Or issues.
We try to keep in mind past experiences when we travel and this came into play on this trip on the homeward bound leg of this trip. Several times we have returned from Heathrow Airport and had to navigate long security lines. On my last business trip to the U.K. I barely made my flight and I was determined to avoid the stress by building extra time into our departure schedule. Of course the powers that be were amused by my efforts and humored me by making things go extra smooth and ~25 minutes after arriving at Heathrow we were through security with lots of time to kill. We were helped a bit by flying Icelandair Saga Class (business) which put us in special queues, something I accounted for but even this line was much shorter that I expected. I asked if this was typical and was told yes because of our timing on a Friday and in a few hours things would be worse. I like being through airport security and have time to be bored so I was happy. This experience once again proves timing is everything.
On that last several trips we have used the Mobile Passport App for to get through U.S. customs, they claim you will “breeze through customs” and we did on those trips making our use of the app as part of our return routine. I was dismayed to find out that it was not possible to use it on this return for the simplest of reasons, an out of date database. The service apparently maintains a list of which airlines fly into which airports and has not been updated with Icelandair service to SFO. One would think six weeks (Icelandair started service in early June, 2018) would be enough time for an update but no. They did ask to e-mail them with any missing airlines which I did. Resigned to going through Immigration and Customs old fashion way but once again I found the powers that be were playing with me, a head fake this time. The queues at immigration were very small and we were waived to a new station that gave us a cursory glance. Our luggage came up quick and our time from disembark from the aircraft to walking to the car was ~25 minutes, about the same as our entry at Heathrow. Smooth. I still recommend the Mobile Passport App but I suggest checking before expected use if your airport/airline combination is in the app and let them know if it is not. Mobile Passport App is a great alternative to Global Entry in my opinion depending on your travel habits.
Sydney is quite happy to be home, she has spent 30 out of the last 40 days on the road.
Time for the thanks and credits. Thanks to Maggie Smura of Ladera Travel for her help on this one. It required some extra effort on her part on this one and it is greatly appreciated! Ladera Travel is owned and operated by Les and Nancy Burger, they have a great experienced crew and will take good care of your travel needs. Recommended.
Also a special thanks to Magnús Thoroddsen of Prime Tours Iceland, we may have conceived of the Iceland leg but he made sure we were able to do execute on our ideas and came up with alternatives and additions as we traveled. A great guide and friend, takk fyrir Magnús!
And finally thanks to Kim and Syd, my ever patient and loving travel companions. They watched the back of my head as I stared out the window for almost nine hours. Some pictures of what I saw below.
