The Journey Home Begins
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2012
1
110
111
Trip End
Jun 05, 2012
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Monday, June 4, 2012
It's a good thing I'm used to double checking where things are, otherwise I would have walked off the plane and not realized my passport wasn't in my bag - panic time. Where could it be? I had it when I got on the plane, and the person next to me didn't seem the sort who would've taken it - generally one would have to rifle through a bag too. After much panic and frantic searching though, luckily the flight attendant found it on the floor behind my seat. Whew! I think I put it in the front flap and it fell out when we took off. No words can describe the relief I felt as I didn't have time to get a new one when I needed to get home as planned.
Travel craziness continued and would the theme of the night, as it would be 9.5 hours from the time I set foot back into Tallinn's Airport to the time I would leave Schipol for London. Reasons? A two hour layover which was fine, but also a 3 hour delay for a 1 hour flight. First things first though, I had to get through some hiccups by not having a boarding pass for Amsterdam to London - not sure why I didn't, but probably an airline thing.
Trouble buying snacks at the shop, they scan your boarding pass prior to each purchase. I had to explain to the lady I was to collect my boarding pass 1 hour before my flight at the gate. My eticket didn't break down the flights, and she finally went ahead on the transaction after looking up the flight in the computer. Sigh. Stop number 2, security - once again needed a boarding pass, but the gate I needed to get to was on the other side of security. There's a second security checkpoint entering/leaving the Schengen area of the airport, which is quite silly to me since we'd already cleared one security checkpoint. I guess it's the problem of transferring between the areas on flights. Luckily this was cleared up fairly quickly and I headed off to the gate.
Issues on the London side though had our flight initially delayed 20 minutes, then an hour, an hour and a half, 2 hours..the time went on and on until we were all called to head to the transfer desk for a snack voucher. Back through security we went to pick up our voucher and snack (which I guess was now served in the airport vs the plane). Fortunately most of us were still in good moods and having a good laugh, but one poor man was not happy as he had connections to make.
One thing we did agree on, it would've been nicer if they brought the snacks to us as we had to go through security again after snacking - and if we'd gotten a bottled drink, it would have to be left behind even though we just got it. A security incident when the plane landed, we finally boarded and departed at 0035, nearly three hours late.
Long before this time though I was ready to get into London to make some calls and relax before a good night's sleep for the flight home, but alas. I did sleep the entire flight to London though, getting good at that and nodding off even before take off.
The London arrival then? Easy-peasy to find the yotel where I crashed quite quickly. It's small yes, but best location as you just collect your bags, take the shuttle to the south Terminal, roll to your room and sleep. It's a neat little cabin that's perfect for the stopover. Don't expect to be able to spread out and pack though.
