The girls arrived back in The Netherlands on Friday, 8/8/08. Interesting Fact: we arrived last year on 7/7/07. Terry and Zoey were happy to see us again.
Seven weeks of home leave is not a long time. At the beginning, you are aware of the limited amount of time but the end is not really in sight. You fill up your calendar with things to do, with people to see. Still the mundane intrudes: cooking, laundry, driving. Then suddenly, the days drop away. You haven't seen everyone you wanted to see, haven't done everything you want to do. Fortunately with home leave, we know that we will have the opportunity at Christmas to see those who we could not connect during this trip and collect the clothes we left behind.
We took the almost 10 pm flight on Thursday from Dulles airport to Frankfort, Germany. We booked too late so were not able to be on the non-stop from Dulles to Amsterdam. We had one hour between landing and take off on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfort to Amsterdam. Fortunately, we had a tail wind and arrived a half hour ahead of time.
Our friends drove us to the airport which meant that we were dropped off at the departure floor. Rental car shuttles drop off at the ground floor for arrivals. That way we had to figure out how to go up a floor with all our luggage. A later flight meant check in was easier, fewer people. We could not do "self check in" because of transferring planes. We did receive boarding passes for the second leg of our journey. Going through security went well. We walked a ways to the mobile lounge that took us out to our terminal and walked some more to our gate.
Taking a flight four hours later had its advantage. The cabin lighting was subdued to stimulate night. Instead of a snack service, the cabin crew went straight to dinner efficiently served. Outside of "Prince Caspian" (viewed once by ER), no other movies tempted us. We slept a bit. About 1 am Eastern time (7 am Netherlands time) a beeping alarm went off waking many of us. The flight crew searched through the overhead bins for the source. It was finally found to be the Ipod of the woman sitting next to JA. ER slept through it. We enjoyed the breakfast snack of apple croissant and yogurt.
We disembarked in Frankfort in the C section of Terminal 1 and kept walking to find our connecting flight in section A. Our bags were checked through to our destination so we did not have to go through baggage and customs at this time. We walked and walked. Finally reached passport control. The guard cared more about our residency permit then our passports. As a result, we have no stamp of entry into the country.
After passport control, we entered the Frankfort terminal. It felt narrow and windy. Recognizable stores lined the sides as we walked. No frits (french fry) stands though. Since we were in the public area, we needed to go through a security check point to once again have ourselves and our carryon items scanned. This time, both ER and MA had to be wanded because we beeped while walking through the first detector. It was ER's first time. ER's shoes, short boots, had to be put through the scanner. After that, we found our Lufthansa gate with time to spare and waited to be called for boarding.
Boarding the plane was an adventure again. We waited to go in with the second call. We walked through the door next to the gate, down stairs and into a bus. We waited in the bus as it filled with more passengers. The bus drove us through the tarmack to our plane, a 737. We climbed stairs into the plane. We were seated in the emergency exit row which means more leg room but no under seat items. The bins near our seats were full. The flight attendant found space in a bin further back.
The hour flight from Frankfort to Amsterdam was uneventful. Our snacks must have been favorite German ones nicely packaged in cellophane with a small bottle of water. We saved most of the snack for later since we planned to have frits for lunch. Upon landing, we were almost the last ones that disembarked as we had to wait to get our carryons until those behind us had exited.
We arrived at Amsterdam at the same time as several other planes from across Europe. Since we had entered the European Union at Frankfort, we did not have to go through Passport Control here. All four luggage belts were going with people stacked around waiting. Our luggage came off of belt 1. ER collected 5 of our 6 bags while JA found a luggage cart. (For international flights on United, each person can still take 2 bags weighing less then 50 pounds for no charge.) We waited for the 6th bag to arrive but it never did. Oh yes, 1 of the 5 bags had the "TSA opened for inspection" card inside.
MA had brought her Dutch cell phone along so was able to call Terry and let him know the situation. JA and ER waited with the luggage while MA filed a claim. Actually, with the hour window between the two flights in such a large airport, we felt blessed that we only missed 1 bag instead of more. Several people were in the same predicament. It was good to know that we were not alone. We were given a file number, website to check and a phone number to call if we had heard nothing in 48 hours. Once the bag was found, we would be called to set up an appointment time for delivery.
Terry greeted us outside the luggage area and bought us frits for lunch. He and JA had it with sate (peanut) sauce. ER and MA had them without. They were delicious. We took the train to Den Haag Centraal Station then a taxi home. We were able to stay up most of the rest of the day. JA and ER were early birds; MA slept till Noon on Saturday.
We heard nothing on Friday. JA regularly visited the website and saw that the bag was still being tracked. This bag contained our WiiFit which was hard enough to find in the first place. Finally early Saturday evening we received a call that they had our bag and could deliver it the next day between 2 pm to 6 pm. The bag arrived today, Sunday, at 2:30 pm, all intact, not even TSA inspected.
We are glad to be back with Terry and Zoey. It has been a long month with the family separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The girls have been in contact with come of their friends who are already back. School starts on August 20 so there's plenty of time to adapt to the time zone changes. MA and JA will help with new family orientation for the high school this Tuesday. We heard there are 6 new seniors and 29 new freshmen!
We haven't exhausted all the tales of living in Holland. And there will be more new adventures. ER has entered the 9th grade in high school and was accepted in the ASH Jazz Band. JA is a senior with all the exciting and terrifying events of the next 10 months. At the beginning of this new school year, MA resolves to post on a more regular basis since she's sure there still will be something new and exciting happening each week. Plus there's still last year's trips to blog about.
Best to all as you finish your summer. For those on the Fairfax County Modified Secondary School calendar who start school August 18th, we feel your pain. For those not on the modified school schedule, enjoy your last weeks by the pool, the beach and sleeping in. Labor day comes early this year.
