July 16, 202: Day 7 – Travel back to the US
Day 7 was our travel home day and I wasn't ready to leave beautiful Iceland. It really captured my heart! I never expected to love it so much. For me, it was so peaceful and relaxing to be out in nature. With all that has gone on in the world recently, it brought me incredible peace and helped me to recharge.
Our flight was at 10:30 am from Kelafvik airport (KEF). We left our hotel in Reykjavik at 6 am as it was a 45-minute drive and had to return our rental car. This was our first international flight, since COVID, and we didn’t know how long it would take to return the car, get through security, have our COVID test checked, etc. We were glad we left plenty of time as we had to walk to the airport from the rental drop-off area. It was about a 10-minute walk.
The check-in desk for United opened at 7:30 am and we were second in line at 7:20 am. This was where they checked our COVID test certificate, passports and asked us a lot of standard questions. By the time they opened the line about 15 groups we waiting. We breezed through but I’m sure the people in the back of the line had at least a 20-minute wait.
We headed upstairs to security which was empty and we were done in about 5 minutes. The next stop was duty-free shopping and food. We hadn’t eaten yet so we stopped for a quick breakfast. There weren’t many options but we were able to find something we both liked.
It was now around 8:30 am and boarding started at 9:30 am so we started to make our way to the gate. There was another passport checkpoint which was very quick. After that, we were in the gate area but our gate was about a 10-minute walk.
We arrived at the gate area about 8:45 am and there were already many people waiting. Boarding started on time and we left the gate on time. Our arrival back to the states was on time.
Global Check-in went fast and our one checked bag was in our hands in about 15 minutes. We always carry on for the flight to our European destination and pack a small duffel pack for souvenirs for our return flight.
Overall the trip back to the US was smooth and uneventful. There are more steps to International travel now but it is worth it.
Iceland is INCREDIBLE! I highly recommend taking a trip to Iceland!