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PAL@YWG · Last edited by PAL@YWG on Sun Nov 13, 2011 8:37 am; edited 3 times in total

BACKGROUND:
Sometime in Nov-December last year I realised that I haven’t been to India for quite sometime. It would about two long years that I haven’t been to my beloved, wretched, pounded-but-not-wounded Calcutta! While planning for the trip I knew that it’s my opportunity to include some destinations in Europe en route. So by end Feb- March, my itinerary took the following shape:

Winnipeg- Toronto- Reykjavik (Iceland)- Copenhagen- Warsaw- Kiev- Tashkent- Delhi- Calcutta

I always wanted to see Iceland. Though it’s very scenic, it’s appeal as a tourist destination is kinda limited to Scandinavian folks, Brits and Americans. And yes, you might have an unplanned stop in Iceland if your transatlantic flight encounters a trouble or one of your fellow passengers fell sick in the midway!

Auschwitz concentration camp is another place that I always wanted to visit, so I had to include Poland. CPH was added as a freebie and the rest of the destinations are for VFR purpose.

Then came the most interesting part of the planning process; buying tickets. In today’s connected world, it doesn’t take long to figure out a strategy about getting the cheapest tickets and best time to grab them. Most of my tickets were booked thru either Expedia or from Airline’s website. Finally when everything was bought, the Itinerary looked like this:

YWG- YYZ: Air Canada (using Airmiles)
YYZ- KEF: Iceland Air (FI)
KEF- CPH: Iceland Air (FI)
CPH- WAW: Wizz Air (W6)
WAW- KBP: Aerosvit Airlines (VV)
KBP- TAS: Aerosvit Airlines (VV)
TAS-DEL: Uzbekistan Airways (HY)
DEL- CCU: JetLite (S2)

I will be for the first time:
- On FI, W6 & VV
- On E75, 757-300, E45
- At KEF, CPH & WAW.
Once tickets were booked and plan was finalised, the countdown for the first leg of my journey started. It’s still two months to go!

July 4
Route: YWG- YYZ
Flight#: AC258
Aircraft: E75
Departure: 0650AM
Arrival: 1007AM

Short taxi ride brought me to our beloved YWG airport. Besides regular direct flights to DEN, ORD & MSP, Winnipeg airport’s only direct connection to Europe is to Reykjavik, Iceland!

Since I already did web check in, I had to just drop off my bags. Once I was at our departure gate, I got first glimpse of my E75.

After about 2 hours of smooth cruising, I landed at Toronto International few minutes ahead of schedule. My next flight to KEF is at 9.10PM so I have about 11 hours in hand. That is enough for a quick visit to Niagara Falls. Though it will be a repeat visit but what the heck…I am trading here an endless wait at YYZ T3 with a scenic drive to Niagara Falls and back. Rented a car in no time and after about two and half hours I am at the falls!

Returned to YYZ just in time to do some plane-spotting.

Skyteam biggies

Apna Air India

July 4
Route: YYZ- KEF
Flight#: FI 602
Aircraft: Boeing 757-300
Departure: 910PM
Arrival: 0625AM+1

My aircraft at the gate

Check-in and boarding was smooth. I asked for an aisle seat (28C), once located my seat, I found a pillow, a blanket and headset kept on my seat. FI seats have PTVs and non-alcoholic beverages are free. I noticed kids got free meal and a gift pouch. Hey, I started feeling that I am going back to the good old days of flying when legacy carriers would handout toys to kids, amenity kits to adults and not to mention the nice meal washed down with choice of alcohols. In one such flights (MIA- LHR) with Virgin Atlantic in economy class, after we all were fed to our heart’s content and quenched our thirst with choicest alcohols, an air hostess ran down the aisle asking “anyone for a refill”, she was holding bailey’s Irish Cream in one hand and Whisky(forgot the brand) on the other. How long ago that was…about 15 years!

The load is almost 100% as this is the peak season, lots of people use FI because of their cheaper fare to European destinations with no stopover fee for stopping over in Iceland. The flight time is about 5 hours, soon the lights were turned off. I found a nice Icelandic movie with English subtitle, I watched as most of the passengers slept.

Message on a napkin

As I said before, crossing the pond will most of the time will bring you over Iceland. From 35,000 feet above, I always thought how that place would be to visit. So this time when our aircraft was touching down the tarmac, I got my first glimpse of long cherished Iceland.

It took a while before the bags arrived. While waiting I noticed the whole crew team from our flight did some duty free shopping before exiting the airport. That’s not a surprise, the last financial crisis did hit Iceland very hard and prices have sky-rocketed since then. Customs and Immigration was over in no time and I am out on the street to my tour bus to the famous blue lagoon.

Ouside KEF airport

Some Scenic places in and around Reykjavik

an inter-Iceland flight

While taking a city tour one thing struck me was the size of the capital city. I was told the population is about 330,000 but Reykjavik is pretty big for 330,000 souls. They have an elaborate network of Public transport system besides plenty of Tour buses will ferry you to any point in Iceland you want to visit. The guide was telling us that Iceland took in some 30,000 immigrants in recent years otherwise there were only 300.000 icelanders. Couldn’t find a Desi but my hotel owner was a Chinese. India has an embassy facing the ocean (or may be a big lagoon), I could spot that.

After spending a memorable day, I wanted to get some well deserved sleep but during Jul-Aug, Iceland has almost no darkness during the night time, so that didn’t help.

KEF is about 45 minutes drive from downtown Reykjavik. My pre-booked tour bus brought me to KEF in time. Again check-in was smooth and soon I was at the departure level for some plane-spotting. KEF is served by two Iceland-based airlines, Iceland Air, full service and kinda flag bearer for Iceland which has code-share arrangement with SAS. And also Iceland Express, a LCC with dubious reputation. I heard that Germanwings has occasional flights in summer, that’s pretty much it. But the airport is of decent size with a good selection for duty-free shopping.

July 6
Route: KEF- CPH
Flight#: FI 204
Aircraft: Boeing 757-300
Departure: 745AM
Arrival: 1245PM

Inside KEF: departure area

It’s the same aircraft that brought me here from Toronto, called “Hengill”, named after a active volcano. Again load is almost 100%, being a popular route, as I said earlier, Danes has historic connection with Iceland. After about 3 hours of flying, we were descending and after a short manoeuvring we landed at CPH on a very sunny mid-day. While landing, I could spot the Oresund Bridge that links Denmark with Sweden.

Since Iceland is part of SCHENGEN treaty, there was no passport control at CPH. I went straight to baggage area. I found CPH crowded, not very user-friendly (AMS is much better) and needs modernization. I had to wait long for bags to arrive. Once out of the airport you are in front of the Railway station. You can’t avoid seeing warnings at the ticket purchase area saying “Beware of pickpockets. Quickly I bought a Zone 3 ticket and within 20 minutes, I am in downtown Copenhagen. Here some of the pictures of the lovely city.

Famous little mermaid

Thanks for reading, comments are welcome always!

Next Part(coming soon) will cover: CPH-WAW-KBP
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Tally Sheet:
41 Countries ||55 Aircraft types ||60 Airlines ||75 Airports

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

what an exotic routing and a very nice TR to go along with it! Great pics!
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Causal Determinism : We are hardwired to need answers. The Caveman who heard a rustle in the bushes and checked out to see what it was, lived longer than the guy, who assumed it was just a breeze.

- Greg House

Nimish · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 10:52 am Post subject:

Outstanding! Waiting for the rest....
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We miss you Nalini!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Outstanding, simply outstanding. What did I like most about this trip report? So many things, I have tried to enumerate a few. Some notes, here:
1. Exotic places, exotic routing, exotic airlines. That is the true spirit of many of us aviation freaks here. Your list of aircraft types and airlines flown - in itself, will make many of us gawk in amazement.
2. I remember Copenhagen in 1978. I had gazed at the planes parked there in amazement - the view from the terminal where we had landed - was wonderful, for its time. I saw a PIA 707 for the first time, there.
3. Very nice pictures - what with the little reflections that are hard to get rid of? The lovely pictures and vivid descriptions teleport the reader to the scene, right beside you. It is almost like being there with you!
4. The choice of the pictures that you have shared with us - is very nice. Right from in-flight pictures from the aisle, down to the pictures from the exotic places you have visited. Thanks for taking the time to share these gems with us!
5. The little things you note - from the inscription on the napkin, to the small bits about each place you have been to - all add up to the excitement of the reader, and leaves him/her wanting more of the same.
Eagerly looking forward to the other part(s) of this report,
Sumantra.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 1:40 pm Post subject:

Sweet! Especially that Embraer cabin - very pleasant!
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Yeah.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

enjoyed your TR .. good job!

PAL@YWG · Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 8:26 pm Post subject:

me111993/ Nimish/Sumantra/ Spiderguy252/ Avbuff:

Many thanks for the kind words, really appreciate it!
Working on Part 2, will post soon.
Thanks again!
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Tally Sheet:
41 Countries ||55 Aircraft types ||60 Airlines ||75 Airports

shasi1711 · Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:38 am Post subject:

Wonderful trip report! Iceland looks beautiful. Been looking to visit the country sometime.

Your pics of Copenhagen brought me memories of my trip there too Smile

Very nice choice of routing to explore some new cities and airlines!

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Ecxcellent TR - Awesome cities, Exotic Airlines.

Sri_Bom

rutvij · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:31 pm Post subject:

Really Wonderful Trip Report! And amazing weather wherever you went. Almost felt like I was there as it unfolded... Exotic Airlines, Exotic Destinations and one helluva Itinerary. Iceland definitely needs a visit.

Many thanks for sharing, and writing this exhaustively !

+1 to Sumantra's Analysis. Kept us glued.