Monday was a very, very long day. I had to get up nice and early to ensure I caught the necessary train to get me to the airport. I woke up, did your average 'getting ready,' finished packing every last thing from my room and went to go meet the girls for breakfast. Mostly it was me eating as they just woke up to say goodbye to me. After breakfast I called a cab and had to say goodbye. That was no fun at all. It was so weird to leave that place and those people knowing that it would never be like that again. Once I left that was it, I couldn't go back and visit. A teary goodbye and a a hop in the cab (because I had too much stuff to roll across Groningen's cobbled streets) I found myself at the train station.
I intentionally took the earlier train (about 45minutes earlier) because it was a direct line and the last thing I wanted to do was lug my two 50lbs suitcases and my backpack from train to train. I also wanted to do some souvenir shopping at the airport because Groningen doesn't really have that sort of thing. The train left shortly after 9:00 and I was lucky to get there and easily get my bags on with no problems. I slept a lot, even though I felt like I should be taking in my last opportunity at the Dutch landscape - I was really exhausted.
Eventually the train stopped on the tracks, not outside of the Schiphol Airport, but outside of some other town - I wish I could remember where. When I asked what the announcement said, even though I was pretty sure I knew, I was disheartened to hear that the train would not be going any further and I would have to switch. And this is where the train travel starts to take a turn. I find out that 'trains to Schiphol aren't running' and I will have to take a train to Utrecht, switch again, and then go to the Airport. So though elevators and packed trains I go. This trip usually takes 2.5 hours and one train, my trip took 4 hours and 3 trains. Instead of arriving early at 11:30 I arrived late at 1. Good thing I left early.
When I got to the airport I went to check my bags in, one was overweight, one was not. I was that person in the airport line with their suitcases strewn open moving things from one bag to the next. Another good start to my day. I did it though, I made my bags both weight 50lbs. I went to go to my gate. Now because I was late I didn't get to do my souvenir shopping which consequently meant I didn't reaaally bring anything back for my family - sorry family, I had good intentions. I had time to find a few boxes of stroopwafels and a grande iced cafe latte from Starbucks before I had to get to my gate (for interest sake, this would be coffee 1 of 7). At this point I was elated that I had eaten breakfast as it was nearly 2pm and I hadn't had a chance to eat anything yet - it was going to be a long day.
The Amsterdam Airport main terminal has a great deal of shopping and restaurants and it also has security at each gate as opposed to one security for the whole terminal - I wasn't really a fan of that because I didn't know how much time it would take to get through so I basically just went right through out of fear I might miss my flight.
From there I flew to London Heathrow - my flight was delayed and arrived late, this meant I wouldn't really have time to get much for lunch as I would need to transfer to a different part of terminal 5. When I arrived at the gate boarding was seriously delayed and it was seriously hot. I went for my second iced cafe latte of the day, this time venti - serious business. We boarded late because the plane's cooling system wasn't working properly and therefore the plane was too hot for us to be on. When we did board the situation wasn't much better. Once we were all seated we must have sat there for about half an hour before we heard word that the cooling system was still not working properly, while they fixed it the plane would get very hot, then they would cool it, then it would get very hot again. I think we sat there for an hour and a half. Misery.
After that it was fairly fine. I didn't really sleep much, we traveled about at pace with the sun, or at least the sun was always shining bright through the windows. It was unfortunate that they didn't make everyone shut their blinds - which they usually always do. Instead I watched four movies. 1. Rango - it seemed pretty good although I kind of dozed in and out because I was so tired. 2. True Grit - I really enjoyed this, but that doesn't surprise me, Jeff Bridges and the Coen Brothers? Classic. 3. The Fighter - This movie was awesome. I didn't have much interest in seeing it besides the rave reviews, and I will say they are totally founded. A great film. And finally 4. Harry Potter 7 part 1 - which I'd seen already so I half watched, half slept through, we landed before it ended.
Because of the delayed departure we were obviously delayed at arriving - by just over an hour I believe. It was wild to be home, I was greeted by the friendly volunteers in cowboy hats, then talked to some friendly customs workers who didn't give me a hard time at all, and when I made it to my bags they had just come off the turnstile. I loaded to the top one of those carts: two big suitcases, a full backpacking pack, a handbag, and a bag from the AMS airport. When I made it to the second customs guy he just laughed at me - I also got some strange looks from people waiting to pick up their friends/relatives at the gate. My Mom and brother came to the airport to collect me and handed me Tim Horton's coffee and a Maple doughnut - it doesn't get much better than that. From there we drove home and I went off to bed. Strange because as soon as I was back in the house it felt like I never left, like time stood still. Strange.
fin.
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