“Dömur mínar og herrar, velkomin heim.” The friendly voice of the announcement you hear soon as the plane lands on Iceland welcomes you first in Icelandic and then English, and listening to it carefully you may catch the small difference in the message. The English one welcomes you to Iceland, the Icelandic one – home. As you walk through the Keflavík airport you may see more signs with the same, small yet notable difference. The general idea is that to an Icelander Iceland will always be home, no matter how long they’ve lived abroad or whether they’re ever planning to return to live here.

The airport is tiny and has only one terminal. It does not take longer than 15-20 min to walk from one end to the other. Therefore do not panic if on your way between North America and Europe the transit time is short, by all likelihood you’ll catch your flight just fine! Although the other option, staying in Iceland for a day, is also a very tempting one for tourists, not least because of Blue Lagoon hotel and natural spa that’s located near Keflavík. For less touristy spots Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður are also nearby. I’ve also heard people sometimes like to rent a car and go drive in the southwest corner of the country, for example to Golden Circle which, tourist attraction though it is, is well worth visiting at least once.

Sign in front of the people is forbidding sleeping on the airport or on its grounds. 

Arriving to the country you’ll first walk along the same corridors where other travelers are waiting to board their flights. The arrivals hall is downstairs and to the left side of the corridor and is so easy to miss that I actually walked past it once on my first visit to the country. Once there you’ll be able to easily tell which ones of your traveling companions are Icelandic: they’re the ones that routinely make a beeline for the dutyfree.

An old-fashioned vs. modern way of crossing the sea. Pick your favourite!

When you finally step outside of the main doors two things are there to greet you, ready or not. One is the vast emptiness. There are no trees anywhere to be seen and even though you probably knew this before it can still take you by surprise. The other is that the air is very, extremely clean (and often cold).

Leifur “heppni” Eiríksson, also called Leif “the lucky” Ericsson. You’ll also find him downtown Reykjavík in front of Hallgrímskirkja.

Keflavík is sometimes considered to be the harshest of all capital city areas weather-wise, which is rumored to be the reason why Icelanders pointed it to the American military as a place they could settle at. Before them the Brits had already taken over the city center of Reykjavík and no one seemed too keen on repeating the experience, plus the American army required far more space. The airport the Brits had had built in Reykjavík simply wasn’t enough and besides as the American army intended to stay they needed more space to live in as well.

Mountains peeking through the clouds. They reminded me of so many islands in a foamy, white sea.

The weather can also make landing sometimes a little bit unforgettable to say the least. If you happen to catch a windy day, just lean back and listen to the Icelanders whoop happily at the turbulence, it’s a strangely effective way of calming down even if, like me, you were a little bit afraid of flying. 😀