Saturday, June 26, 2004

Suspended in Amsterdam

Our connecting flight to Innsbruck was canceled and everyone forgot tell us - rather rude of them since we are the party most affected. So a one hour layover has morphed into a 6 hour marathon at Schiphol. My Beloved is NOT HAPPY.
We have various options but the only thing we could get was a free nights stay in Amsterdam, which will do us no good since we MUST be in Innsbruk by early tomorrow evening.

My Beloved, who does not like to take NO for an answer is still rattling about trying to get satisfaction. I keep reminding her she should know from experience just how stubborn the Dutch are and to just give it up.
I'm to tired to be upset about it, and besides one of us needs to be calm.
At least this airport has every amenity known to humankind including an internet cafe and a massage center. Not to mention some choice people watching.

In my roaming I found the chapel just at the beginning of a Muslim call to prayer. The floor was carpeted with Muslim men, each with his own prayer rug. In the anteroom sat 3 of their children enjoying a meal of Chicken McNuggets. Talk about culture clash.

Oddly, I'm speaking Dutch to the staff, who are answering me in English. I wish they would speak to me in Dutch since I need to bring the language to my frontal lobe. People who look American and speak Dutch with an American accent are not in their lexicon.

When we were checking in in Houston I idly picked up one of those stick on luggage tages. Written on it, in a very young and very uneducated hand was a name and destination - IRAQ. I hope whomever he is gets there and more importantly gets home safely.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well, gee, thanks G, you didn't tell me I would need a kleenex if I read your story!!!...you last sentence or two did me in......talk about real-world experiences!!
and #2..shoulda let you be the "teacher" for a few minutes cuz not sure I'm "connecting"...never done one of these things....remember, we talked about that learning curve!
hope that all is well by now & your expected adventure has truly begun.....it is VERY soggy here..getting close to depression level--only good thing is no mosquitoes..yet! but omg when they come out they are are gonna be vicious. will miss your tidbits around the table this next week
take a loonnnnggggg look at any mts of your choosing & whisper my name!! this drowning desert rat is missing looking up or down...depending on the pt of view!!!
take care...i KNOW you are having fun!! VB