Flight to Amsterdam: Leaving Asia

June 6, 2007

A quiet waiting for time to go to airport with breakfast of pastry and coffee.

Patrick with the aid of the hotel staff finds a taxi with a roof rack. This has been a nice place for resting this past week.

We are early, the check-in counter is not open. Patrick pays our departure tax and we push our carts with gear after it is x-rayed on entry to the airport, to the counter. At 11:30, we are told it will open about 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then after an hour more, it finally does. Patrick has been talking with the baggage handlers making friends with them. We get checked in Sahara Air, there is no extra fee and Patrick slips a little something to the baggage handler.

We make our way to the gate and again wait, not sure which door, finally we line up and on the plane. It's a short flight to New Delhi, and to our surprise (given the check-in process), a very nice airplane. After we de-plane, we are on a bus to shuttle us to the airport. We go to one door, it's locked, then the bus drives to another door, it's locked. Finally to the third door, we are successful to enter.

There is some confusion about what to do. We are at passport control, yet we are in "transit." Finally around a table and crowd, we give our name to an airline representative, then escorted to the transit lounge. We have a 6 hours wait for the KLM flight to Amsterdam. A KLM representative finds us to "identify" our luggage. We are charged for the bikes 80Euro/each. At 1250, we are in the plane and headed for Amsterdam...an airbus with each seat having it's own entertainment screen on the back of the seat in front. This helps pass the time, it's a seven hour flight.

This is the first time either of us has flown KLM--The Royal Dutch Airline. We are given two meals that are tasty. The entertainment "center" is nice to watch movies and old TV episodes. Rachel watches "Happy Feet", a movie we had heard about from Krasin in Bangkok. It's a cute movie about a penguin that dances rather than sings and is an outcast that is "captured" and placed in a zoo when he goes on a journey to find out why their food is disappearing. Again, food.

We land a half hour ahead of time. It is a quick process going through immigration, and Rachel gets a Holland stamp in her passport. There isn't too long a wait for the bikes and duffle bags to arrive, always a relief. All gets reloaded on our two carts and we head for the exit doors and back to the "western" world.

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