I’m afraid to say that my first impression of Iceland was not a good one. I booked our accommodation directly with the Hotel Centrum in Reykjavik making sure they were aware that the time of our flight would mean that we wouldn’t reach the hotel until around midnight. No problem – or at least that’s what they said – but when we duly turned up just before the clock struck twelve, there was no room for us at the inn, and what’s more we didn’t even register on their booking system. Welcome to Iceland.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say I had documentation to prove that I had booked the hotel, not just for one night, but for the best part of a week. Fortunately, there was somebody there who used his initiative and arranged for a taxi to take us to a sister hotel, and being June, it was still light by the time we clambered into bed.

The staff at our surrogate hotel were very helpful, but when I woke up I wanted to get back to the Hotel Centrum to find out why we weren’t allocated the room I had paid for. It was more expensive for a start, but it was quickly sorted out – almost too quickly if you get my drift. Last night, celebrations were taking place all over the city for Independence Day (17^th June), and forgive me for being suspicious, but when we arrived back at the Centrum we were treated like royalty with profuse apologies, a better room than we had originally paid for and a free 3 course dinner thrown in, which in Iceland isn’t cheap. Whatever my thoughts were, it was more important to get on with our holiday as quickly as possible, and we were soon off out of the door exploring Iceland’s capital.

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Originally posted 2023-11-29 10:46:49.