Tuesday Travel - Arrival in Amsterdam

Once we landed at Heathrow, we had a bit of time before our flight on to Amsterdam. I always like both airports despite the bad reputation Heathrow has had. Terminal 5 is modern and has lots of wonderful distractions when you have some time to kill. Like a Harrods shop...

Harrods and other shops - easy way to pass the time

It was quite a bus ride from Terminal 5 onto our departure terminal for an intercity flight. Perhaps one day that will be improved. But Schipol is always welcoming.

love that spark of red

Amsterdam was overcast and grey but still there is that spark of humor under the surface. Our Vantage host were ready to meet us and escort us to our waiting bus.

Ivana, one of our Vantage guides

I had been to Amsterdam many times, but he had not. I was approaching the city of Amsterdam from the harbor location which was a totally different side for me.

nooduitgang - emergency exit

We arrive at our boat.

Onto our river cruise boat and some free time. As soon as we deposited our luggage in our cabin, we headed out for a walk. There were many places that looked very modern and many that looked very very old but with the threat of an impending downpour, we didn't walk too much.

bicycle parking lot

nightfall is coming

I check my camera, er phone..

we have a laugh at this shop

 
We would be having a tour of the city the next day, so after about an hour getting our legs moving again, we headed back to the boat. Time for dinner and the first of many many meals on this trip!

stairs we would climb a LOT

Travel with Me on Tuesday

With my photos resized to be small enough for Blogger, I'll be doing another idea for Tuesdays. I used to have another blog for travel, thinking I could blog as I travel and have my own record when I got home. The idea was great but the upload service abroad, and even in 4star hotels stateside, was not good enough. I had too many times when the service crashed mid upload. Sadly, I had to put the idea of blogging on the road aside.

I then turned to scrapping the images when I got home. Mostly ok if I did it soon enough and had enough documentation to remember what some of the photos meant.  Sometimes they didn't 'mean' anything; it was just a case of so many wonderful things to see.

So today, I'm starting my recent river cruise down the Rhine, Main and Danube. First, let me say, there were a hell of a lot of locks. Yes, marvels I'm sure, but I have seen enough to last several lifetimes, thank you very much. But I digress...

This trip was close to a last minute decision because he wanted to go somewhere. It was a good test of a river cruise also, letting us know if we liked that style of travel or not. So on November 1st we headed out to BWI for a British Air flight to Heathrow.

It was great flying out of this end of the airport, where it was quiet and peaceful. The BA counter attendants even gave out some leftover Halloween candy. The only other flight was going to Ramstein AFB. Sadly, I knew where the next stop would be after Germany for a lot of those troops.

The soldiers' flight departed and I said a prayer for them as they head off to a war zone. I wondered how many of them were going back for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time. It lent a bit of a somber note to the start of the trip for me.

But then we found ourselves amongst 40 teenage British girls going back home to Oxford. What a change of atmosphere! They were spending the last bits of US money and comparing purchases, reading magazines, and snacking. I noticed that their voices were not as high as so many American girls. We had to laugh at the two men, chaperoning? this flock. They really did look worn out.

The blond on the left reminded us so much of my granddaughter. The hair, the glasses...it was like seeing her about 5 years older!

And then out flight was called....