I put our luggage outside our cabin last night around 11:30pm. It was tricky to figure out what toiletries we would need in the morning that we could bring in our carry on bags, but I managed to sort my toiletries out and pack the bigger, bulkier stuff in our suitcases so we would have no issues at the airport. I also managed to get the suitcases all around the same weight so that we wouldn’t have any excess baggage charges or be forced to carry more stuff with us as carryon items on the flight.
We both woke up before our alarm this morning because we were both coughing and hacking for most of the night. What a drag! We needed our sleep and with such a long day ahead of us, it was going to be very gruelling if we were both tired.
We double checked our cabin and made sure that we had everything was out of the closets, drawers, safe and bathroom and headed to the main lobby of the ship to wait for instructions on when we could board the bus to Schipol.
As soon as the bus arrived to take us to the airport Richard said we could leave the ship. He identified our luggage and made sure that the Viking staff put the luggage under the bus. Richard deals with transportation primarily when working as a Trip Director so he was having a hard time watching the mess that was going on outside the bus window and on the bus. People were coming out to the bus and getting onboard without identifying their luggage. People were in need of wheelchairs to get from the ship to the bus, with no assistance to climb up the steep steps onto the bus. We were all sitting on the bus and the Viking staff member asked for certain cabin numbers to identify themselves as they had not checked in with the Viking rep to advise that they were on the bus. I had to call out that there were still 2 pieces of luggage left on the pier outside the bus because no one had identified the luggage. Finally a lady from California looked out and said “I told the bus driver that was my luggage but he didn’t load it on the bus”. Do you not think maybe that you should stay and watch your luggage get on the bus since it was pitch black outside at 5:30am this morning?
The bus left late for the airport of course because we had stragglers coming out late to depart instead of being on the bus for 5:45am to depart. Once we got to the airport the bus driver and a Viking airport rep told us all to stay on the bus since it was very cold outside and that once all of the luggage was on the sidewalk we could grab carts and push our suitcases the 15 minutes to the check in counters.
People were complaining that they had booked a wheelchair assist and why were there not more people available from Viking to push wheelchairs to the departures gates? It was so painful having to wait for the entire group to make it to the terminal for check in!
We finally took off from the group and the Viking airport rep once we knew where we were going to get to the Delta Sky Priority check in area. The luggage was all under weight so my scales worked last night!
We headed up through security and Richard ended up having his bottle of Nivea shaving cream that I had bought him in Lyon confiscated, since it was too big for carry on. I did my toiletries, not Richard’s, so it was unfortunate to lose his new 14 euro shaving cream!
We easily went through passport control, which is automated for Canadians, and then we headed to McDonald’s for a bacon egg McMuffin. Our first McDonalds of the trip! McDonald’s even sold fresh squeezed orange juice so that was a nice treat.
Waiting to board in Schipol, Amsterdam for our long trip home
Schipol is a very large airport with lots of shopping opportunities so I parked Richard at our gate with our carry on bags and I wandered off to take a look at what I could see.
When we got onboard our flight to Detroit in Delta Comfort we were told that the flight was completely sold out, so there was no hope of any upgrade today. The Captain came on to say we would be taking a more northerly Arctic route today to avoid some storms and our northern journey would see us arriving in Detroit 45 min to 1 hour early. Great news for us since we have a connection in Detroit to Buffalo.
Unfortunately we didn’t move since someone had checked a bag for this flight, but had not boarded the flight. I never can understand how that happens, especially given their bag made the flight so why didn’t they?
7 hours and 45 minutes is a long time on a flight especially the way we are feeling and since we cannot stretch out in Business Class, at least I’m using the time wisely to be able to catch up on my blogs! Being in Delta Comfort+ at least we did have bigger seats and better leg room so that was a bonus instead of sitting in the cramped back of this big A380 airbus!
Somewhere over there on the north shore of Lake Erie is our home! We flew from Detroit to Buffalo right down Lake Erie and I could recognize landmarks like the Welland Canal in Port Colborne and the water treatment intake building for Buffalo which you can see in the middle of this photo, in the water with a roof on it. The remains of the old pier at Waverly Beach and just down from the pier is our house. Almost home, but not quite!
It will be nice to be home. Almost a month is a long time to be gone. We enjoyed our trip and parts of it were better than others. Meeting the Aussies was a highlight of the trip for us and we are so glad that travel allows us to make new, likeminded friends wherever we go!
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