BirdingInSpain

Part 1

Birding In Spain will be birding in Iceland

Birding In Spain will be birding in Iceland

Birding In Spain will be birding in Iceland

Booking.com: the best

“Oh, Iceland, I love Iceland,” he said, “I’ve been there 8 times”.

Like me he was a professional bird guide. He’d been to Iceland 8 times already, and I was close to embarking on my first ever visit. And yet I was conceited enough to believe that my knowledge of Iceland could not be vastly inferior to his. When he asked what our route was to be I proudly informed him that we were starting with a few days in Reykjavik, and then working our way to the south and east of the Iceland, as far as Akureyri in the north, before flying back to Reykjavik.

“It’s not as if there’s that much to see in the west of the island,” I added.

I noticed how he tightened his lips so as not to respond with what he knew, so as not to hurt my feelings with some real knowledge. I noticed, but I ignored it.

The time for our much awaited holiday in Iceland came. First off Florinda and I had spent 3 enjoyable nights in Reykjavik in each other’s company, and our first of two nights at Hvollsvöllur, within a working distance of Iceland’s southern town of Vík, the gateway to the east of the island. The next day we would set out to near Höfn, on the southeast coast of Iceland, before continuing along the main ring road as far as Akureyri, “the capital of the north”.

The evening before our departure from Hvollsvöllur Florinda received a phone call.

“Mrs Vidal, this is Rachel from Booking,” said Rachel, in Catalan, which was our stipulated language of preference with Booking. Nevertheless, we were pleasantly surprised that the representative of such a huge online enterprise actually made the effort to communicate with us in a language which was widely treated as clearly subordinate to Spanish.

Rachel continued, “The accommodation where you are booked for the next two nights has informed us of some serious flooding of the main road, which may impede safe access for you if you are coming from the direction of Reykjavík, which we believe is the case”.

It was the case.

“We believe that the best course would be for you to cancel the accommodation there and to re-route, is that possible? We’ll give you an immediate refund, and any assistance you may need in searching for alternative accommodation elsewhere”.

What could we do? We took Rachel’s advice and the next day we headed back past Reykjavík and to the Snaefellness Peninsula to the west of the island, first off to spend two nights in the hotel we had booked with Booking.com the previous evening.

Birding In Spain will be birding in Iceland

And for the wonderful time and unforgettable experiences that we had on our alternative route through the Snaefellness Peninsula and along the west and north of Iceland to Akureyri: all I can think of saying is “Thanks flood!” and “Thanks Booking!”