And home

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Home again, jiggity jig!

Said farewell to A&KB at the hotel this morning, then headed to the airport to catch our flight back home. Finally found a football jersey, so there is now an official Netherlands jersey added to my collection (Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, and England for anyone who's wondering), although I didn't spot any official Swedish, Danish, or Belgian on the trip (does Belgium even compete in these things?). The best part? It's in my size (Kids' XL) AND it was on sale - which meant I got it for about 25 Euro cheaper than an adult jersey. Wooo!

Picked up a couple of last-minute things for myself and for a few other people, as well.

The Amsterdam Schiphol is the oddest airport I've ever been to. Not that it was difficult to navigate or anything, but it is the only airport I've ever been to where you don't go through security until you get right to the gate. After you check in, you go through a passport control system right away, so my passport was exit-stamped and I was assuming that there would be the usual security gate shortly thereafter. But no. Security is RIGHT. AT. EACH. Gate. So there is literally nothing past security except seats, a tiny washroom, and the plane. It was bizarre. I can see now why they give you a ridiculously early boarding time - everyone sort of squishes through security, and then everyone sort of squishes on to the plane. Reminded me a bit of the small airports I've been to, except for all the shopping before you get to Security.

I survived the flight, but it was painful. The kid sitting next to me needed to get up and go to the washroom about 10 times, and in spite of his speaking perfectly good English, he refused to speak to me in English, and only spoke in Dutch. He was kicking me at various points... it was just obnoxious. And behind us was another child (obviously with some sort of developmental disability) that was constantly kicking the seats, scratching at the walls, banging his tray table, etc. Needless to say, it was not a particularly restful flight.

When we got to the airport in Calgary, we were met by an announcement that CBSA was going to be meeting the plane and that we all needed to have our passports ready right away. Obviously they were looking for someone in particular.

After being cleared through customs, our bus driver found us... and immediately announced that he thought the bus he'd brought would be too small for the 15 of us. And it nearly was. There were 15 seats, and our luggage ended up piled up to the ceiling in the back, with a few more bags in the aisles.

But eventually we made it back to Edmonton, and I, thoroughly exhausted, just couldn't sleep until 11 p.m. (7 a.m. Netherlands time). I did get 10 hours, though, so hopefully I'm back onto Alberta time soon.

Not counting plane mileage, we spent more than 3000 km on the road - no wonder I feel like I've been on a bus for the last two weeks straight!

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