Iceland Megatrip 2005 – Day 1

Well just a little over a year ago, the four members of the Palsson family “stranded” in Brisbane, Australia started off on a trip bigger than Ben Hur to go to the quinquennial clan gathering in Reykir and to see the land. I didn’t blog as much as I wanted to whilst on the trip as I was to busy living it up, so I have decided to blog about it a year on πŸ™‚

Day 1

Sean drove us to the airport (BNE) and by the time we got to the check-in desk for Singapore Airlines we were already bickering overs omething – who had the frequent flyer numbers, who should go first etc etc, which gave the desk attendant a good laugh. After checking in we broke up to have a look round the duty free shops and we then met back up with Mum and Pabbi to grab a bite to eat. After sitting round for a while we finally able to go through Customs/security and down to the gate. So we bid farewell to Sean and made our way down stairs. Where we were greeted by this fantastic fountain.

Fountain at BNE


Once we were all through Customs/security we looked at even more duty free shops, mainly just marvelling at all the different types of alcohol which we do not see in our regular bottleos and of course at the price (cheap), after a while though this of course got boring so we made the short trip to our gate and broke out our entertainment.

the family awaits

As we made our way onto the plane we were greeted by our delightful stewards and stewardesses and the complimentary newspapers which I grabbed to have a read of the news from the SE Asia perspective, it was quite nice to read the Straits Times and some others which I can’t recall.

Air travel with Singapore Airlines is very, very nice, just after take off the warm face washers came round which would then again come round just before we landed and before the meals. Very, very nice. We also had quite a range of entertainment with Movies and TV shows on demand, Nintendo games, puzzles, radio stations and a wide range of albums which meant that you could program your own radio station.

Flying north over Australia was amazing and I spent a fair bit of time at the back of the plane looking out the window at the land below, it was just great to see the landscape.

After about 8 hours of flying we landed at Changi Airport Singapore (SIN).

One of the first things we had to do here was to make a hurried call to Sean to get him to pick up Mum’s notebook that she had left behind with all the plans and addresses in and post it to Aunty Margaret in Tasmania who would be joining us a week into our trip.

showing how it is

No one could say that Matthew is an average person, he rocked his way around SIN in the above get-up and the toothpick in his mouth was there almost the entire time. Matthew and I split off from Mum and Pabbi and browsed the duty free shops, looked in the 7-11 to see if they had slurpees (no :)), had a blast on the free internet access and I ended up buying a bottle of Lemoncino.

When we got on the plane again, we had the same service as before, so no need to go in to that. I loved watching our plane make its way over Eurasia and again spending more time looking out the window to see the land below, though since we were flying through the night it was just limited to the lights which were still amazing. Flying over India we could see the long strait highways which were covered with trucks making their way across the land.

Eventually we saw this on our screen and that meant that the first leg of our trip was almost over, we were almost at London Heathrow Airport (LHR).

almost there

30 days of Chocolate

White Chocolate Strawberry TartletFor lunch today, Mary, Mum and I went into Picasso’s at the Carlton Crest to sample the 30 Days of Chocolate that they have been running through the month of June in partnership with Lindt.

I would like to say that it was fantastic and the best I have tasted but it wasn’t. I am not saying it was bad, it was quite nice but it so wasn’t what the articles and pictures had led us to believe. The foods that were part of the buffet were individually relatively nice but quite a few of them were stretching it to be an “amazing chocolate buffet will satisfy all chocolate fantasies”.

The Choc Macadamia Tartlet I had was gorgeous as was the White Chocolate Strawberry Tartlet (pictured). The choc slice I had was a bit blah and the White/ Dark Chocolate Eclair was ok I guess but it was just a choux pastry with some white chocolate drizzled on the top and some dark chocolate in the middle.

We did go on the second last day as I only read about it in the paper late last week and I read the food section of the paper religiously, which is why we were so surprised to find that it was nearly over. I wonder if it would have been better near the start of the month when the staff and chefs were still excited about it.

For lunch the Chocolate Buffet cost $16.50 each, which would have been much nicer if it was offered as a special dessert menu for the month of June. Mary also ordered the pumpkin soup which was divine, the pumpkin must have been roasted and caramalised before the soup was made as there was just this gorgeous taste running through it. That soup was divine. We also got the House Bread which was also divine. It was a round loaf which almost sliced through and in each cut they had put things such as walnut harissa, pesto, cheese and then the loaf was sprinkled with cheese and grilled – it was pure heaven.

So whilst the Chocolate Buffet was not what we would have hoped for we still had some nice things.

Mary is a fan of a good garage sale or op-shop so on the way home we stopped in at a Lifeline store and all three of us came out with stuff that we liked. I picked up the original Genius edition (1981) of Trivial Pursuit for the grand total of $12 with all the pieces. So I am pretty stoked, I have always wanted a copy of the game as I love playing it or more so just sitting there with a stack of cards asking myself the questions πŸ™‚

about that

Well I think I have ironed out all the bugs of this new theme, what do you think?
I am still trying to decide what I want to put in the header so at the moment it is just a pretty simple graphic using a brush from Jason Gaylor’s Worn Hi-Res Brushes III.

I cracked down and bought a new camera bag yesterday, I got a Crumpler Seven Million Dollar Home in Blue. Buying a camera bag is one of the hardest things to do. I have been after a bag for a long time which would take some uni books, some other stuff and some camera gear, after playing with numerous different combos at the camera store and at the Crumpler store, I have had to decide that the product I want is just not on the market yet.

Mum is progressing along nicely, the other day she moved up from a 7/8 plaster cast to a fancy knee brace, which looks like the one on this page.

We have watched some more movies

  • I Heart Huckabees (This was cool)
  • Before Sunset (This was an amazing film, very different to what I am used to as it basically only has two characters and the movie consists of them walking round Paris talking)
  • Bride & Prejudice (This was super rad, I could watch it over and over, loved the musical parts and all the colour)
  • Ladder 49 (Parts of this make me teary :()
  • The Princess Diaries (A simple little movie to curl up on the couch watching on a Friday night)

Tonight however, I will not be watching a movie but will be sitting on the edge of the couch full of anticipation as Australia goes head to head against Italy to play for a quarter-final spot in the World Cup! Go the ‘roos!

Some of you may know Karyn but for those who don’t, she was the first non-Australian person from 2peas that I gotten to know, she is in the USA Navy and is married to an Icelander (which is how we connected), well after some time spent training in SC she is now smack bang in the biggest sandpit she has ever known in other words she is now in Iraq (or in her words Irock the Casbah). She has posted some photos that are well worth checking out and she is always up for well wishes.
That is about it.

Hello Holiday

So the Socceroos didn’t get up, we only lost by two against Brazil and Japan-Croatia tied with no goals, which means that we still look good for the next round.

I did my last exam for the semester yesterday, now I just have to wait for the results to come rolling in, even though grades are not announced until July 5, I already know that I have gotten two distinctions (6) and I think I might get another two yet and one credit (5) if I manage to pull this off, it will be my best semester at uni ever. One of those distinctions would have been a high distinction if I had not done miserably (11/20) on the mid-semester. Bring on next semester (which is my last semester of my undergraduate Bachelors degree)!

I watched three DVDs yesterday. The first was with Mum – Hope Springs, quite a nice romantic comedy and the character played by Minnie Driver was just a total piece of work. The second was with Mum and Matthew – Do You Remember?: Fifteen Years of the Bouncing Souls, which was a really great doco about The ‘Souls which made me think I really should have gone with Matthew and his friends to see them when the played the other month. The last one I watched was Speak, this was an incredible movie, I didn’t think it would be anywhere near as dark as it was but it was just incredibly moving.
Bring on five weeks of holidays and try to forget that this time last year we were busy preparing for the Palsson Grand Iceland Tour of 2005, I guess though in four years times we will all do our best to make our way back as a family for the quinquennial clan gathering.

I have plans of grandeur to fill my holidays with, which include the following.

  • Make this top – Simplicity 4589, view A
  • Make pasta
  • Finish the final testing of a new blog template
  • Attack the ever increasing pile of recipes to try and make a good number of them
  • Learn how to knit – Continental style (Mum was taught English style like most Australian’s but thinks it would be better for me to learn Continental style as it is so more efficient, she talks of when she was in Iceland and like most of the other women spent a lot of time knitting by hand or with their machines and how the Icelandic women were just powerhouses with their knitting, maybe I can talk her into paying for me to go to Iceland these holidays to learn how to knit?)
  • Get a fair stack of scrapbooking done
  • Make a couple of bags
  • Get my bike serviced so I can start riding again
  • Go on a couple of mini photographic expeditions
  • Go see Trivia at the Metro Arts
  • Go see Death Cab for Cutie at the Arena
  • The Brisbane Flickr meet up on Sunday
  • Get a couple of photos printed and mounted for a long overdue birthday present
  • Have fun
  • Work a heap
  • Organise some sort of filing system for the clippings I collect
  • Hit up the shops/life with Andrea
  • Party hard(ish) with Sam
  • Play copious amounts of Gamecube with Matthew
  • Organise something with The Girls from school
  • Read all the books in this monstrous stack I have – five different trips to the library and the four I need to finish beside my bed (if you click on the photo you can see it full size so you can have a “browse” of my library shelf)

books to be read

The real question is how much of this list will I actually get through and how much I won’t finish.

good night and good luck

Dear Socceroos,

I am going to bed. I am sure you will understand, I have an exam at 8:30am in the morning and I am placing it above you.

I can’t justify geting up at 1:30am to watch the game.

As you have said yourselves, Brazil has everything to loose and we have everything to gain.

I know you will do your best and show the world what Australia can do.

The last time we played them in 2001, we beat them and you can do it again tonight.

I will be cheering you in my dreams and Pabbi will watch the game on TV.

Good Luck and Good Night

Helen