London & the "joy" of Icelandair

I love Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I can do without the turkey - because let's be honest, it takes true talent to make that meat actually tasty sans globs of gravy or cranberry sauce - but I do love the two extra days off just before the end of the semester really starts to kick my ass.

This year, instead of hanging out in Boston for the holiday, I decided to crash my Mom's trip to the UK. I figured the weather couldn't possibly be much worse than Boston and it's debatable if I was wrong. However, this way I did get to enjoy some wonderful tea and the pleasure of listening to the British accent. Mind you, I did NOT enjoy the exchange rate... $1 = less than 50p... tragic!! Nevertheless, I made do (and tried to convince Mommy to cover as much as possible).

My last trip to London was five years ago. That time, Mommy and I went for my spring break. Ironically, the weather was only slightly better then that it was this go 'round. We tried to hit the major sites then... Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben & Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery, British Museum, Harrod's, Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace... so this time around, we deliberately tried to see the sights we missed last time. Despite the icky and incessant rain, I managed to see Kensington Palace & Gardens + Hyde Park, the V&A Museum, Tate Modern and stroll through Notting Hill, Kensington and Knightsbridge and imagine what it would be like to live there. In addition to seeing the sights of the city, like last time, we took in some fantastic theatre shows. But this time, instead of seeing classics like Les Mis, My Fair Lady and Cats, we saw Mamma Mia, Wicked and Dirty Dancing... all of which were amazing (although admittedly, Mamma Mia and Dirty Dancing were the most fun by far!).

Perhaps the only complaint I had would be in relation to my flights there and back. Icelandair was offering a good price from Boston to London via Reykjavik. Since I'm always looking for a deal and thought it would be novel to connect through Iceland, I jumped on it. Well, let's just say next time, I'm going to be better prepared.

Here are my tips for anyone else who thinks it might be a good idea to fly Icelandair:
(1) Bring your own blanket... it's questionable how frequently/thoroughly they clean the ones in the coach cabin
(2) Bring your own meals... I usually like airline food (I know, hard to believe there is someone out there who is willing to admit that!) but their food was awful... all of it, and I was offered four meals (I say offered because I was prepared on the way back and brought back-up options which were necessary)
(3) Invest in those Bose sound-eliminating headsets... I swear it was the loudest long-distance flight I've ever been on. The flight crew is opposed to consolidating all (or at least most) of their messages into one. Instead, every 30 mins or so, you can expect to be jarred from any quasi-sleep state by unrecognizable mumbling (which you realize isn't English) following by semi-recognizable mumbling (which is English but may as well not be for the value imparted).
(4) Bring a sleep mask... along the lines of the headsets, there is little rhyme or reason for when the cabin lights are dimmed and when they are not
(5) Bring your own water... the only place where this could be a challenge is when you board the US-bound plane from Reykjavik but if you have a larger enough carry-on, stow it in there and you'll be fine

Of course, it was not all bad... I'm pretty sure Icelandair has the farthest reclining coach seats I've encountered to date and that's got to account for something.