The Reykjavik Airport

Sun., Sept. 1 - Early Sunday morning, like very early, we headed for the Reykjavik airport for an early flight to Stockholm, Sweden, where the actual cruise will begin. We were told to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 3:45 a.m. to take the bus to the airport. We were given a "Grab and Go" breakfast to eat on the bus. We arrived at the airport, checked our bags, found our gate, and awaited our plane's departure to Stockholm. Now we really enjoyed our time here in Iceland. We saw a lot of beautiful things and there were some very interesting sights, and we highly recommend visiting this country. But we have to say that we absolutely HATE the Reykjavik airport. It is the absolute worst airport we have ever been in. The concourses are very narrow, and then as you walk down the concourse, there are long lines of people standing along the wall, waiting to board their plane, as they do not have gate areas in some parts of the airport. Where there are actual gate areas for waiting to board a plane, there are sometimes only two seats, sometimes 8 or 10, and sometimes a few more, but never large areas. As a result, people are scattered about on floors, in between chairs, anywhere they can find space to sit (or sleep) while awaiting their plane. Presumably the airport is overcrowded partly due to the recent increase in tourism. When we lined up to board our plane, there were herds of people all around us, and when the boarding began, there was no defined line that moved forward, just a bunch of people all lurching forward together as time and space allowed. The Reykjavik airport apparently doesn't have enough gates for the plane traffic, and so many planes have to "park" away from the gate and then bus the passengers to the terminal. This was the case upon our arrival, and unfortunately was the case again upon our departure. As we finally managed to get to the front of the line where the buses were boarding, the bus was full and we had to wait for the next bus. After a very long time, the next bus finally arrived and we boarded it. They tried to get all remaining passengers on this bus, so we were packed in like sardines, and then had to wait about 20 minutes with no explanation of what we were waiting for. Finally after what seemed like a very long time, the doors closed, and the bus pulled away from the curb. It drove for about 10 or 15 seconds, and then stopped at our plane. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!! We could have walked there and back 10 times during that time we spent packed like sardines on the bus! And then a very scary thought occurred to me - we have to travel through Reykjavik airport on our way back home in a couple of weeks!  NOOOOOOO!!!!!