Long Travel Day home

After a really good night’s sleep, I woke up to darkness.  This isn’t unusual for me because it’s dark at home first thing in the morning.  I looked at the time and realized it was 5:30am.  That is crazy early, but we all have planes to catch, so we need to get moving.  It was quiet on the streets at this hour, but we had a lovely view from our room:

We took turns taking a quick shower (gotta enjoy that hot water!), then packed up the final items in our bags.  Here’s Alex trying to get Brit moving:

This is a view of our room.  It was really good for the short stay we had.  Breakfast was being served downstairs, so we all headed down for some.  There was an array of food to choose from, breads, cheeses, meats, cereals, fruits, fresh juices, coffee, tea, etc.  It was all VERY good and totally worth the 5.90 Euro!  Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to our hotel and head off to the airport.  If you’re ever in Amsterdam, and want a decent place to stay for a day or two…check this one out:

We walked next door to the train station and found our platform to Schipol Airport.  It seems like not everyone is truly awake yet:

Oh never mind….that’s how they always act..like nerds.  🙂

Here comes the train…time to get on:

It only takes about 10-ish minutes to get to Schipol…not bad really.  Here’s Mom, Dad & Thea hanging out on the train:

We arrived at Schipol Airport Train Station…where everyone was gathering up their belongings, ready to check in for our flights:

It was a mad house once we got over to the check in area.  I felt bad for the ticket desk team….they really have a hard job.  After standing in the long lines, everyone finally got through and figured out which gate they needed to go to.  We had to go to the ‘D’ wing while everyone else had to go to the ‘E’ wing.  After 11 days together, we said our goodbye’s and headed for our gates.  Time to prep for our 10 + hour flights (Thea’s flight was only 6 hours, I think).  I knew our flight would be full by how many people were in the area.  Here we are just before going through security (which is at each gate):

Then we boarded the plane.  There was a slight delay of getting off the ground, but we were cleared for takeoff and headed home.  Keith’s drink of choice this flight was this:

He was quite happy.  I binge watched Downton Abbey Season 3 while Keith played on the iPad. Overall it was a smooth flight and although we left Amsterdam a little late, we arrived home on time and in sunshine!  Neither of us slept the entire flight, so it’s going to be a challenge staying awake all day…but I can do it!  That’s the only way to get back on our time zone.  Zzzzzz