Unfortunately, even though we were leaving today, I had to wake up early to be at work for an almost full day starting at 7am. Took a good shower before I left because it was going to be a long time before we got another shower. The drive to work was actually really smooth because of how early it was. Got all my work done and left at 1pm. Went for a sushi lunch with Zach and it was nice to be able to spend a bit of time with him before I left. Went home to pick up my luggage and say goodbye to the cats.

I was out at the airport by 3:30, which was perfect timing and even said goodbye to Zach with minimal tears. Let me tell you, though, getting that many people ready for a trip is a hassle. The chaperones were doing rounds to check every person's luggage for their uniform and music. Mostly it's because there's no way to get an extra uniform once you're over there. Although the girls dresses are hot and not the most flattering, they are fantastic to travel with. You can pretty much crumple them in a ball and throw them in your bag and they won't get wrinkled. The guy's tuxes on the other hand, aren't at easy. The men had to pack up their tuxes in several garment bags and send them as extra baggage. We also handed out odds and sods like luggage tags, hand sanitizer and Canadian pins.

Once everyone was there and everything had been checked, we started to sign in. Melanie, Lexi, Erica and I were first because we were booked separately due to our changed return flight. But they seemed to be having trouble with the booking system, so it took ages of standing around while they tried to figure out what the problem was. Once we'd finally gotten our bags checked and our boarding passes and made it through the long security line, we dropped all our stuff off outside our gate. I gave OT7, our group of friends: Taylor, Cosette, Sophia, Johanna, Clair, Emily and Me, the journals I'd brought for everyone.

We had some time still to wander around the airport and grab a snack, so I picked up a couple snacks to take on the plane and a tea to keep me going for a bit. Finally, at 6pm we were ready to board.

Icelandair is actually a really nice air company, at least compared to the Canadian ones. There was ample leg room, pillows and blankets and a good entertainment system. I still watched out the window for a good majority of the trip. I got seats next to Lexi and Melanie, and I'm sure that's because we were booked in together.

I was really excited because there was mostly clear skies as we flew over Hudson's bay. I don't think I'd even flown that far North before and it was really neat to see the scenery, including all the ice flows. Even the clouds over that region were really neat. I kept an eye on the flight path and the day/night line, and because it's summer months and we were that far north, we rode right on the edge of the sunrise and it never got dark. There was some really pretty sunset light for a while there.

I was watching a movie when we first started flying over Greenland, but that was forgotten quickly in favour of the view out the window. I've always wanted to go to Greenland. Or even see it for that matter. And finally I got a glimpse of it. Beautiful big brown and white mountains with lots of snow and icebergs in the water around the shore. It looks deserted, wild, and cold. But still very neat to see.

We even got a half decent look at Iceland flying into Reykjavik. Not quite what I imagined it would look like, but I'm not sure what I was expecting. Much flatter than I thought it would be and very, very dark earth. But it was a mad dash through security to get to the connecting flight. I'm entirely sure why we had to go through security as it was the same airline and we weren't stopping in Iceland at all, just going on to Helsinki. A little too cloudy to see Iceland as we left.