I had initially written an entire blog post’s worth of grievances against the Newark airport, which featured heavily in our travel day to Europe. That rant can now be found at Flyin’ Brian.
Our flight onboard United 70 bound for Amsterdam began like many flights – with the man seated behind me loudly making observations about his surroundings. This continued for the next three hours straight. Imagine someone narrating everything that was happening around you without ever pausing. Topics included, but were certainly not limited to circuit breakers, Diet Coke, Newark harbor, and Jesus Christ. The man talked while he was eating his dinner. It was quite a feat. Let’s all have a moment of silence for the woman sitting next to him on the flight. We thought it was his wife or coworker or someone that might know him, but as time went on, it became clear that the man was just talking three hours straight to a stranger. Luckily for her, he eventually got tired and passed out until the last hour of the flight where he picked up where he left off and ordered a Diet Coke for breakfast.
We arrived at the gate at Schipol just before 8am. We processed quickly through customs and made our way to the trains. We find ourselves in Amsterdam so frequently, but always in such a state of jet lagged delirium that neither of us can recall how we got to our hotel last time we were here. However, once we got to the ticketing machine area at Schipol, we had a sense of deja vu especially when we ran into the same issues of discovering that two different train/tram operators would be required to arrive at our destination and thus required buying multiple tickets.
We ended up on an express train rather than a local one, so we saw our planned stop come and go as we sped off to the main Centraal Station. This was a minor setback as the trams only really went one direction from Centraal, so it was harder to make an error from this point on. The tram stop was just a few blocks from the Hotel De Wallen, which was well hidden behind a cafe and garden.
As it was not even 930 am, check-in was not entirely available to us. Without the energy to really explore the city on no sleep, we plopped ourselves on a couch in the lobby facing the desk clerk in hopes of lighting a bit of a fire in getting a room cleaned for us sooner rather than later. It took a little over an hour before a room was ready, pretty decent considering check-in time is technically 3pm. After showering and napping for a spell, we set out into the streets.
I changed into my bicycle t-shirt, which was absolutely necessary for the environment. We walked through Vondel Park. It was a nice day and we had to be cautious of hordes of bicycles zipping around us. Our reaction times were slowed in our jet lagged state. After doing a big loop in the park, our legs felt rather fatigued and we found a bench near the Rijksmuseum.
I kept nodding off a bit whilst sitting on the bench. Neither of us had eaten since our mediocre breakfast sandwich on United. I thought perhaps a snack might help me. I ordered a waffle with Nutella at a nearby stand.
From the park we worked our way back to the hotel to regroup and figure out dinner. Nicole was able to navigate a way with slightly wider sidewalks, which makes avoiding the bicycles a bit easier and makes for a more relaxing stroll.
When we set out again, the temperature seemed to have dropped about 20 degrees with a stiff breeze and overcast skies moving in. Our hotel is in a neighborhood called De Hallen. It used to be a tram depot, but it has been converted into a covered arcade with lots of shops and places to eat.
It’s sort of like a hawker mart in Singapore, where each place has a specialty and you get what you want at different stations. Nicole and I had burgers with Belgian frites. It was a hearty, and much needed meal after a 24 hour period of strange foods and snacks. We went back to the hotel to relax and see how long we could last before falling asleep. If things go according to plan, we will be in Prague tomorrow.
This is the fourth alteration of our August trip. My vacation days were originally placed for a wedding in Sri Lanka, which now has mandatory two week quarantine for foreigners. Then we thought about Madeira and Azores, but rental cars are either extremely expensive or non-existent. Also, the flights were near capacity. Then we pivoted to an Eastern European road trip that would have begun in Budapest, but determined that despite all the surrounding countries allowing travel, Hungary and its autocratic ruler are pretty much closed off to everyone except Tucker Carlson. So wish us luck in getting to Prague, otherwise we will have to figure something else out . . .again.
passports & pepto bismol 