Iceland

That volcano in Iceland continues to spew out ash clouds, making havoc of air travel between the U.S. and Europe. Every time I see photos of the mountain erupting out of the center of that glacier it evokes my memories my own trip to Iceland.

When I lived in Chicago, Iceland Airlines had cheap fares to Europe. I made several trips leaving Chicago from O’Hare, and landing briefly in Iceland before continuing on to Luxemburg, the only place in Europe outside Scandinavia where Iceland had airport privileges.

Only once did I see more of Iceland than an hour in the airport. It was on my first trip overseas, and we went with a bunch of middle-aged stamp collectors.

My husband, Wally, was a stamp collector. My children went without new clothes for school, but Wally always had money to buy stamps. His parents came from Denmark, and his specialty was Danish stamps. When his mother died, his total inheritance was $250 (she liked to go to the horse races). He bought a rare stamp to complete his Danish collection.

Then he started adding Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. When we were divorced, I got the house. Everyone said, “Aren’t you lucky? He let you have the house.”

Yes, I got a $70,000 house with the $45,000 mortgage. He got to keep his stamp collection worth $80,000.

But that came later.

In 1975 I never imagined a divorce in our future. That year the international stamp exhibition was in Copenhagen. Chicago’s Scandinavian Collectors Club arranged a group tour with five days in Iceland and a week in Copenhagen. Wally let me go with him.

Taking a trip with a group of fuddy-duddy old men stamp collectors was . . . . well, unusual. But I’m glad I got to experience Iceland. Many years later I was able to visit many other countries. Iceland remains near the top of the list as the most interesting.

I’ll tell you more about Iceland later this week.