As we were planning our trip, an exciting announcement was made. WOW Air was coming to St. Louis (two hours from our home). WOW Air is a super-budget Icelandic airline. Think $300 round trip tickets from St. Louis to Paris budget. So, we decided if it could get us close to Budapest (our first home base), we’d give it a try.

WOW does not fly to Budapest, but they did go to Frankfurt, and we found early June departures for what seemed a small amount of money. Of course, we couldn’t pick their super-budget basic fare – it doesn’t include any luggage or even seat assignments. But they have a WOW Plus option that includes a checked bag, a carry-on and the ability to pick your seat. So we had ourselves a round-trip flight to Europe, for less than $700 per person. Departing June 5, 2018.

Then, literally weeks later, Chad got an invitation to speak at an event in Budapest that same summer. What an amazing coincidence! Of course we had to accept. The one challenge – the conference was June 1 and 2. Yes, 4 days before we’d even arrive in Europe. So, we paid the fee and changed our flights. The new departure date, May 24, was more expensive, and to cut costs we chose the flight option with the longest layover – 19 hours in Keflavik, Iceland (near Reykjavik). And it just so happened that our 19 hour layover would be Chad’s birthday, May 25.

So, we’re going to start our journey with one awesome day in Iceland. We’ve reserved a rental car and we’ll toddle around to whatever sights are driving distance from the Keflavik airport for as much time as we have before catching our 6 a.m. flight to Frankfurt on May 26. Honestly, we haven’t researched much about what to see and do. So if anyone reading happens to have been to Iceland, I’d love your thoughts on how to make our day in Iceland Chad’s best-ever birthday.

Note: image is a free stock photo from canva.com (which I highly recommend)