Wednesday, June 26

The week leading up to the trip was crazy to say the least - Rob and the boys were in CA through June 21st helping the Busi’s since Kumar was in the ICU and both of our dads just had surgery the week before.

On Friday, June 21st I was notified that I was being fired from EL, which came out of left field. It was rough handling that information on my own (since Rob and the boys were on a plane). I was proud of how I handled myself in the meeting (I was very stoic). They sent me a severance agreement to review and I immediately reached out to Deana for help. She jumped into action and made me feel better about responding the best way possible.

The weekend was spent trying to take it easy and getting ready for the trip. But I must have internalized the stress from Friday and I woke up at 4:00 am Monday morning in rough shape. I was in pain - my shoulders completely locked up and I couldn’t get relief in any position. It was miserable. I took a hot bath and that helped. I ended up booking a last minute massage through Elements massage which helped. I also booked a Dr’s appt with Dr. Min and he did an EKG on me just to make sure it wasn’t a heart attack. Thankfully it was not. He prescribed a muscle relaxer and if that didn’t work, he prescribed an anti anxiety drug that is also a muscle relaxer. The muscle relaxer didn’t help much but the anti anxiety drug did. On Wednesday morning I woke up feeling half way decent. I still had pains in certain joints (like my thumb) but it was manageable.

Meanwhile, Rob was doing everything to get us ready including taking Colin to his driving classes that he had Monday- Wednesday, buying the last minute clothing items, mowing the yard, painting some boards on the deck, washing the dog and all of the slip covers …. It was craziness.

Wednesday came and we worked as a team to pull everything together last minute. We ordered a Lyft and was picked up in a nice car and got to the airport in perfect time. Our flight left on time (7:00 pm from RDU). It was a red eye, getting us into Paris on Thursday morning.

Thursday, June 27

The trip went less smooth from there. Once we got to Paris, it took an hour and a half to get from the plane to our connecting gate (even though they were 2 E and 2F). The police/passport check made us miss our flight to Copenhagen 😩 We went to the Air France desk and got booked onto a flight to Amsterdam and then to Copenhagen. However, as we were boarding our Amsterdam flight, I realized that Rob and the boys had assigned seats but I was on standby for the Copenhagen flight. I spoke to the flight attendant and she said that I would have to check with the ground crew in Amsterdam 😞

Thankfully, I did get a seat and we got into Copenhagen around 4:15 pm on Thursday. The flights were nice, clean, and all of them (even the one hour flights) came with food! We had a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich from Paris to Amsterdam and an egg salad sandwich from Amsterdam to Copenhagen 😊

Unfortunately, our luggage was lost somewhere between Raleigh and Copenhagen. We spent almost 2 hours after landing trying to find it (there was another family who had their luggage lost as well, and it had an AirTag, which showed it was still at the airport. We think what \240happened is that it never unloaded from the plane and went back with the plane after we landed). It was an exhausting 16 hour or more travel day, so we took the train back to the hotel after filing our claim for the lost luggage.

As soon as we checked in, Rob headed back out to buy some new clothes for us \240(at the Copenhagen version of Walmart). I ordered pizza and chicken tenders to be delivered to the hotel and the boys and I got cleaned up (we were super stinky after a long travel day). \240The hotel does not have air-conditioning, but they gave us fans and it wasn’t too bad.

Friday, June 28

I woke up in a ton of pain. My neck/shoulders were acting up again and Rob thought I had a bulging disk that was sitting on a nerve. After taking Advil, muscle relaxers, and applying Tiger \240Balm onto my back, I felt halfway decent again. We got a call from the front desk around 11:30 saying that the luggage would be arriving in the late afternoon, so we were encouraged with that news. Boys slept in till after 12:00 noon, and we left for Tivoli Gardens around 1:30 pm. It was a 25 min walk from the hotel and we stopped for coffee along the way. We had a fun time there - it was a charming place and wasn’t too busy in the early afternoon.

It started to get quite busy in the late afternoon so we took off and walked over to the canal in Nyhavn. It was a gorgeous day and there were a ton of college students riding in big trucks celebrating the end of their tests. It was an entertaining sight 😊

We took the metro back to the hotel only to find out that one out of 3 of our bags got delivered 😩😩. Rob went back to the airport to try to find out what happened to the other two pieces but couldn’t get through security. The boys and I stayed back to get cleaned up, call Rob’s dad (his sister, aunt Joanne passed away the day before), and order in Thai food from the restaurant in the hotel. A less than ideal way to end our second day in Copenhagen, but we made the best of it and I was proud of how our family is rolling with the punches.

Saturday, June 29

We still don’t have baggage, so we took the metro to a great breakfast spot (called The Spot!) and then walked to the mall. Rob was an amazing shopper and found shoes, bathing suits, warm clothes, and fancy dinner clothes for him and all the boys at H&M! I found a bathing suit and some underwear at a department store and dress in a blazer at H&M. I found some shoes at a shoe store… Everything was pretty pricey… Both my bathing suit and my shoes cost over $100! But of course, Rob found some amazing deals for him and the boys 😊

Sunday

We all slept in past 10:00 am! My shoulders were still really bad and I was in a lot of pain. I went to the spa to use the huge hot tub and the sauna - that helped A LOT. I met back up with the boys at 12:15 and we went to the Scandinavian brunch! It was very yummy!

After brunch, we took our Danish version of Catan into the lounge to play together. We weren’t able to finish it, but we had fun figuring out the directions using Google translate. 😊.

Colin, Rob and I \240went to a Danish tea at 3 o’clock - it was lovely, and Colin tried tea for the first time! Although, we were laughing because he didn’t realize tea \240was hot, and he nearly spit out his first sip \240because it burnt his lips 😜

In the afternoon we watched the Euro Cup game while swimming in the pool and hanging out in the hot tub. Rob and I visited the spa afterwards- it was a fun way to spend the afternoon! We finished the night by watching Oceans 13 in our room together 😊

Monday!

We woke up docked at Alesund, Norway! It was a bit chilly, but beautiful!

We had breakfast in the dining room. The food was great!

We disembarked around 10:00 am and our first stop was to buy some warm clothes! We got some super cute Norwegian sweaters, jackets and beanies. Then we hiked up to a lookout point - it was a bit of a workout but was beautiful!

Then I went back to the ship to get our taxes back (we got about $50 back). While I was doing that, Rob took the boys to take a picture of the “Fart” lighthouse 😊The pub we wanted to visit was closed, so we had lunch on the ship.

After lunch we went to an art session where we “doodled”. We all came away with very different creations 😊. Then Rob and I visited the spa while the boys had screen time. After the spa, Rob and I got ready for our special dinner at the Pinnacle Grill. We both got the filet mignon - it was fabulous! My dessert was a Baked Alaska with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in the center. Very creative!

Tuesday

I started to turn a corner with my neck issues and woke up feeling almost normal. We had breakfast at the buffet at 9:30 am (we gained an hour over the night). We visited the shops and bought Alieve for my shulders/neck and some face cream (that I hope we can get reimbursed because of our lost luggage). Then it was off to Bingo for Colin, Rob and me. Clark went to the Kids Club. We played Bingo but didn’t win, unfortunately. After that we played Catan in the BB King lounge - it was a brutal game that went on FOREVER but eventually Clark won 😊

We had lunch at the pool (pizza, chicken tenders, salad and burgers) and played a game of Ticket to Ride on our phone 😊 Rob won (but just barely! I came in second 😜). We enjoyed a family tea featuring cupcakes at 3:00, which was lovely. Then we took a rest in the room while the boys played outside on the switch 😊. After the rest, Colin read in the room while Clark played with his Lego and Rob and I went to the spa to enjoy the mineral bath and loungers.

We went to dinner at the sit down dining and took a brisk walk around the outside of the boat. We capped off the night by watching Mrs. Doubtfire in the room 😊

Faroe Islands

We got up and around by 9:00 am and had breakfast in the dining room. Then we got our backpack packed and headed off of the boat and onto the Faroe Islands! We lucked out and the weather was beautiful. We started out on the walk around the lake when Rob and I realized that we had to use the bathroom and there were no bathrooms anywhere along the path to the lake. We hightailed it back to town and used the bathrooms at the hotel in town. Then we went back and did the hike!

Thursday- 4th of July!

Day at sea

We had a special breakfast that was 4th of July themed 😊

Friday- Djupivogur, Iceland!

Took the tender boat to port. Walked to the beach (using the airport runway to get there!) Walked along the black sand beach. We saw the rock collection from a friendly local. Rob bought a keychain with a rune carved into it (it was made from a reindeer antler!) Then Rob grabbed an expensive but delicious beer from the pub and the boys and I got hot chocolate, vegetable soup, and a dessert from a cafe. The soup and dessert were AMAZING!!! Then we walked down to see the various eggs that lined the other side of the port 😊 We headed back to the ship and were VERY happy to find our large luggage in our room! We grabbed a late lunch and watched the Spain vs Germany Euro Cup game on the large pool screen. I booked the spa special (75 mins of massage and facial for $179 plus gratuity).

Saturday

Sunday

We got up at 7 AM and headed down for breakfast since we needed to be at the world showcase by 8 AM for our tour. We boarded the tour bus and took a 40 minute drive through the Iceland countryside- it was gorgeous! The drive took us along the coastline of Eyjafjordur - it is Iceland's longest fjord!

Our first stop was at the Lake Myvatn area. We took a short walk to view the craters at Skutustadir. There were some midges (gnats) but thankfully they weren’t too bad.

Then we drove about 15 mins to the Dimmuborgir lava labyrinth -- “a Tolkien-esque paradise of towering lava castles, natural arches and countless unexplored grottos.” \240They say that the rock formations are trolls that were enjoying a party and lost track of time. They turned to stone when the sun came up!

Then we stopped at ”the gurgling purple and yellow sulfur cauldrons” at the Namaskard geothermal field. The pools here are so hot that they actually boil! It was extremely stinky (the sulfur smell was so strong) but it was beautiful and interesting.

Our last stop was the best stop -Goðafoss – one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland! “The water of the River Skjalfandafljot rushes to a 40-foot drop over a width of almost 100 feet. The resulting cascade is mighty, impressive and loud. History states that in AD 1000, the legislative assembly decided that Christianity would be the official religion of Iceland. Statues of the pagan gods (Goða) were pitched into the waterfall (foss) to symbolize abandoning the Norse pagan religion. Its astounding beauty and power might cause you to think of other reasons for the Waterfall of the Gods to be so named”

We got back to the ship around 2:00 and headed up for lunch (we love the pizzas and the veggie burger with portobello mushroom!)

The best part of the day (at least for Clark) was coming back to our last piece of luggage in the room!!

Monday

We woke up docked in Isafjördur, Iceland! We went down to breakfast at 9:00 and went out to explore the town after that. We took a gorgeous hike, walked through a park, jumped on an outdoor trampoline and stopped by a brewery.

Some favorite memories from the day were getting to pet two different cats that we saw as we walked back from our hike (they were SO SOFT!!) and Colin finding out that he scored a 5 on his AP World History test! We were so proud of him!!

We can back to the boat and had lunch, and then went back to the room for a rest.

Tuesday

Wednesday

We got an early start - we had breakfast at 7:30 and were off the boat by 8:15 and to our rental car by 8:30! It was a very easy debarkation process!

Our first stop was Hvannabrekka in the Thingvellir National Park. It was beautiful and there were no other people!

Next we drove to Haukadalur Geothermal Field to see the original Geysir! It was another beautiful (and crowded) spot. We got to see the Geysir erupt a few times!

We then headed over to the Gullfoss Waterfall (which was also very crowded). But I can see why! It was also beautiful. We had lunch at the Gullfoss Visitor Center (it was $86 for 2 chicken tenders, a Fish and Chips plate, a pineapple pizza, a slice of carrot cake, one latte and 2 apple juice boxes 😳)

After lunch, we headed out towards the guest house we would be staying at for the next two nights. It was just under a 2 hour drive, and we stopped by a grocery store on the way over.

Thursday

We all slept fairly well, but it was so bright in every room, even with the shades drawn! We got up around 8:00 and I streamed Mickey cartoons from my phone using our Disney + account. We made breakfast and since it was raining and cold out, had a relaxed morning. I tried to make a claim on the KLM website (for the items we had to purchase because our baggage was delayed), but after an hour of filling out everything on the website, when I went to submit it said “opps! Something went wrong!” and I wasn’t able to submit it 😑😩

Then we played a game of Nidavelir (I won!) We had lunch then started on a game of Raiders of the North Sea.

Friday

Saturday

It was a rough travel day - we didn’t sleep the best as it stormed for most of the night and we were in a camper trailer so we heard every rain drop and the wind blowing. We officially got up at 6:00 am and were out of the Air B&B by 6:50. It was a 10 min drive to the airport and the check in process was very easy (Rob dropped off the rental car while the boys and I checked in the luggage).