My trip to Amsterdam began with a short drive to Dulles and a brief stint in the Air France/KLM Lounge, and boy howdy do the Europeans know how to lounge!

I enjoyed a couple of cocktails and some snacks and then walked out the back door and right on to the plane. They’d given me a complimentary upgrade to Economy Comfort, which was nice, but the guy in the seat next to me clearly wasn’t happy to see me board. He kept jumping up and talking in Dutch to the flight attendants. It was starting to give me a complex, but as soon as we took off and hit cruising altitude he jumped up and moved back to an empty row near the back of the plane. As soon as I realised that left me in a row by myself I totally forgave him!

It was only a six hour flight and it took forever for them to bring out dinner. By the time they cleared it away my Benadryl was already kicking in. I fell asleep right away but two hours in the infant in the middle row next to me began screaming. After that I was wide awake! As soon as I finally drifted off again, they turned the lights back on and brought out our yogurt and muffin. Remember that time I flew to Paris in business class? Yeah, me too.

I knew Jenni and Pearl were going to land shortly after I did, but I wasn’t sure what terminal or gate they’d be in. I got swept up in the line to passport control and decided to try to find them in baggage claim. Although Jenni finally started traveling with a carry on, she’d talked Pearl into checking and bringing all her liquids.

We found each other as soon as they cleared passport control. From there, it was a simple matter to pick up our iAmsterdam City Pass cards, hop on the train and make our way to the DoubleTree.

Wish you were here!