We had a 4:45 shuttle booked from the Courtyard to KEF and were worried they had overbooked it when a large group of Chinese tourists came down to the lobby. We were further concerned when two of them blocked the revolving door with their luggage preventing anyone from getting out before them. But luckily they all had a small bus picking them up and it was just us and another couple on the shuttle, although they were equally rude as the guy got out of the shuttle and pushed the seat back down so we could not get out. KEF airport was disorganized as we went to the kiosk to print our bag tags but there was no signage for bag drop-off so we got in line with other people with their bags, and then learned we had to go around the corner. The line was long but moved quickly and there was no line for security, but then we had to wait until 6AM for immigration to open.

Our gate was downstairs in terminal D with no restrooms or concessions and then we learned it was a bus gate, so being in front of the line meant nothing as they crowded half the plane onto a bus. Then it was a lot of jostling to get off the bus with luggage and go up the stairs to the plane. Janie was able to make it off quickly and held space in the overhead bin since we were in an exit row as J. R. got caught behind two people who refused to move off the bus for some reason.

The flight itself was uneventful and we passed through UK immigration quickly only to have to wait for our bags to come out. One came out in the first three and then there was a long wait for the other one. J. R. went to exchange currency and came back and the bag still had not arrived, or so we thought. Then he saw it on the other side of the carousel as apparently bags came out from both sides. We passed through customs and met our driver who took us to the Premier Inn. We were very early for check-in, but they offered us an early check-in for 15 GBP, which we readily accepted.

We had not eaten much today except protein bars, so we went in search of food and found All Bar One near our hotel. We had basic pub food - burgers and tacos and a beer and a cider. While the food was good, we wished we had gone down the other way from our hotel as there were several places that direction including an Indian restaurant that looked good, but would not be open the next day.

We needed some sodas, and could have gotten them at Boots near All Bar One or at the grocery across the street but we decided to stretch our legs and walk to the Tesco Express near Westminster station so we could see Big Ben and Parliament and cross the river. When we returned to the hotel, happy hour was underway so we each had a drink at the hotel bar before going to the room for the night.

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