Tuesday 22nd October

A bit of a dramatic blog title and not quite accurate but close enough. We got up at 0500, picked up our takeaway breakfast bag from reception, arrived safely at the airport, returned the car without any damage to then find out our flight was delayed 3 hours and we would not make the connections.  You got to be freaking kidding me!

Apparently they either had technical difficulties (first story) or hit a bird (pilots excuse) the previous evening (yep) and needed a technician clearance this morning before departing. He was flown in from somewhere else. Why the heck could they not update passengers on the APP or email so we did not have to get up at sparrows fart, miss a gourmet breakfast to wait at an airport with a measly 75nok I am sorry for the inconvenience voucher – which only got a cup of coffee at 69nok.  I was grumpy that is for sure. 

Furthermore when trying to get help regarding our onward journey and connecting flights we were limited by the fact that head office in Sweden were still busy reallocating, so the lady at the service desk could not book for us. Eventually, she could and we actually got put on a KLM flight from Oslo to Amsterdam directly, instead of our original flight that went Oslo-Copenhagen-Amsterdam. And we would arrive 30 minutes earlier at 13:30.

So whilst we waited we used the wifi to call my sister and have a video chat while we drunk our free cup of coffee and hot chocolate. MMM.  I was extra grumpy as of all nights, I slept the worst on holiday and was tired before the day had commenced.

Our flight eventually got away, a bit later than the scheduled 10am, as the technician only arrived as we boarded. Yep.   He was there about 10 minutes and then we were cleared for takeoff.  I was not a happy mermaid, as I kept thinking of my comfy bed that I could have got more sleep in and the last feast of herring and seafood I could have enjoyed rather than a ham and cheese sandwich, yoghurt and three pieces of fruit.  Really poor customer service in my view, and insufficient compensation for delay – a cup of coffee?

My demeanour got worse during day as our pre paid extra meals were not provided. I will work on a credit when I get home.  KLM is a bit more expensive than SAS, and provide a snack with the free tea and coffee. This was a …. wait for it….drum roll … Cheese sandwich. FFS.  And there is more. It had no butter on it, simply two thin slices of Dutch cheese with a smear in the middle of a capsicum mayo.  The Dutch have a reputation like the Scotts for their frugal habits, me thinks this is a good example. 

Schiphol is a nice airport that runs like a well oiled machine.  We know our way around and I had a boost in mood when I saw a fish shop that sold fresh ‘harring’.  Readers of my previous blogs will know how much I love them. I thought they were out of season, but clearly the supply must continue in some capacity.  We stopped. I ate. Soooo leckker!

We worked out quickly the signage to the Ibis styles shuttle. A wee note here, it is promoted as being close to the airport.  Travellers beware the only ‘close’ hotels are the Hilton and Sheraton. All others provide free shuttles approximately every 30-40 minutes. Then you have a ‘short’ (not) ride of 15-20 minutes to your hotel depending where you stay. This is also where the huge long term parking lots are. It is really a very big airport. This was not the impression or information we saw when booking, however, it is what it is, and understandable for the size of the place.  Just be aware with your planning as you can easily loose an hour or more getting to and from airport to your hotel, as the train into town is from the airport.

So we waited 20 minutes for the next shuttle bus, checked in, waited another 30 minutes for the next shuttle back to airport, and including travel time, it was about 4:30pm by the time we were on a ‘sprinter’ train to the city – 20 minutes. This really cut our time in Amsterdam city for reminiscing and enjoying the the beautiful old buildings and canals.  It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday afternoon – chocker block full with tourists and that familiar thick ambiance of herb that Amsterdam is infamous for.

Already at the train station was a group of totally off their chops tourists sitting on the ground,  looking like they should be doing something or going somewhere but not sure how to connect the dots. It was kind of funny but also somewhat sad.  I figure they were having a good time though. 

We walked up the street next to the main shopping one, and it was virtually shoulder to shoulder. The air was pretty thick with weed, and I think we were not on the best street in town. I did spy quite a few people eating chocolate topped stroppie waffles, and caught that delicious vanilla sweet scent of freshly baked waffles cutting through the other dominant scent in the air. 

No problem, I zeroed in on the source pretty quickly and we ordered one for 9euro.  It was larger than the traditional and made to order for the big queue of sugar addicts.  Not as good as the original ones we tried at the shop where they were first made… nonetheless the caramel sauce on the sweet thin biscuit topped with Nutella had the desired energy injection. We didnt quite finish it as we didn’t want to ruin our appetite and are simply not used to that much sugar – even sharing one.

We moved onto the more desirable main shopping mall and made our way to the eastern section towards the Anne Frank house – however not as far.  The light was low, so I was unable to add to my already awesome gallery of Amsterdam photos by getting to the best spots. Additionally, we were both tired from the early day and travel.

We found a ramen place for a hearty comfort meal which was nice, but not as good as home or Aussie. It cost 18 euro each – which with exchange rate is double what we would pay at home. Hi-yah as uncle Roger would say.

By then it was time to make the lengthy commute back home, arriving back at a respectable 20:00 thereabouts, with no wait required for a train, and then only 15 minutes for a shuttle. We chose our clothes for tomorrow, packed bags sans bathroom necessities, showered and worked timings for tomorrow with a wake up time of 0700, for departure at 11:00.