As many of you might have guessed, we have been traveling in Europe for 21 days. We returned a little over a week ago and as usual, jet lag has clouded my mind.
For the next 21 days, I'll be documenting our trip (in detail, sorry to
say) just so I can refer to it in order to remember what we did. I have
to do this because it's all blending together in a mishmosh of
disjointed memories.
Our friend, Dave picked us up on Wednesday at 6:30 in the evening for our 8:35 Delta flight to Los Angeles. The 5 hour flight had us landing in LAX at 4:52 AM. We landed at Terminal 3 and took a shuttle to Terminal B to catch our connecting KLM flight to Amsterdam. It was now Thursday.
Our friends, Craig and Terry flew in on Hawaiian Airlines and landed at 6:45 AM. Terry and I texted each other back and forth asking, "Where are you?" and couldn't find each other.
It was a long while before we figured out they were outside of security and we were on the other side. Yikes! Whatever the case, we finally found each other and suffered through the long 8 hour layover together.
The flight from LAX to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport left at 2:00 PM and we arrived on Friday at noon after a 10 hour flight.
Unfortunately, I discovered that there was again only 3 underseat storage for 4 people and my rolling carry-on would not fit. Doggone it!
Thank goodness we were served a lovely meal during the flight.
Viking representatives met us at the airport, took our luggage and guided us to the bus to transport us to our Viking Vili riverboat.
A very luxurious lunch was served by super friendly staff.
It boggled my mind to think I hadn't slept in almost two days! There is a 12 hour time difference between Hawaii and the Netherlands. Art joined Terry and Craig for a guided walk around Amsterdam. I stayed behind and took a nap!
We were introduced to our "Hotel" manager that evening who explained that the deepest part of the Rhine is 15 to 17 feet. The riverboat is about 20 feet. Therefore, if the boat should sink we just need to go up to the top deck. There were 180 passengers on the boat. We would be traveling through 67 locks on this river journey.
Our first dinner with our first friends was with Adrian and Jane from England. Jane is a nurse like Terry and Adrian is a teacher like me. Awesome!
Our waiter that evening laughingly told us, "I can do everything for you, but after that, I don't know."
And so began our journey.
Our friends, Craig and Terry flew in on Hawaiian Airlines and landed at 6:45 AM. Terry and I texted each other back and forth asking, "Where are you?" and couldn't find each other.
The flight from LAX to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport left at 2:00 PM and we arrived on Friday at noon after a 10 hour flight.
Unfortunately, I discovered that there was again only 3 underseat storage for 4 people and my rolling carry-on would not fit. Doggone it!
Thank goodness we were served a lovely meal during the flight.
Viking representatives met us at the airport, took our luggage and guided us to the bus to transport us to our Viking Vili riverboat.
A very luxurious lunch was served by super friendly staff.
It boggled my mind to think I hadn't slept in almost two days! There is a 12 hour time difference between Hawaii and the Netherlands. Art joined Terry and Craig for a guided walk around Amsterdam. I stayed behind and took a nap!
We were introduced to our "Hotel" manager that evening who explained that the deepest part of the Rhine is 15 to 17 feet. The riverboat is about 20 feet. Therefore, if the boat should sink we just need to go up to the top deck. There were 180 passengers on the boat. We would be traveling through 67 locks on this river journey.
Our first dinner with our first friends was with Adrian and Jane from England. Jane is a nurse like Terry and Adrian is a teacher like me. Awesome!
Our waiter that evening laughingly told us, "I can do everything for you, but after that, I don't know."
And so began our journey.
wow how fun, just the food! thx for sharing your traveling adventures...
ReplyDeleteI envy you the cruise but not the getting there.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds absolutely murderous! I don't know whether I would have agreed to do it, but of course, you ARE the traveler's wife, so you were required to suffer along. :-)
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to hear everything. I heard the food aboard Viking is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThat long flight is beyond my imagining. Thank you so much for taking us along. I'll look forward to your entries every morning.
ReplyDeleteSince I won't fly I am always glad when you take us along on these trips. Easy and I'm not the least bit tired:) Be interesting to see what you get into for the next couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteDREAM TRIP! Ima enjoy THIS!
ReplyDeleteExciting!!
ReplyDeleteThanking you in advance for the tour through your eyes! I didn't realize that Amsterdam also has building built on water. For their sake, I hope they don't have flash floods like we had here earlier this month.
ReplyDeleteGetting there is tough, but being there is great! I loved Amsterdam and our Viking River Boat cruise from there.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd want to try a 10 hour flight. I doze and would get pretty stiff and sore. However, I would really like a boat tour.
ReplyDeleteYou are such consummate travellers! Looking forward to the next tale!
ReplyDeleteMahalo for bringing us along on your travels! I always wondered if I'd like to do a Viking Cruise. Presume you don't get sea sick and nauseated like I did deep sea fishing. That's a long flight to get started. Makes the flights from K.C. to Hawaii seem a little shorter. Awake for 2 days seems precarious. As a nurse working too many hours with paperwork in the past, I'd feel nauseated, then realize I'd been awake 23 hours: my stomach would tell me to get some sleep! Looking forward to your stories and photos! (Maybe you should charge a fee for going along without needing a passport or plane tickets.) Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful lunch spread! Great start to a great trip.
ReplyDelete