chase the light

Man, the last two days have been like an episode of The Amazing Race. I thought this morning was going to be a breeze getting to the airport. The airport is supposed to be 15 minutes away by train. Flight’s at 9:55, but Jill thought it was 9:30. Not sure where she’s getting these numbers but I’m glad she’s been wrong on the last two. So we get on he tram to get to Central Station and it takes a little while. It’s 8:30 and we still have to catch a train. So we ditch the train idea and just hop in a cab. The cabbie starts driving around the perimeter road of Amsterdam before getting on the highway that is GRIDLOCKED! ARGH!! Our flight LEAVES in 40 minutes and we’re no where near the airport! Ugh, I’m tired. So as we’re sitting in the traffic the guy fesses up and says, “Normally I work the night shift so I had no idea it gets so backed up.” Oh jeez, why, why why???! Ha ha ha, new problem, we’re sooo not going to make the flight. Maybe with the 2 hour layover in London we can catch a later flight.

Fortunately the traffic finally breaks free and the cabbie’s hauling ass now and we actually get to the airport with a short amount of time. Then bonehead cabbie drops us off at British “Midland” Airways and not British Airways. We’re doing the whole OJ Simpson thing through the airport and finally get to BA and we’re able to express check-in AND the flight isn’t until 9:55! OMG THANK YOU!! Something in our favor. We still have to get through customs and all the security but we have enough time to quickly grab a bite to eat and then get to the gate. Didn’t have time to change the Euro money though. Whew, sitting on he plane and on our way to London.

Landed in London and the nightmare of Heathrow has begun. We land and our terminal is 4 but we have to go to terminal 1 to fly to LAX. Heathrow is the size of a big country and has security and customs lines every 20 feet. Anyway, almost an hour later we get to the other side of the country of Heathrow. I have a few minutes so I cash in my Euros for Pounds and buy a huge bag of candy to get rid of the last of my money. Onto the plane we’re three rows from the back of the plane and I watch “8 Below” & “The Shaggy Dog” on the way home. Uneventful flight home.

After going through customs and baggage claim we catch a cab back to work to pick up our cars. On the way there it smelled so good out as everyone was having bar-b-ques for the 4th of July. What an exhausting final two days. And that was the European Tour 2006. Must sleep now.