Mums Going to Iceland

In November 2007 - four months pregnant with Miss E - my mum and I went to Iceland for the second year in a row. It was an amazing trip including, memorably, the Northern Lights.
The night we saw the Northern Lights was particularly special as it was the first night I felt the baby - Miss E - move.
Today, almost exactly eleven years later, we've come back!
The day got off to an early start. Mr K dropped me off at the bus stop in Buckingham just before 6.30am and off I went!!
My mum and dad picked me up from the bus in Bicester and we carried on to Terminal 5 at Heathrow. 
Check-in was amazingly simple - things have changed since I last flew! We walked straight up to a conveyor belt, scanned our bags, printed boarding passes and bag tags and watched our bags sail off down the conveyor belt.
Then it was a bit of shopping - meal deal in Boots for the plane (and possibly dinner tonight!) and a Chai latte in Starbucks before heading to the gate. 
We were a bit late having lost track of time in Starbucks but thankfully all was well and we were soon in our seats ready for take off.
My mum's favourite Christmas treat is a mushroom and Emmental toastie from M&S.We were thrilled to discover that the food onboard British Airways is provided by M&S and they had the mushroom one, whoop whoop!!!!
By the time we'd ordered those, perused the magazines, eaten our sandwiches and drunk our tea it was time to land. Iceland is so close!!!
In no time at all we had cleared security - again all new (to me!) you just walk up to a barrier, show it your passport and your face and you're through. Brilliant!!
I haven't driven a left hand drive car since Mr K and I were in Lanzarote eleven years ago (also when I was I was pregnant with Miss E, she was a very well travelled foetus!) and I bashed into a parked car and smashed our wing mirror off. After having told Mr K off for driving like an old lady and being overly cautious. Oops!!)
Actually, of course I have, because two weeks after we got back from Lanzerote my mum and I came to Iceland and I drove here with no mishaps.
Apart from driving our jeep into a ditch in the snow and impressing my mum with my ability to rock it on the hand break and get us out.
So I was a little nervous getting behind the wheel of our car (with its freakishly tiny boot door. You bash your head every time, grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!) but it was fine. There was hardly any traffic and we zoomed into Reykjavik and out the other side towards Stykkisholmur, our home for the next five days.
The drive was lovely. Straight out of the airport you're driving through lava fields and steaming lakes. Reykjavik ring road is nothing special but it was funny to see an Ikea standing in a lava field!
Then it was into the countryside - snowcapped mountains in the distance, lakes, the sea looking glorious in the setting sun. Magical.
As usual my mum and I spent the whole drive saying "look at that", "Oh, look at that" every five minutes!
It got dark and started raining with about an hour to go to or hotel but luckily there's no traffic to speak of and the yellow reflective poles on each side of the road light it up like a runway!
Check in at the hotel was the easiest I have ever known. We walked in and the woman said "Mrs K?", when I said yes she gave us our key cards and pointed us in the direction of the lift. That was it!!
So here we are now, in our lovely room overlooking the beautiful church. My mum has unpacked and put everything in its place. Our food stash is piled up on the table and we can't wait for daylight so we can start exploring.