Time to Fly!

We woke up early and was ready for the taxi collection at 7:15am.  Paul's mum, Betty, was awake too so that she could say goodbye.  Our taxi's arrival time came and went and Paul started to get a bit worried.  I stood and waited outside while he telephoned to find out where the taxi was.  He was told that the taxi was on its way.  It eventually arrived about 15 to 20 minutes late.  It was very foggy outside so people were driving carefully.

We got to the train station in  Breda and were well in time to catch the high speed train to Schiphol Airport.  The train was full and there were no seats available so we stood, with our luggage, in the bicycle storage area of our carriage.  We weren't the only ones making use of the space.  Fortunately nobody brought their bicycles onto the train at that time.  The train made a stop in Rotterdam before continuing on to Schiphol Airport.

We had arrived in plenty of time and were treated to self-service baggage check-in which we had never seen before.  Usually one goes to a counter to drop the bags off and the ground steward/ess will weigh in the suitcases and sticker them.  This time we had to put our suitcases into an open cage one at at time, a sticker was issued which we tied to the suitcase, the open cage door  lowered, the suitcase emptied onto a conveyor belt and the cage door opens for the next piece of luggage.  The process is then repeated. The airport is certainly becoming more and more automated.

Next, Paul went to an enquiries desk to find out if there was an opportunity to upgrade our seats to business class - if the price was right.  Fortunately the price was within reasonable limits but we would not be able to sit together.  It doesn't matter too much - from the aeroplane seating plan it looks like we will be sitting behind each other.

We went through security without any hiccups and had a bit of a wander around before going to the business class lounge for a bit of a late breakfast.  We have been able to relax for an hour or so but must head to the boarding gate now!

Time to board the flight!

Oh... about the saga with the car breaking down whilst in Corsica.  Paul submitted VW's invoice and, to chance his arm, our ferry invoice (that we couldn't cancel therefore get our money back for) and extra accommodation cost invoice to KwikFit.  They have paid it back!  Wow!  Good result from KwikFit Netherlands!