We have finally begun our holiday in our first destination – Amsterdam! What a lovely and bustling city! More on that in a minute. First – we must touch on the never-ending flight to get here. Our travel actually began Tuesday night, when we left Dallas for a four-hour drive to Houston, only to get up the next morning and fly through Dallas on our way to Amsterdam! You might ask why we would do such a thing? Well, the reason equaled a 33% savings on our airfare by doing so!
Once at DFW, we boarded our non-stop flight to Amsterdam and quickly settled in for the long overnight flight. After announcing a 20-minute delay to check out a rattling noise coming from one of the engines, the pilot returned to announce that upon further inspection, they found a crack in said engine. No bueno! Thirty minutes later, we were in the Admiral’s Club waiting for news on a substitute 777 to take us on our journey. Nearly four hours – and several drinks – later, we were re-boarded onto a new plane. From the original departure of 3:30 to the revised 7:00 pm departure, we were ready to take off and get this party started! But wait! An emergency landing at DFW halted all flights from departing! Luckily, our flight attendants kept the champagne flowing (and the air blowing) during our wait. We finally departed at 7:30 pm. The flight was uneventful – so very glad they found the cracked engine BEFORE we took off!
Once we landed in Amsterdam, we had yet another delay – this time severe thunderstorms prevented the ground crew from getting the ramp to our plane for de-boarding. A full 24 hours from when our original flight was to take off, we deboarded the plane and breezed through customs.
After making our way and checking into our hotel – the Pulitzer (and one we highly recommend), we ventured out and walked the canal streets, stopping for a cold beer at a nearby pub. We made it to 8:30 pm before cratering!
I’ll post first thing tomorrow about our adventures touring the Dutch countryside today – a great first full day here!
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