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TRAVEL DAY
April 22
Wednesday morning, I finished getting all my things together and waited until it was time to
leave. My suitcase weighed about half of what it could, and my carry-on was under weight,
too! Not intentional, but good!
Over the week before I left, I researched things to do in and around Amsterdam and put
together a folder with information about each place as well as maps on how to walk from
each place to the next - definitely quite prepared to explore Amsterdam by myself!
Mom came home from work around 10:00 and picked me up. She took me to UW where the
Airport Transit van has a regular pick-up. We left at about 10:50. There were three other
passengers; one of them was a lady who was a linguistics prof at UW. Nobody talked at all
on the way there, and that was fine with me because I was so nervous that I wasn't feeling
that great anymore! My stomach was in such a knot!
I tried to forget about being nervous and just enjoy the experience. I wasn't worried, per se,
just a bit concerned about finding my way to Amsterdam without any problems. I made
myself laugh at one point, though! I was going over my travel itinerary in my head (thank
goodness just in my head!), and I said "I'm on United Airlines for the first two flights, British
Airways for the third one to Amsterdam. And coming home, I'm flying with the Luftwaffe."
Haha, right! And Hermann Goring is the flight attendant! :P Well, it made me smile, and that
made me more at ease! (The airline is actually Lufthansa...)
So... when I got to the airport (and checked in with no problems at all! hooray!), the same
lady from the Transport van was checking in right near me. Once I got through security, I got a
slice of pizza and a drink and sat down to wait for my flight.
Here's a picture of me waiting at the airport. I don't look a bit concerned, do I? :P
The flight to Chicago left exactly on time and was actually a great flight. How I felt on that
flight, on the other hand, was decidedly not great! My motion sickness is on again/off again -
sometimes I can drive all the way to Florida and not get sick at all, and then drive the 8
minutes to church and get quite ill. This was definitely an "on" time!!! To clarify, I very seldom
ever actually throw up. However, I honestly thought I was going to this time! Yikes! I was SO
not feeling well!
When we finally landed in Chicago, the first thing I did was put something in my stomach (a
nice fresh pretzel) and then I bought Dramamine. Then I bought water. Then I went to wait
for my flight. We boarded on time and I took my pills, and all was going perfectly according
to schedule!
As we were taxiing away from the gate, one of the flight attendants happened to glance at
the door and realized that she could see clear outside!!! The sealing hadn't worked at all! So,
we returned to the gate and waited for about an hour while the mechanics worked on it.
Then, we had to get off for another 45 minutes while they pressurized the plane to below sea
level to make sure that it was working properly. I didn't mind this delay at all. I got a salad
and another drink, and then did some puzzles from my puzzles magazine.
I took more Dramamine shortly after takeoff and had no more problems with motion
sickness. This flight was quite nice! I was sitting at the very back of the plane in an aisle seat
(next to a guy who was in the air force and was going to his first base). They had a map that
showed where the plane was and I enjoyed watching it move across the ocean. Also, I
watched some television shows! The kids' channel had a bunch of Disney Channel shows on it
- Wizzards of Waverly Place (or whatever it's called - I'd never seen that one before),
Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb (never seen it before, either - stupid show...), Suite Life
on Deck (I didn't even know the setting had changed!), and a few others. We don't get
television channels at home, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch TV! I watched the
whole cycle once, and some of the shows again off and on through the flight (there was
nothing else 'appropriate' available, so...). And no, I can't sleep on airplanes... I dozed a bit,
but that was it...
TRAVEL AND ARRIVAL DAY
April 23
When we landed in London, they had rescheduled me for a different flight to Amsterdam, as
I'd missed the one I was scheduled on because of the delay. I didn't mind, but that particular
day, they weren't running nearly as many flights to Amsterdam as they usually do. So, I got in
around 10:30 and had to wait until 2:50 to leave for Amsterdam.
The terminal I was in was like one very big high end shopping mall. I didn't even bother going
in most of the stores, as I just wasn't interested! I decided to start a bit of a video diary, of sorts,
so that I could share some of my experiences with Mom, Marilyn and Harley when I got home.
So, I recorded a tour of the terminal for them (it was something to do...!). I also did some
puzzles from my puzzles magazine, found something to eat and just sat around and waited.
Here's a picture of a store I did not venture into:
One of the interesting things I noticed was that there were an incredibly large number of Jews
traveling. Some of them were reading from the Torah and singing quietly. They wore large
black hats, tzitzit and head-tefillin. I'd never seen those things in person before, so I found that
quite interesting.
Finally, we had our short flight to Amsterdam! It was just great! I was SO excited to be finally
almost there!!! The man I was sitting beside was Dutch and had been working in Bali for the
past several months, so he was quite happy to tell me some things about the Netherlands
(obviously quite excited to be headed home again). One thing he said I should try not to miss
were these little "pancake"-like treats that were fried and were so tasty! I had no idea how I
would manage to find one specific food item in the whole big city, but said I'd keep an eye
out for them! Also, as we were flying in, looking out the window - my goodness! I've never
seen anywhere so flat before! One elevation, for as far as you can see! Most of it was green,
but then there were these huge patches of red and yellow - just beautiful! The man told me
those were the tulip fields where they grow and harvest tulips to be sold in the city! You don't
often think about flowers being grown just like wheat and corn, but it really is a major
industry (of course!).
When we finally landed, I had no trouble at all getting through the airport and finding my
luggage! I was so relieved to see my suitcase come around on the conveyor belt! And yes, I did
remember to thank God! I was so proud that I'd managed to make it all the way to
Amsterdam by myself! :D
April 22
Wednesday morning, I finished getting all my things together and waited until it was time to
leave. My suitcase weighed about half of what it could, and my carry-on was under weight,
too! Not intentional, but good!
Over the week before I left, I researched things to do in and around Amsterdam and put
together a folder with information about each place as well as maps on how to walk from
each place to the next - definitely quite prepared to explore Amsterdam by myself!
Mom came home from work around 10:00 and picked me up. She took me to UW where the
Airport Transit van has a regular pick-up. We left at about 10:50. There were three other
passengers; one of them was a lady who was a linguistics prof at UW. Nobody talked at all
on the way there, and that was fine with me because I was so nervous that I wasn't feeling
that great anymore! My stomach was in such a knot!
I tried to forget about being nervous and just enjoy the experience. I wasn't worried, per se,
just a bit concerned about finding my way to Amsterdam without any problems. I made
myself laugh at one point, though! I was going over my travel itinerary in my head (thank
goodness just in my head!), and I said "I'm on United Airlines for the first two flights, British
Airways for the third one to Amsterdam. And coming home, I'm flying with the Luftwaffe."
Haha, right! And Hermann Goring is the flight attendant! :P Well, it made me smile, and that
made me more at ease! (The airline is actually Lufthansa...)
So... when I got to the airport (and checked in with no problems at all! hooray!), the same
lady from the Transport van was checking in right near me. Once I got through security, I got a
slice of pizza and a drink and sat down to wait for my flight.
Here's a picture of me waiting at the airport. I don't look a bit concerned, do I? :P
The flight to Chicago left exactly on time and was actually a great flight. How I felt on that
flight, on the other hand, was decidedly not great! My motion sickness is on again/off again -
sometimes I can drive all the way to Florida and not get sick at all, and then drive the 8
minutes to church and get quite ill. This was definitely an "on" time!!! To clarify, I very seldom
ever actually throw up. However, I honestly thought I was going to this time! Yikes! I was SO
not feeling well!
When we finally landed in Chicago, the first thing I did was put something in my stomach (a
nice fresh pretzel) and then I bought Dramamine. Then I bought water. Then I went to wait
for my flight. We boarded on time and I took my pills, and all was going perfectly according
to schedule!
As we were taxiing away from the gate, one of the flight attendants happened to glance at
the door and realized that she could see clear outside!!! The sealing hadn't worked at all! So,
we returned to the gate and waited for about an hour while the mechanics worked on it.
Then, we had to get off for another 45 minutes while they pressurized the plane to below sea
level to make sure that it was working properly. I didn't mind this delay at all. I got a salad
and another drink, and then did some puzzles from my puzzles magazine.
I took more Dramamine shortly after takeoff and had no more problems with motion
sickness. This flight was quite nice! I was sitting at the very back of the plane in an aisle seat
(next to a guy who was in the air force and was going to his first base). They had a map that
showed where the plane was and I enjoyed watching it move across the ocean. Also, I
watched some television shows! The kids' channel had a bunch of Disney Channel shows on it
- Wizzards of Waverly Place (or whatever it's called - I'd never seen that one before),
Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb (never seen it before, either - stupid show...), Suite Life
on Deck (I didn't even know the setting had changed!), and a few others. We don't get
television channels at home, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch TV! I watched the
whole cycle once, and some of the shows again off and on through the flight (there was
nothing else 'appropriate' available, so...). And no, I can't sleep on airplanes... I dozed a bit,
but that was it...
TRAVEL AND ARRIVAL DAY
April 23
When we landed in London, they had rescheduled me for a different flight to Amsterdam, as
I'd missed the one I was scheduled on because of the delay. I didn't mind, but that particular
day, they weren't running nearly as many flights to Amsterdam as they usually do. So, I got in
around 10:30 and had to wait until 2:50 to leave for Amsterdam.
The terminal I was in was like one very big high end shopping mall. I didn't even bother going
in most of the stores, as I just wasn't interested! I decided to start a bit of a video diary, of sorts,
so that I could share some of my experiences with Mom, Marilyn and Harley when I got home.
So, I recorded a tour of the terminal for them (it was something to do...!). I also did some
puzzles from my puzzles magazine, found something to eat and just sat around and waited.
Here's a picture of a store I did not venture into:
One of the interesting things I noticed was that there were an incredibly large number of Jews
traveling. Some of them were reading from the Torah and singing quietly. They wore large
black hats, tzitzit and head-tefillin. I'd never seen those things in person before, so I found that
quite interesting.
Finally, we had our short flight to Amsterdam! It was just great! I was SO excited to be finally
almost there!!! The man I was sitting beside was Dutch and had been working in Bali for the
past several months, so he was quite happy to tell me some things about the Netherlands
(obviously quite excited to be headed home again). One thing he said I should try not to miss
were these little "pancake"-like treats that were fried and were so tasty! I had no idea how I
would manage to find one specific food item in the whole big city, but said I'd keep an eye
out for them! Also, as we were flying in, looking out the window - my goodness! I've never
seen anywhere so flat before! One elevation, for as far as you can see! Most of it was green,
but then there were these huge patches of red and yellow - just beautiful! The man told me
those were the tulip fields where they grow and harvest tulips to be sold in the city! You don't
often think about flowers being grown just like wheat and corn, but it really is a major
industry (of course!).
When we finally landed, I had no trouble at all getting through the airport and finding my
luggage! I was so relieved to see my suitcase come around on the conveyor belt! And yes, I did
remember to thank God! I was so proud that I'd managed to make it all the way to
Amsterdam by myself! :D
