9/8/2006 - Schiphol Amsterdam Airport

For weeks I had been looking forward to my Canadian vacation, and what do I see when I turn on the TV on August 10? London Heathrow has been closed for incoming traffic because of a terror scare! Two days before I would pass thru there. Worried my vacation might be canceled over it, I of course went to my travel agency, asking if they knew anything. They reassured me that in two days this sort of things usually return to normal.

The following day however, just before I went on my way to the Ibis Hotel at Schiphol Airport (my flight to London departed at around 8 AM, and getting there in time on Saturdays is very tricky if you have to rely on trains), someone from Uniglobe showed up at my front door, with a new ticket, which gave me a much wider window to make my connection at London, as the news was just too damn' irrational and there were all sorts of conflicting messages about the security policies that were put in place. 

Around 1 PM I left home, and took a train to Amsterdam Sloterdijk. At Sloterdijk I exchanged my money, half of it to Canadian travelers cheques, and the other half to Canadian cash. Exchange rates at the airport are downright prohibitive, so I usually exchange my money in Amsterdam. Not much later I was on a train to Schiphol, only ten minutes or so out of Sloterdijk. 

At the airport I found out I had to take a hotel shuttle, as the hotel was about a fifteen minutes' drive from the passengers terminal. I had been led to believe that I could walk there. Oh well. My room on the fourth floor was very basic, but it did have digital TV... I didn't watch much of it though. I had set the wake up call for 3.30 AM, so after a half hour of digital boredom I closed the curtains, turned off the light and took to sleeping. Or at least I tried. Actually I didn't sleep at all. I looked at the clock every fifteen minutes or so. At 3 AM I just couldn't take it anymore. I got up, took a shower, and ate up the deli sandwiches I had brought for a cheap breakfast. The first shuttle to the airport departed at 4.15 and I was on it. 

Upon arriving at the passengers terminal, I immediately made for the check-in row. I had been led to believe that checking in would commence at 5, but no one from British Midlands showed up until 6.15. Fortunately there already were a lot of other passengers to chat with. I talked to a family who were going on a tour of Ontario and Quebec with an RV, and a few passengers who were headed for Bangkok, thru Heathrow, and Manama (Bahrain). 

When BMI personnel finally did show up, checking in took only three minutes, and it took another five minutes to get thru the security gates. Pretty quick, eh? Well, there was one annoying detail: I had to take off my shoes and my belt, and then put them back on. Especially the belt was annoying. Otherwise I never slide it thru those loops while actually wearing my pants. 

The first thing I did in the controlled zone was drink, drink, drink: smoothies, water, cappuccino... I also browsed some of the shops, but they sold nothing I couldn't buy within 300 yards from my house. Ten minutes before my plane would commence boarding, I discovered I was only in the Schengen Treaty zone of the airport, a treaty in which the UK are not included. Therefore, I had to go thru a passport inspection, which took another five minutes of my time. 

Before going on board, I bought another cappucino across the hall from the gate, and was surprised to find that I was actually permitted to take the paper cup with the liquid on board. On a plane to London. Perhaps for the better, as I would have had to pay prohibitive prices for drinks on board. My plane left precisely on time, just before 8 AM.