Back in Rijsbergen.

When it was time to board our flight in Toronto there was chaos.  Two flights were being boarded at gates side by side and it was difficult to hear announcements and people were getting confused.  There was an electrical thunderstorm in Toronto and lightning strikes stopped cargo loaders from loading cargo into the aeroplane's hold because it was unsafe.  Passengers had boarded the flight but all other operations stopped until the thunderstorm had passed.

We finally arrived at Schiphol International Airport about an hour later than expected.  It seemed as if all flights had landed all at once.  There were long queues at Passport Control and then there was chaos at the baggage carousel.  There were at least 3 flights that had all their luggage on one carousel.  Luggage got stuck on one belt that was trying to take baggage up to our assigned carousel so it caused a delay until a luggage operator cleared stuck item.  Then then another flight landed and its baggage was unloaded to our carousel to add to the chaos.  So it took a while before our luggage appeared.

We finally escaped from the airport terminal and made our way to the underground train station and caught an express train to Breda.  At Breda station we caught a taxi to Rijsbergen.  The taxi driver had just picked up someone from the station but was agreeable to take us as well, dropping his first passenger off first. 

Our route from the airport to Rijsbergen.

It was good to get back to Rijsbergen and, first things first, we had a shower.  Oh bliss!

We are tired and at this rate we are going to have an early night to try and get over the jet-lag.

The last few days since getting back to the Netherlands have been hectic.  Paul will be starting work at sea again soon so we had to do a few things:  clear out the caravan and take it to storage facilities (a former greenhouse), take a load of stuff in the garage for recycling, fetch the quad bike and put it in Paul's mum's garage and then finally take the car to an underground garage for safekeeping until we return to the Netherlands.

Gwenny, Paul's sister, came to visit us before we left and then it was all systems go with sorting and packing things that we will need for the next 3 months.

To Mo'orea from the Netherlands

Today we are staring our journey to Mo'orea, Tahiti, and sitting at Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam, waiting for the call to board our flight to Heathrow Airport and then on to Los Angeles, Pape'ete (Tahiti) and then on to Mo'orea (French Polynesia, just across from Tahiti).  It is going to be a very long day ...

First leg of our flight - heading to Heathrow.

A taxi picked us up from Rijsbergen at around 7am.  Traffic was bad all the way to the airport.  I guess everyone is going back to work after a long weekend.  Just as well that we had set off early to the airport - we made it with plenty of time to spare to drop our luggage off, go through security and passport control as well as the long walk to the gate.

Now we are just waiting for the call to board our flight.

Back in the Netherlands at last.

Schiphol Airport to Rijsbergen by train & taxi

On Wednesday early morning we arrived at Schiphol Airport without any hiccups during the flight.  We caught a train and taxi back to Rijsbergen, had a shower and crashed until dinner time.

It is now Friday morning and I've done nothing but sleep since getting back, waking up for brunch and dinner. I've been that shattered.  Paul has not slept quite as much, catching up with his mum and going through his mail.

Melvin, mum's cat, has made big strides.  He has been coming up to our room and sleeping with us! He never does, and used to go after exploring the room.  Maybe he's missed us?!

I miss those few weeks of sun and warm weather.  Dark skies and the cold don't help ☹️

Back 9 hours: Flying Westwards, Los Angeles & San Diego.

Yesterday, in Amsterdam, it was nice to get priority boarding but ... Paul got stopped, as did a few other random passengers, just before boarding the plane and was put through a random drug test.  Plenty of swabs were taken from his shoes, hand luggage, bum bag, laptop, etc.  The guy doing Paul's random check was super-thorough and we had no option but to wait patiently.

We finally boarded the aircraft and found our seats.  The stewardess was very helpful with trying to re-arrange our seats with our fellow passengers so that we could sit side by side but nobody was interested in giving up their seat, let alone for a window seat.  It didn't matter - at least Paul was just a leg's length away from me.  The flight was delayed for almost an hour because there was a shortage of loading staff.

The flight to Los Angeles was pleasant - I slept most of it away! 😃 The food and service was superb so no complaints from the 'peanut gallery'.  Flying westerly we gained another 9 hours. 😊

It was when we landed in Los Angeles that the fun began.

We had to stand in a long queue for "self-service" machines where we were had to scan in our passports and get our finger prints scanned in.  Not a problem.  Er yes, it was a problem.  The scanner didn't seem to like Paul's fingers and wouldn't register his prints.  After trying a few times Paul ended up going to the machine next to ours where everything went smoothly.  In the meantime I had the same problem that Paul had where my fingerprints wouldn't register.  An assistant came over to help and eventually the scanner got my finger prints in - but only after the assistant cleaned the screen a couple of times.  We were just about to go when the assistant told Paul he also had to get his passport and fingers scanned even though Paul had used another machine - something to do with people flying together, i.e. couples/families.  The machine regurgitated a piece of paper with something on it along with our pictures.  What it was exactly for, we weren't sure but we held onto it.

We then discovered that we had to go into another queue to see a human.  It seems the finger scanner nor passport recognition had anything to do with immigration because we had to go through the process again when we finally got to passport control desk.  We hoped not to get the one particular immigration control chap because he seemed to be in a very bad mood.  He even walked a visitor somewhere else for further investigative questioning.  Another chap was Russian and the immigration official dismissed him eventually, telling him to stand to one side and wait - but without saying why.  The 2 ladies in front of us headed towards him and he told them to 'get back behind the line' until called.  They sighed with relief when someone else called them but for us - we ended up getting 'crosspatch'.  Funnily enough he calmed down when we approached and was full of good cheer, friendly and even cracked a joke or two.  What a change in mood!  We just about fell over backwards.  We got through passport control without any further hassles.

We collected our suitcases and, with the lack of signage and a bit of luck, we found the luggage re-check in area.

There were no information boards as to connecting flights so we ended up doing a bit of guesswork and followed signs that said 'connecting flights'.  After going through security check (I found staff were rude and unfriendly) we found ourselves in a large terminal but with still no information boards as to where our connecting flights were.  We finally asked someone and were given directions as to where to go.  We were in the wrong terminal and had to go to another terminal.

So we followed more signs to the exit of the terminal and walked along a pavement to another terminal and finally found the right place.  It meant having to go through security again even though we had been through security earlier at the wrong terminal.  Once again there was no signage as to which direction to go and some personnel were abrupt with us because we couldn't find our way.  How were we to know that BEHIND her and to her left was the way to get to the security scanners - we just saw barrier tape blocking things off; the way to the security scanners not being very visible.  Through security once again and finally we found information boards with flight information.  We gave a sigh of relief once we got to the gate and could sit down for a few minutes before boarding our next flight.

The short flight between Los Angeles and San Diego was uneventful. Once landed we were able to pick up our luggage and found our transport waiting for us to take us to the hotel.

Now at the hotel (Andaz Hotel, San Diego - https://sandiego.andaz.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html), we are able to have a much needed shower and relax. Tomorrow is another day and it is now time to get some much needed rest before Paul goes back to work on the cruise ship, MS Maasdam.

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!

Arrival in the Netherlands

Our flight was uneventful although I was a bit uncomfortable now and then. Having short legs I find it a bind not being able to reach the floor to rest my feet on flights so I ended up putting my legs on Paul's lap now and then so that at least I could even out the blood supply a bit! We also didn't sleep very well – more dozing than anything else.

We arrived at Schiphol airport a bit earlier than expected but it didn't matter – we didn't have anyone waiting for us. We got through passport very quickly – having chip EU passports. The scanners for chip passports was waaay shorter than the queues to see a human. We had a bit of a wait at the luggage carousel. Unfortunately a lot of luggage from a previous flight was still on the carousel and the computerised system could only load a suitcase as and when it found a space on the carousel. So our flight's luggage took a while to get onto the designated carousel. We finally got our luggage. Paul discovered that a padlock on his suitcase had been cut and a tie-wrap was in its place. No doubt customs had seen something suspicious in his luggage on x-ray and opened it. We think it was 3 bottles of vitamin water lying next to each other in the suitcase that heightened suspicions. At least someone was doing their job!

We ended up taking a train from Schiphol Airport to Den Haag and then caught a connecting train to Breda. We almost had the carriages to ourselves – silence was golden! When we arrived in Breda we found the respective bus number that would take us home to Rijisbergen. We were the only ones on the bus apart from the driver. We got off near the local doctor's surgery and walked the rest of the way to Paul's mum's place. I was knackered when we arrived. The weight of pulling 2 small suitcases plus the early morning heat of the day tired us out further.

After something to drink and a few moments to catch our breath, we went to fetch Paul's car from storage just down the road from his mum's house, and then went to Aldi to do a bit of grocery shopping. Unfortunately the car's air-conditioner has packed up so it felt as if we were travelling in a sauna, even with the windows wide open.

When we got back home (Betty's place) we had a refreshing shower and a well deserved afternoon nap. We managed, sort of. The heat in the attic room was almost unbearable despite windows being open so Paul found a fan and aimed it at the bed. The resultant breeze really helped to keep us cool.

After dinnertime we were able to relax. Melvin, the cat, came in to greet us but didn't stay for too long – I guess he was seeking a cool concrete floor to zzzz on to keep cool.

Amsterdam Airport - Setting off...

After a bit of a sleepless night we are now awaiting our flight to Lima. Fortunately we have a direct flight via KLM.  

On early online check-in yesterday for our economy flight (compliments of Paul's company) we discovered that we could upgrade to Business Class at a very reasonable knock-down price. So after a bit of umming and aaahhhing Paul decided we could both travel in comfort for a change.  

For me it is my first time to travel business class so it has a bit of 'wow' factor for me at the moment but I'd better not get used to it!  

Another 2 hours to relax now in the business class lounge but I'd better not relax too much otherwise I'll fall asleep in my very comfy seat. But then I do have my personal alarm clock - Paul.  😉

So, adieu my friends until we get to Lima. Once on board the ship internet may be a bit up and down but I will keep my blogs up to date as much as possible - unless I run out of juice and have a writer's holiday now and then.