The plane took off from Fairbanks, Alaska Saturday morning and flew southeast towards Settle, Washington, a typical destination for anyone heading Outside (of the state). The transfer to Icelandic Air went smoothly and I read a book for most of the flight as the plane headed northwest, up over Canada where the curvature of the earth makes flight travel shorter. We landed in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. I did not see any of the city — except for what I saw from the air — because I had about thirty minutes to transfer planes.
Yikes! Is that enough time? I still had to pass through customs…!
I made myself not worry: the airlines should know how much time I needed. The flights I am taking were suggested online by the airlines when I searched for flights.
I followed the signs towards customs. I had to officially enter the country by having the customs officials check my passport. I walked up to the window where the border guard sat.
“How long are you visiting Europe?” She asked.
“Ten days.”
She stamped my passport and wished me a good trip, and I officially walked into Iceland.
The walk to the gate was also short and I had plenty of time to wait for my boarding group to be called. This airplane had been parked a distance from the gate, so we all piled into a couples of shuttle buses. At the plane we all walked up the staircase and into the Icelandic Air cabin.
It was a comfortable flight, but because it was so long and I wanted to make sure my body was acclimated for the timezone difference, I slept most of the flight. Did you know that there is an eleven hour difference between Fairbanks, Alaska and Helsinki, Finland? This means when it was 1:00 p.m. in Alaska, it was midnight in Helsinki. So, I slept to trick my body and mind that it was night time just like it was in Finland.
The plane landed in Finland, and I walked through the airport, wondering where customs was. I was in a totally different country now, after all, and needed to have my passport stamped, right?
It turns out, no. Iceland is part of the Schengen Area, which is an area of 27 European countries that agreed to not check passports at their mutual borders. In other words, once I had my passport stamped in Iceland, I was free to travel to any of those other 27 countries without have to go through border control again until I left the area. This makes travel much easier, of course, but a little part of me wanted another stamp in my passport…
One more fun fact I learned: Finland has two official languages. This is why there are two languages listed on every street sign, and, as you can see here, on the airport signs too. Finns speak both Finnish and Swedish.
Saapuvat is Finnish for “Arrivals” and Ankomst is Swedish for “Arrivals”. The words underneath show the Finnish and Swedish for “No entry”.
