KEF-KUL

Wed 9/11/22

We would be leaving Iceland today after spending 12 nights on the island starting from Snaefellness (Helgafell, Stykkisholmur) driving clockwise through the north, based in Husavik, then continuing east, staying at Egilsstadir and Hofn; and in the south where we stayed at Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Hvolsvollur, ending our trip at Gardur.

Our flight back was scheduled at 10.15 am. We departed from Gardur apartment at 7am. We returned back our rental car at Sixt near Keflavik airport (KEF)- it went smoothly, we only needed to park the car and return the keys. The Sixt office was already opened when we arrived. The free shuttle bus to the KEF arrived within 5 minutes and we arrived at the airport with more than enough time for check in process. 

We have already checked in online and have our online boarding pass but were unable to print it at the self service kiosk, so we proceeded to the check in counter. There was only one person in front of us in the queue, so the check in was sorted smoothly, and we also checked in our luggage. Since we would be transiting in Helsinki (HEL) which is within the Schengen area as Iceland, there was no immigration / passport check here in KEF. It would be done later in HEL, our last point before exiting the Schengen area. Our boarding gates would only be displayed 1 hour before departure, so we just hung around the seating area after security clearance. I had some Icelandic krona cash left so I bought what could be bought with that small amount - a bar of Snickers. We chatted with another Malaysian couple who were also in the same flight as us from KUL to pass the time. 

Our flight to HEL departed on time, and we were only served drinks on this flight, which we again opted for blueberry juice. We already had our packed sandwich as breakfast and coffee at Keflavik airport. Our transit time at HEL was tight with only 50 mins, so we were quite nervous if we could make it to our next flight, plus our plane from KEF did not stop at the boarding gates. We had to go down the stairs from the plane then board the bus to take us to the terminal- this added a few more minutes to our already short transit time.

Goodbye Iceland

It was a relief that security clearance is not required and we could proceed straight to Immigration check for passport stamping. There was just a short queue, and it was all completed with still time to reach our gate and board the flight to Bangkok (BKK). 

The flight from HEL to BKK would take 11hours 50mins. We were served twice - one dinner and one breakfast. Again, we opted for Muslim meal (MOML). We were served with basmathi rice with vegetable korma with potato salad and bread as appetizer and a chocolate bar as dessert. For breakfast we were served with hash brown, tomato and eggs. The meals were tasty. The other facilities provided were the same as per our flight from BKK to HEL. 

11hours 50mins to Bangkok

MOML dinner

MOML breakfast

Our transit time was long at BKK with 5hours to kill. We arrived Bangkok at 9.10am, but our flight to KUL will only depart at 2.15pm. There is an earlier flight to KUL at 11am, but the ticket price for that timing was much more expensive. We could have opted for that had we bought our tickets much earlier (we only bought the tickets 3 weeks prior to departure due to the Covid 19 uncertainty). Furthermore, Thailand only implemented the Covid-19 relaxation requirement (no need for testing) in October 2022. So to pass the time in Bangkok, we had a meal of Tom Yum Goong set with rice, stir fried water spinach (kangkung ) and omelette (telur dadar); and mango sticky rice with a bottle of mineral water that cost 690 baht (about RM90).

tom yum goong set

mango sticky rice

Finally it was time to depart KUL, with the flight operated by Malaysia Airlines. Since the flight was from BKK, our menu was also Thai themed - I opted for fried rice with basil beef, while partner in crime opted for white rice with chicken green curry. This was a welcome change from the usual menu of nasi lemak and chicken noodle on MH operated flights. We finally arrived KUL at 5.30pm, and there was heavy downpour that evening. We were stuck in the traffic jam from the airport to home, and only arrived at 7.40pm. It was good to be back home and we missed our 6 cats (although we viewed them daily from the camera installed at home).

fried rice with basil beef

white rice with chicken green curry