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Picture of a canal from my layover in Amsterdam
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This year I am going to, I think, the last two European countries that I have not been to.
Spain and Portugal. Only one full day in Portugal, however. Spring break is only 10 days long. I typically prefer to visit one city and do day trips, but this trip I will be staying for two nights in several cities: Lisbon, Seville, Malaga, Granada, and then one night in Madrid. I had originally thought of Morroco, since the only African country I've been to is Egypt and that always seems less Africa and more Middle East. But there were wildfires. Then I thought of Greece (oops, one more European country), but they had entire islands flood, so that was out.
So anyway, I left school right after my students did to go home, drop off my things, wash my breakfast and lunch dishes, and feed the birds before grabbing my already packed bags and heading to the airport. City bus and light rail. My international flight was at 7:25 pm and three hours early is 4:25 pm. And it takes 1/2 an hour to get there. A colleague at school told me as I was leaving that he has just brought his bags to school before and left from school. The light rail station is nearby and you can arrive two hours early for a 5:30 domestic flight. I'll keep that in mind.
I got to the airport and my online boarding pass on the Delta app said that my seat would be assigned. So at the airport I waited in the line for checking in and was told that I should just go to the gate; they would assign my seat there. So I went through security (only one problem--rookie mistake of leaving my phone in my back pocket which meant a pat down) and there was no agent at the gate. When there was finally one there, I met her at the desk asking for my seat. She said that she would get to it and would make an announcement for people that needed one. Well, they finally called my name to come up after boarding had started. I did run into a colleague from last year at my old school in the waiting area, so it was fun to catch up with her. The seat they assigned me was 41H. That was only over the wing--huge plane! Luckily it was an aisle seat and it was convenient to the bathrooms and was the last row in that section, so I could recline as I wished and not feel guilty. The downsides were the light from the bathroom shining every time someone opened the door when the rest of the plane was dark, the people crowding the aisle next to me while waiting for the bathroom, and the noise of the engines on the wings. Overall, a pretty good seat and the legroom was more than I've had on some other planes. I introduced myself to the person I was sitting next to and asked if she was the type of person that likes to talk or who prefers to be left alone (I figured that I would just find out right away instead of guessing). She answered that she was an introvert, so she doesn't really like talking. We did end up talking a few times--she was enroute to visit her boyfriend, who she originally met online, in Africa where he lives. They've been toghether for 2 years and she is hoping that he will come to the US to live with her because she wants to go to culinary school in Texas, not live in Africa.
I typically can't sleep in planes because I can only fall asleep laying down. But I was able to drift a bit during the night. Not a full sleep, but better than nothing. I also watched two movies--The Holdovers and Anatomy of a Fall. Both were interesting. We were served two meals--dinner and breakfast. The pilot said that if we needed a snack to go to the kitchen area at the rear of the plane. The flight attendants also walked around several times with trays full of glasses of water if you wanted some. I had a super long layover in Amsterdam--7 hours--so I was planning to be brave and go into the city to walk around. I didn't want to sit in the airport for that long! So I did! When I went through immigration, they asked me where I was staying and I said that I had a long layover and was going into the city for a few hours. He smiled and told me to enjoy myself. I took the train into the city from the airport and wandered aimlessly. At one point, I saw a large store full of vibrators and another store full of condoms, so I realized that I was in the red light district. I walked until I was clear then found a cafe with seating along the canal and sat there. One Dutch food are pancakes, or pannekoekens--sweet pancakes. so I had an apple cinnamon one (they're huge). And I had a beautiful view of the canal while I ate.
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| leading to the Red Light district-unknown to me! |
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| my lunch view! |
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| where I ate |
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| my pannakoeken lunch |
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| cute shops |
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| a pituresque church |
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the train station in Amsterdam
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After that I wended my way back to the train station and took the train back to the airport. After going through security again (only 15 minutes--this time it was the portable charger power bank from my suitcase that I put in my backpack--which is what you're supposed to do), I had to walk half an hour to my gate! Then it was closed and a sign said to wait. When I checked the sign later, they had changed the gate.
We waited in the new gate; they began boarding on time, then said that there was a delay, then another, then another. We finally took off just after 8:30 (instead of 4:55). There were evidently two problems with the fuel part of the engine. Anyway, we landed really late in Lisbon. I still didn't have an address or good directions to where i was staying. I asked the hostel hosts for directions using public transit and they gave me very vague and incomplete directions. So I used Google Maps which got me to the right street. I messaged the hosts with a flurry of Help Mes! As I'm walking down the street around midnight with weird people out and a guy that seemed like he was following me. Finally, turns out that they messaged the address with picture directions to get in the building and self check-in to my room, but the weak airport wifi didn't download it . I found it when I was messaging them (on the Booking.com app), that there were pics to check in as well as the address and the code to get in the door. Well, I found my room, mostly unpacked, brushed my teeth, double-checked tomorrow's tickets and wondered where to pick up my Lisboa pass. Good night!
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