So it begins...
3 weeks ago I didn't even realise I would be flying to Iceland to be a photographer at the store opening of Costco's, but here I found myself crazily awaiting the boss of my company to pick me up, to drive me to Gatwick; now I always like to guess the type of car that I'll be picked up in when I don't really know the person behind the wheel... it's always fun! In my mind he'd turn up in a sporty Mercedes or some sort of posh Audi, so when a beautiful Range Rover pulled up at my door I was pleasantly stunned, and secretly excited inside - I love Range Rovers!
So what do you say when you meet the big boss of your company for the first time... should I be nervous?!
But, you know what... that journey turned out to be awesome, Dave is actually one of the most kind and humble guys... I'm so used to meeting big scary bosses in my previous work that this was great! We chatted lots and shared many stories the whole journey; it turn's out he is also a huge fan of Formula One, despite rooting for rival teams! (It's all about Red Bull, just sayin').
If you've never been to Gatwick Airport it's, well... lets say CHAOS! I checked in at our hotel knowing in reality I would only sleep for a max of 3 hours that night before it was time to leave for the flight. They say you can 'always rely on a Premier Inn'; that particular hotel was a maze, and the lifts were far from reliable; to my humour (and slight annoyance) when ever you pressed your floor, you seemed to visit every other floor first, all twenty of them! An hour after we popped to the restaurant where I devoured a double cheese and bacon burger, which to be honest may of been not the best choice when you're planning to try to get some sleep 30 minutes later.
SO yeah - 3am start.. first things first... Coffee! Roll on Reykjavík...
Gatwick Security, seriously - If you enjoy it, then what's wrong with you? Yes I know its for your safety but seriously, these days you seem to need to completely strip off twice to even get into the Airport lounge! I was kind of expecting it to be quiet that time of morning, but wow how I was wrong!
OHH look it a Starbucks! At 4am it's like seeing a mirage in the desert! Sipping on that coffee, was the only thing that was going to make me feel moderately like a human being at that time of morning... I felt like I was just in a room with 20 people playing the old game 'sleeping lion's' that we used to play in Sunday School when I was a kid. Everywhere I looked people where just laid out snoring on the tables, couches and floor! Not a pretty sight trust me... haha!
Around 5am the rest of the head office team (who I'd never met) joined us for further coffee's; after a quick introduction and shake of hand's it was time to head to the gate to meet our funny little Easy Jet plane that would take us across the North Atlantic to Iceland. Oh boy was I beginning to get excited... my first flight in quite a while! (Not that Easy Jet is anything to rave about... sorry Easy Jet!)
5, 4, 3, 2, 1... THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO...
Between you and I, airplanes bring out the inner kid in me... Please don't tell me I'm the only one who hears the Thunderbirds countdown and theme tune in my head as your blasting down the runway; minus the opening pool and folding palm tree's of course! London is far from Tracy Island! The journey was pretty average, its only a 2 & half hour flight to Keflavik airport, and doesn't really get interesting until you're about to land, the plane suddenly descends & violently turns to the right and all you can see is a 3,000ft drop to the Atlantic ocean, and the guy who was asleep with his head on his partners shoulder is now asleep on your shoulder - slightly awkward, plus how can you sleep whilst be thrown side to side like a yo-yo! To be honest it didn't help that we were landing in a slightly turbulent storm shower! Grind of the landing gear and then thump, we appear to of landed on the moon! Yes I said moon, Keflavik is completely desolate, nothing but rocks and the occasional Albatross sheltering from the bitterly cold Arctic wind!
The land of volcanoes and Vikings!
The pilot said only an hour before, its a lovely day in Iceland, clear skies and sunshine! Leaving the airport doors we were greeted with a rather icy cold brisk wind and heavy rain! (a bit like the weather during a average summer bank holiday in England). Running with my coat over my head, we all made it to our hire car which Dave would be driving.
I never get used to sitting on the wrong side of the car yet alone travelling down the 'wrong' side of the road. For the first time with my own eyes I was seeing the immense beauty of the country I'd be staying the next 2 days, oh my gosh... it was stunning. The sun quickly broke through the heavy clouds, bearing down on some of the most beautiful snow capped peaks I've ever seen in my life! The sulphur clouds and steam arising from between the mountains. I really was in the bizarre land of the volcanoes and Vikings!
Pit stop to an unopened Costco
As we pulled into Costco to my humour they were still tarmacking the road and putting up the frontage of the new store, ready for the evening VIP opening - with many a well known person, including the Prime minister and President of Iceland. We popped in with our high-vis jackets, there was so much going on and a sense of panic as this huge store is to open in a few hours! I kept my head down for sure, dodging the fast moving fork-lift trucks! It was an incredible sight with no people inside, just rows of perfectly placed stock and many a stacked chocolate fudge cakes and cookies! All in pristine condition ready for the thousands of people who would arrive the following hours! It was actually home from home, same shelves, layout and stock! I could of easily thought I was back in Southampton at my home Costco.
Welcome to Reykjavík
Ah what a room! All to myself... A lovely huge double bed, 'mahussive' rainforest shower, and views across the city, ocean, extinct volcanoes and snow capped mountains! Slightly different to the Premier Inn only a few hours before to say the least! The hotel was lush... and what's best was the lifts actually went where you asked them to unlike the night before! My colleagues from Southampton, Sue, Coral, Simone and Tracy flew out the day before me and it was kind of surreal walking into a room and seeing them all there after travelling so far! We all headed for lunch at the hotel buffet! And oh my lord! It was scrumptious. The local cuisine is incredible, fresh local fish and such beautiful succulent pork (at least I think it was pork!).
I had 3 hours to spare... and if you're still reading this and you already know me, despite being already so tired, I make the most of it and go exploring! Tearing the map out of the hotel tourist guide I set off, only to get lost twice and almost getting run over (OK I forgot they drove the other side of the road) I eventually made it to the city centre, a place of sheer beauty, funny old colourful houses, shops and restaurants. (Look at the photos at the end) Camera in hand, I spent two hours simply exploring and taking in the stunning views of the harbour and mountains across the sea! The local people were all so polite and happy to chat... everyone else there I seemed to meet were American tourists taking selfies in front of the stunning Hallgrímskirkja cathedral in the heart of the city. The population is around 330,000 across Iceland (that's only about the same as the population of Southampton!) and most live in this particular city meaning it was pretty small, you could walk across most of it in half an hour! Time was soon up, in 2 hours I was due to be photographing VIP night at Costco.
Costco VIP night
I got back to the hotel, met the team and we drove a few miles to the new store. All was set. It was my role to photograph the WDS Demonstration team I work for and to capture the new members experiencing Costco for the first time! Very quickly the store became a crazy scene of hustle and bustle! The opening night was viewing only, but even so about 2,000 people were invited to be the first through the doors, including the local press and those in government! Never had I ever dreamed to be honoured to capture an event like this on camera! I felt truly blessed! Great for the old portfolio too ;)
Everyone was so keen to be the first to see and try all the new products, many of which have never been seen in Iceland before. For me it became a game of people watching! Seeing people's reactions to a store which has the potential to change the lifestyle and economy of a country was fantastic. The team and I spoke to many people who said that they had felt robbed in Iceland for many years as everything is so expensive! (and honestly it is!)
There was one point where the crowds became pretty intense, bumping shoulder to shoulder with lot of excited people! Even the President of the country! I carried on snapping away...eating many a sample on my repeated journey around the store before we decided to head back to the hotel for a evening buffet, leaving my slightly jealous and very tired colleagues behind still working so hard! They did an awesome job! And should be very proud of themselves! High-five guys!
The end of a very long day! 21 hours long of travel, work & oh yeah eating!
The evening buffet was just as awesome as the lunch! This time I was with all my bosses from head office! It had been a long day and together everyone let their hair down and sipped on refreshing drinks! It certainly was a good laugh, it was crazy to think I didn't know any of these people that well only a few hours before! They are all such awesome and funny people! I'm sure proud to work this company at this point in my life! 12am and its time to sleep! That night was pretty emotional as I watched the news in bed trying to fall asleep; BBC world news was broadcasting the breaking story of the sad events that followed that night back home in England in Manchester...
Day 2 - I'll keep this short! If you're still reading this blog by this point thank you and I hope you're not too bored!
Oh that rainforest shower sure feels good at 5am! Popped down for a super breakfast! Basically a plate full of bacon and many free bright green superfood avocado smoothies - wow they have a punch that wakes you up! We arrived at Coscto's for the first trading day at 7am! The place was full of excitement! When we arrived the carpark of thousands of spaces were still empty... where was everyone? I walked around with camera, there was a real hype in the air. All the WDS girls were eager to have their photos taken all with big beautiful smiles! The lad's were actually the camera shy ones - you know who you are haha! Suddenly the car park filled up, the news and media teams arrived and I was swamped amongst the national press! The ribbon was gracefully cut and the stampede of people (like the wilder beast scene in the Lion King) rushed through the doors. Suddenly it became a swarming hive of TV interviews, photographs and eager shoppers all keen to get the best deals the country had seen in years! The following two hours became the most exciting of my to be career as a budding photographer!
After two hours of photographing I decided to take a break from the crowds, we popped across the car park to the neighbouring IKEA, for some Swedish meatballs! Sitting at the table I laughed as we watched all the IKEA staff get over excited on their break as they were so used to seeing an empty car park, but thanks to Costco for the first time the car park was jammed with thousands of cars! It was so busy that even the Icelandic rescue teams were there guiding the traffic through. A scene of truly organised chaos!
That afternoon I visited the Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral and climbed to top of the tower (I say climbed it was mostly a lift carrying me up). The warm sunshine was glorious, I looked across 360 degree views of stunning city, a sea of colour and incredible culture, the Atlantic ocean and mountains! After this I turned proper tourist! I even brought a Reykjavik T-shirt - I know pretty sad right! But they are memories I shall cherish! Apart from the Icelandic trolls - they scared the heck out of me!
That afternoon I popped back to the store to capture the intense crowds, by this point around 12,000 people had visited in a matter of hours! The queue up the slip road was about quarter of a mile! In Iceland they class a ten minute traffic jam as bad, so goodness knows what they all thought of this! It took 20 minutes to walk from one side of the store to the other. Earlier that day it only took 1 minute! I came across my colleagues, they were still working so hard, but by this point looked more like zombies from some 80's horror movie as they were so tired!
What an awesome trip its been! This is only a taster of what happened! Lot's of photos below! Thank you WDS for giving me this opportunity! I feel so blessed!
And that's where I'm going to end this blog! If you made it to the end well done, thank you for your support - the next blog will be Israel! I'll be flying out in June! See you then!
Drakey x
