Day 1 Luton to Keflavik

It was a punchy start to our trip, waking at 3am and driving across London to Luton. Our car park transfer was very efficient, the chap happily chucking in our 4 x 23kg suitcases and we were the last to fill up the minibus.

Flashback to the previous day which started with us debating clothing options for unpredictable weather conditions and amassing 25kg of food to try and avoid some of the high costs of eating in Iceland. Let's just say that our packing was as far as you could get from casually flinging in some espadrilles, linen shirts, a bikini and some Ray-bans.

We arrived at Luton airport at 515am and it was heaving. Massive queues to check our bags in, massive queues to get through security (all the kids bags went to the naughty line to be searched) meant we ended up sprinting to our departure gate, thoughts of a nice coffee and croissant rapidly evaporating. Fortunately Simi's foresight to pack lunch meant there was food devoured on the run.

We breathlessly arrived at our boarding gate, expecting to do the walk of shame on to the plane, only to stand on a transit bus waiting for apparently another 40 passengers. We chatted to the driver, flattered by Simi's lookalike comparison for him with Adam Peaty. A few more stragglers arrived, then they gave up and drove us to the plane, subsequently jettisoning about 20 passengers luggage! This meant plenty of spare seats so we spread out and finally began to relax after what felt like a major mission to get this far.Read more