July 6 - 7
We began our big adventure today! We pre-arranged an Uber pick-up to be at the house at 9am as we had heard the airports would be packed. And as a matter of fact, had we gone with the "drive yourself" option - which we'd considered - all short term and long term parking at FLL was closed from late last night until about mid-day today. That would have been a nightmare. Instead we rode in comfort without any worries as our drive showed up promptly at 9am and we were at the airport by 9:30 am. The first "glitch" of sorts came when somehow my boarding pass - both virtual and paper did NOT show TSA but Kim's did. She said she'd go through the fast lane and wait for me. But despite all the horror stories about crowds, I was only 4th in line at the "regular line," and was told I didn't have to take shoes or belt off OR take my computer out of the bag. So what would have been different in the TSA line? Zipped through and we had about 2 1/2 hours to wait for boarding.
We were in Economy Plus, so boarded relatively early for our seats in Row 8, only to find people had already used our overhead bins. Seriously? So we moved our bags into first class where there was room so we would not have to wait when getting off. Landed about twenty minutes early in Chicago and had about a five-ten minute walk to the next terminal where our flight would go directly to Amsterdam. Met a couple who were headed to Greece and had a nice chat about NHL hockey and they had cheered for our Panthers to win the Cup. We boarded and were in Premium Economy seats, only the two of us in our row - very nice. Very roomy and comfortable. Settled in and before take off I'd selected "The Pelican Brief" to watch.
A little more than 2/3 of the way through our dinner was served. Finished the meal and saw there was about five hours to landing. Took a sleeping pill and within minutes was out. Came to when Kim shook me gently asking if I wanted some of the breakfast being offered as we were about 40 minutes from landing. Quickly off the plane and to customs which was simple. And fortunately for us, our baggage claim was located right beside where we checked in for our car ride that we'd booked through Viator. That took a few minutes for us to find one another, but wasn't a big deal and soon we were on our way to the Kempton DeWitt hotel. Arrived about 10am and our room wasn't ready so we took a walk. THAT could have been an experience as on all previous trips to Amsterdam we always seem to find ourselves lost - but this time we saw the iconic canals AND found our way back to the hotel.
We both took a nap and then the rest of our group arrived so we met them in the cafe downstairs to agree on a dinner plan, and headed out to a local place where fourteen of us had a light meal together before calling it a day by 8:30 pm.....which for our bodies is 2:30 am!
Dive right into the action tomorrow with a 5 1/2 hour excursion all around the outskirts of Amsterdam, visiting three separate small villages. More pics and stories tomorrow.
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