Guesthouse Alex - Keflavik, Iceland

Comment by Anonymous, London UK

December 2004

Motel Alex is in walking distance from the airport (KEF). It is a roadside motel: clean and practical and practically empty in the winter. I was only here for six and a half hours. Someone from the motel picked me up. I was the only one staying at the motel on the flight that arrived at 11:30 p.m., but the man waited for me and drove me in a minibus back to the motel. My room was on the ground floor. I did have to walk through the kitchen in order to get to the bathroom, which could have been tiresome, if I had stayed longer. As it was, I was the only guest I saw, so it was like having my own cottage. I could saunter around without offending any early breakfast eater's sensibilities, and raid the fridge before I went to bed. I had booked a single bed, but got an adequately uncramped twin room. The kitchen again was clean. A basically-stocked fridge with fruit, milk, ham and cheese was ready for guests to help themselves from. The reception area has a TV which can show flight information if you are departing from the motel or meeting someone from a flight. There are also a whole load of leaflets and maps to orient yourself with. In the morning I walked to the airport to meet a 6:30 a.m. flight with my girlfriend aboard. It was November and windy and rainy and dark, but not cold. The bracing walk across lunar terrain, lit by the moon (where else can you do that?) takes 25 minutes. Motel Alex - functional, clean, and cheap (don't be put off by a slightly unwelcoming telephone manner if you ring them in advance). It serves its purpose but you can't spend more than one night here at a time: you need to meet your girlfriend at the airport, hire a car, and find some romance elsewhere in Iceland.