Day Zero

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Geo: 52.3795, 4.63772

SeaTac Airport has free wi-fi! Of course, I had nothing to blog about at SeaTac, having only been dropped off by John 45 minutes before I discovered the free wi-fi. In that short time, the only interesting things that happened to me were: (1) a TSA officer made some Russian people get out of my way; (2) I got a chai latte at Starbucks; and (3) there were way too many small children waiting at gate S10, and most of them were coughing or sneezing and just generally spreading germs. Not terribly blog-worthy (clearly, however, I've just blogged it, so ...).

The flight to Heathrow was mostly uneventful and, even though the Captain or whoever it is that yammers over the loudspeakers said it was a full flight, the seat between me and the girl at the window was empty. Score! I even managed to get a couple hours of sleep. Why is it that I always wind up in front of the person who is continually digging around and shoving awkwardly shaped things into the seat pocket? I sat in the first four rows of World Traveller (read: coach), and those rows are in a cabin by themselves, and there are even curtains to divide that cabin from World Traveller Plus and the rest of the cattle ... er, passengers. We even had our own lav, until someone clogged the drain in the sink and the cabin crew taped the door shut. There were two babies in my section, one of which was right in front of me and cute as a kitten. The only peep I heard out of her during the entire flight were a couple of happy giggles and one vaguely distressed-sounding hiccup. The baby on the other side of the plane NEVER ONCE STOPPED CRYING. At least it was only crying, and not screaming.

Our plane made great time so instead of having a four-hour layover at Heathrow, I had a four-and-a-quarter-hour layover. I'm not sure why, but I always set off the beeper when going through security at Heathrow. I was given quite a thorough patdown and a wanding; it's a teensy bit distressing. I've no idea what sets it off: I wasn't wearing any jewelry apart from my watch, and it's not my watch that does it. Maybe I have iron-rich blood. Heathrow is making use of the full-body scanners, and you can be prohibited from flying if you refuse to go through if chosen. I was thinking they might decide to send me through one of those, but I didn't even see where they are.

I killed some time at Boots and then found a nice quiet place to read my book. I also (rather nobly, I think) decided to forgo a mocha at Starbucks. (Confession: I didn't go to Starbucks because I thought it had been replaced by an EAT cafe. Instead, I got a Coke from a vending machine and drank that while reading. It wasn't till I got up to walk around that I saw I had confused nearly identical sections of the terminal, and Starbucks is still right where it should be.)

The onward flight to Amsterdam was also uneventful, though it was quite bumpy over the water. Also, the little girl behind me didn't stop talking the entire time. No, that's not true. She did stop talking occasionally, but that's only because she had decided to sing instead. Also? Seat 6C on an Airbus A320 gets gypped when it comes to room under the seat in front. A flight attendant took my purse and put it in an overhead bin in first class because I couldn't get it to fit under the seat in front of me. Most irritating.

Schiphol Airport is interesting because all the signs are in English. There might have been some signs in the restrooms in Dutch, but all the important directional signs throughout the airport are in English. The Dutch are pretty amazing when it comes to knowing more than one language. The guy who checked my passport spoke perfect English and even had a good American accent. Even the driver of the Zuidtangent bus could tell me the fare was “five-sixty” without hesitation. Another thing she did without hesitation was drive. She was whipping that bus around corners and going like crazy! I was thinking, “Great. I got all the way over here on two planes, and now I'm going to die in a bus crash.”

The hotel, Hotel Ambassador City Centre in Haarlem, is a ten-minute walk from the train station/bus stop. It's right behind the Grote Kerk, and I've been hearing bells most of the evening. Fortunately, my room is in the rear of the hotel, so it should at least be quiet. Unfortunately, I have a view out my window that only a cockroach would love. This is, at least, in keeping with my track record of mostly staying in rooms that have no view.

The shower ... well, I'll have to describe it after I've actually put it to use. Unhappily, the “free wi-fi in all rooms” has limited to no connectivity, so I can't get on the Internet or anything. That means this post will be posted post-Day One. There are a couple of computers down in the lobby for guests' use, but I can't do much more than send a quick e-mail. I certainly can't write a blog entry or Skype with John.

On the bright side, I am off work for an entire month! I haven't had this much time off at one time since the summer after 8th grade.

To bed now, exhausted but probably too tired to sleep. Here's hoping the bells have stopped for the night and that they don't start too early in the morning.

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Photos

My bathroom
Yes, that's a squeegee in the corner.