30th of May – Northbound

My parents were nice enough to pick me up and bring me to the airport. I ended up spending close to an hour in the lounge having breakfast before going to the gate and experiencing probably the fastest boarding I have ever been part of: it took less than 10 minutes which meant we had to stay and wait for almost 15 minutes before we were allowed to leave the gate.

The flight was uneventful and on schedule.

I was picked up by my booked taxi with two others, the driver being an old jovial guy who seemed to know a bit about everyone on the way to Tórshavn. The main road went through a 5km long tunnel not far from the airport and half way our driver said “Half way now, time to go back up. By the way – we are 105 meters below sea level.”. No wonder it felt like he had been braking most of the time until then while maintaining the speed. Coming out on the other side he informed us that he would skip the next few tunnels and instead take us over the mountains instead so we would have a chance to enjoy the views. And I am glad he did – it’s gorgeous here. Similar to Svalbard but less brown, greener and less wild.

When checking in the hotel receptionist had to admit, despite having my booking confirmation, I was nowhere to be found in the system. After some typing he let me know that he did still have room for me if I’d be willing to change rooms after 2 nights and spend the remaining two nights in the suite. I informed him I was willing to make the sacrifice. After spending some time on the phone he gets back to me and lets me know that I won’t have to change rooms anyway, unfortunately it turned out it wasn’t the suite I’d end up in. I received confirmation for room 25, he ran around a bit and gave me the keys for room 24. Apparently he couldn’t find the keys for room 25 so I got the identical room next door instead.

Check-in was a bit more confusing than I am used to. But at least it worked out in the end.

I went for a short walk for a few hours trying to find my way around Tórshavn. It was quite confusing as most roads are small and twisting and it didn’t take long before my sense of direction was confused. And there is barely a flat piece of road anywhere unless you are near the harbour. And being pretty windy and temps down around 8-ish degrees there was a bit to get used to.

View of Tórshavn and port.

Dinner was had at a sushi restaurant that had some absolutely amazing salmon. A mild taste and the pieces almost melted in the mouth. Probably the best salmon I’ve ever had. I just had to have a bit extra.

Coming back to the hotel I realized the thermostat in the room doesn’t seem to be really working as it has been stuck on 25°C despite trying to lower it as it was a bit too much for me. I tried setting it to 18°C but it kept jumping back to 25. Getting hold of the receptionist I was informed that as long as it is given the new temperature it will be set correctly, it’s just really slow at getting to the desired value. Like, really, really slow.

The walls are a bit thin – I can hear my neighbour snore.