I have arrived at Schiphol, the Amsterdam airport. The flight was uneventful. I sat in between 20-30 soldiers and their Commanding Officers. They were on their way to Italy and were quite entertaining. One of the soldiers was one of the last to board and he sat one row in front of me. As he walked down the aisle toward our section of the plane, the gal sitting next to me shouted: "Private what happened to you?!". The guy started laughing and said that he had to do 20 push-ups before he could board the plane! Apparently he was checking out the Minneapolis airport a bit too long and his LT (Lieutenant) had to have him paged to board the plane. According to the guy: "LT made me do 20 before I could board cuz he had to page me! I thought I had more time." Oh did we all laugh! I watched 2 complete movies and 2 partial movies....napped for a bit and then counted the minutes till we landed! It was a very long flight...not all that much longer than going to Alaska, but boy did it feel like it! It was a bit strange being served dinner and breakfast on the plane and then landing in Schiphol at lunch time. The main TV screens had a map that documented our flight and the progress we were making...it was both cool and depressing to see the little plane icon move less than a mm every minute! The screen also showed statistics such as speed, altitude, temperature, origin time, destination time, and speed! From what I observed, the fasted we flew was 669MPH ground speed.
Stuff is insanely expensive at this airport...I bought a small coke for 2.75USD. Everytime you purchase something you have to give them your flight number and if it is food or beverage you must tell them when you plan to consume the item....strange! I explored Schiphol - found the casino, the massage place, the museum, all the shopping, and of course the Gouda cheese for Melanie.
It is almost 7AM MN time and I slept for maybe an hour on the plane. I have a bit of a headache, am sick to my stomach, and am really looking forward to arriving at my hotel!
That is all for now. I am flippin' TIRED! I might take some pictures while I am here...but really it is just a large airport! Hope all is well at home.
Oh and on a funny note...parts of my laptop screens are not in English! Makes for interesting navigation and I am just too tired to try and fix it.
Oh one more thing...on the plane, I sat next to two female US Army soldiers...as we were getting close to Amsterdam, we started talking about the worst pick up lines we have ever received...boy that was laughing so hard we were crying moments! GOOD TIMES!
Stuff is insanely expensive at this airport...I bought a small coke for 2.75USD. Everytime you purchase something you have to give them your flight number and if it is food or beverage you must tell them when you plan to consume the item....strange! I explored Schiphol - found the casino, the massage place, the museum, all the shopping, and of course the Gouda cheese for Melanie.
It is almost 7AM MN time and I slept for maybe an hour on the plane. I have a bit of a headache, am sick to my stomach, and am really looking forward to arriving at my hotel!
That is all for now. I am flippin' TIRED! I might take some pictures while I am here...but really it is just a large airport! Hope all is well at home.
Oh and on a funny note...parts of my laptop screens are not in English! Makes for interesting navigation and I am just too tired to try and fix it.
Oh one more thing...on the plane, I sat next to two female US Army soldiers...as we were getting close to Amsterdam, we started talking about the worst pick up lines we have ever received...boy that was laughing so hard we were crying moments! GOOD TIMES!
Okay...As I am uploading pictures tonight I realized the ONLY pictures I took in Amsterdam were in the bathroom! Hmmmm not so sure about that ;-)
I LOVE that they call bathrooms "toilets". Not all bathrooms have a bath, and restroom is just silly! Who is going to go sit on a toilet to rest?! I also thought it was funny that they had to put on the tile next to the toilet that it would flush automatically.
And YES, I took a picture of the actual toilet. I thought it was cute and so much more round than what I am used to in the US! In Amsterdam you have to go through security right before EVERY gate. After security we were put in a holding area near the gate and then after a bit we were ushered through another security type checkpoint where out passports and boarding passes were checked and were put in another holding area before we boarded the plane. A bit of a pain, but it didn't take all that long.
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