, and a gerbil does not make for a pretty sight, and very thankfully we have not yet had to carry it all at once. That will come later today. We checked in our big bags and handed Lorenzo over to Icelandair. Of course, it was a big ordeal—we had to bring him to get checked out by TSA and since they normally deal with cats and dogs he caused a bit of a spectacle. At one point we were in a hallway behind locked-doors surrounded by four TSA officers and the airline attendant, telling us all about their childhood pet rodents. Everyone said he must be a very special gerbil to be able to come along on such a big trip. We agree.
The evening flight from Boston to Iceland was very short, only about 4.5 hours, short enough for them to not have to provide a meal. Not even pretzels. We landed sometime after sunrise (in the summer Iceland has 24 hours of daylight), had our passports stamped, walked through customs with a bag full of carrots and apples and chicken sandwiches, and Seth was off on his run (we figured that being a volcanic island with little plant-life, Iceland would welcome any fresh produce they can get!). I will try to make it out, too, time permitting—there is a small town on the coast about two miles from here that I can get to if there is time, and if the highway leading out there isn’t too horrible to run on. I hope Lorenzo is also enjoying his layover, his first time in a different country!
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