Lost in Iceland

There's a tourist tshirt for sale in several shops here that says 'Lost In Iceland', and even though it's lame, it now applies to me.

Of course everyone knows that I lost my wallet and passport last Saturday, and I waited a week to see if it showed up. Which it didn't. I don't know why I thought that anything would be simple. That I would just have to make a few phone calls and that would fix everything.

My plan was to call the US Embassy and get an appointment for a new passport, contact my bank to have emergency funds sent to pay for the passport, and also to pay a small fee to IcelandAir to change my flight to an earlier date.

Well, nothing is ever easy.

First, the bank had no idea what I was talking about. There isn't a way to explain this that isn't completely boring, but basically, the emergency funds doesn't exist. I could transfer money into an Icelandic account that I create, but then I still have no card, or even ID to withdraw at the bank here. So that option is out.

Step two- call the Embassy. Of course they don't take payment over the internet. Or at least they don't think so. We will call you back. Oh, you don't have a phone? You don't know the number of the place you are staying at? Lovely.

But then I get an idea. I will ask if I can transfer my money into a friend's account, then have them withdraw it for me. This is not a problem, and now I'm actually glad that I didn't cancel my account with Bank of America, because even though they are evil, they have an amazing online banking service, and I can't imagine that Bank of Asheville would be as helpful in times like these.

So the next step is to call IcelandAir to see about changing my flight. That 'small fee' turned out to be a flat fee of $275. That's about as small as my ass is. So I will not being returning home early.

This is all actually a pretty good deal. It's frustrating, yes. But as usual, human beings are amazing, and Gulla is most probably an actual angel.

I asked if I could pay her to stay here, but she says no, just do the dishes and keep me company. Enjoy your time. And I can transfer money into her account so I can access it. I think what I will do is just order a new debit card (which takes 16 days to arrive here) and wait to get the passport until it comes. That way if it does show up (which I don't think it will) I won't feel bad for buying two of them.

And now I have time to explore more of Iceland. I can take a trip out east to Vik and then to Höfn and not be on much of a schedule.

Things may not be easy, but at least they are interesting, and it always does work out.