The Longest Day (or so)

Kzin · 10-13-2005, 05:19 PM

A rough timeline of my last day-and-a-half in Amsterdam:

Wednesday:

0330 -- wake up two hours before the alarm clock was set and can't get back to sleep. FUCK! Sleep deprivation fights with jetlag.

0600 -- check out of my hotel, share a cab to the airport with Bob, who is on a layover between Prague and London, and by coincidence he's another Information Security guy and is installing one of the products I train people on, so he picks my brain on configuration issues during the ride.

0755 -- on a British Midland flight to London for my day of actual work ... stash my big luggage in a storage locker in Amsterdam to retrieve on the way back, just take the laptop to work.

0815 (gaining an hour between Amsterdam and London) -- get off the plane at Heathrow ("The Airport That Time Forgot") and find the driver that's waiting to take me to our partner's office in Woking (right near the McLaren factory/test track) ... funny guy, big sports fan, sends his wife & daughters to New York every year to do the Christmas shopping "because it's so much cheaper" .... geez, driving a car must pay good cash in London!

0930 -- arrive at the partner's offices, meet the guys I'll be working with -- do some actual work.

1230 -- pub for lunch

1345 -- more work

1700 -- back in another hired car for a ride back to Heathrow, a good time was had by all in training, good guys to work with.

1820 -- try to get on an earlier flight back to Amsterdam than the 8:25 flight originally scheduled, they want a hundred pounds to change to the earlier flight. No thanks. Kill time at Heathrow and skip dinner.

2025 -- back to Amsterdam on BMI, seeya London.

2245 -- lose an hour on time zones returning to Amsterdam, retrieve the luggage, grab a cab for a quick run down to the Marriott where I'm spending frequent-guest points for a free night.

2330 -- check in, run through the shower, DAMN I was hungry! Head over to Satellite Sports and get a double Black Label on the rocks while I think about what to eat. One of the waiters is chowing down on some great looking pasta, when I ask he says it's the Bolognese, that sometimes it's okay and sometimes it's great, but this week it's great, and if I don't like it he'll make it free. So I order a big plate of pasta (yes, it was great) and another drink and start bullshitting with "Sylvana," absolutely the hottest bartender there, but I've never talked to her before because I usually hang out in their upstairs bar and she's in the downstairs crew. Half Surinamese, half Indonesian, 100% exotic, she is a walking commercial for whatever jeans she's wearing and has a million-volt smile. She's heading for a 3-week vacation in Curacao later this month ... she'll fit right in on a Caribbean beach.

Thursday:

0100 -- Satellite closes and I head back to the hotel, enjoy the view from my patio and reduce my surplus hash supply that I can't bring home with me anyway. Pack for the morning airport run and the flight home.

0700 -- alarm clock goes off ... ohhhhhhh, my head! Three consecutive days of low sleep plus enough liquor = major league hangover. Room service brings breakfast but I can barely touch it, I stick to the coffee and juice and get another shower, finish packing. Hey, I'm ready to go! One last look around the room ... hmmm, my stomach isn't feeling so good ... maybe I should go check out the bathroom and ..... ok, details aren't necessary here, but I got another look at the Bolognese!

0830 -- another cab ride to Schiphol Airport, this time a full-size Mercedes with a driver wearing a sharp suit ... feel like I'm in a scene from The Transporter. Rush hour traffic looks nasty, but my driver peels out of the onramp and hits the back roads and I'm still at the airport in under a half hour. Worth every Euro!

1020 -- on that big Airbus home, settling into my seat ... wtf, a guy from my office is two rows in front of me! On his way back from our Quarterly Business Review in Nice.

The flight was routine ... except for the lady who, halfway into the 10-hour flight, stopped in the aisle 15 rows in front of my seat and blew chunks all over the floor, right in the middle of the aisle .... then she wandered aimlessly in search of a bathroom and blew chunks AGAIN, right next to the guy seated behind me.

Man, at that point I was glad I ralphed at the hotel before heading to the airport, because if I hadn't, that sure would have done it for me! It says everything about the quality of airlines today that they didn't even have a fucking spray-bottle of carpet cleaner to clean the shit up with, they just used water and paper towels. Since that didn't do much to remove the odor that was filling the cabin, they improvised by dumping ground coffee on the wet carpet and duct-taping some towels over the wet spots so people wouldn't have to step in vomit-soaked coffee grounds. GENIUS!

1115 Seattle time -- into Sea-Tac to wait a ridiculous amount of time for our luggage (as usual at our dump of an airport), then another cab ride home and YESSS, a lonnnnnggggg shower at home. Now I'll try to stay awake until near local bedtime.

WerrtZer · 10-13-2005, 05:34 PM

WTF? You takes cabs in and out of Schipol? The fucking train costs €3 and does the run in 10min. 'Dam taxi men ain't cheap either....hope that was on an expense acccount

As for the guy in London...no everyone here and in the UK (well, not everyone) goes to NYC for xmas shopping...no VAT, get your sales tax back, weak dollar (well last year), better prices on top of all that, plus you get a cheap holiday out of it. For any family doing a large xmas shop, the savings are high, especially on branded clothing and electronics.

You left your stash behind?

My buddy did his 200 gram run again....just stuck the vac-pack into his holdall

;never even got a body search...on the other hand I got the full pat down from some Dutch geriatric giant that seemed convinced I had contraband strapped to my torso...
luckily I had it someplace else

Only had a few gm....just imbibing some now actually

Jet lag = the debbil

Kzin · 10-13-2005, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WerrtZer

WTF? You takes cabs in and out of Schipol? The fucking train costs €3 and does the run in 10min. 'Dam taxi men ain't cheap either....hope that was on an expense acccount

As for the guy in London...no everyone here and in the UK (well, not everyone) goes to NYC for xmas shopping...no VAT, get your sales tax back, weak dollar (well last year), better prices on top of all that, plus you get a cheap holiday out of it. For any family doing a large xmas shop, the savings are high, especially on branded clothing and electronics.

You left your stash behind?

My buddy did his 200 gram run again....just stuck the vac-pack into his holdall

;never even got a body search...on the other hand I got the full pat down from some Dutch geriatric giant that seemed convinced I had contraband strapped to my torso...
luckily I had it someplace else

Only had a few gm....just imbibing some now actually

Jet lag = the debbil

I take the train in & out of Schiphol any time I can, but at the crack of dawn or late at night when I just want to get to the hotel ASAP, it's a cab .... especially when it's on the company expense account.

When we arrived on Friday morning and we had plenty of time and it was on my dime ... definitely on the train.

No body search when I got back to Sea-Tac (although I do think that security guy at the gate at Schiphol who did a pat-down should have at least bought me flowers), but the sniffer dog did hit my bag TWICE at Seattle customs, so I was happy not to be carrying.

BlindTyldak · 10-13-2005, 09:34 PM

Visit the sex museum and take lots of pics!

Dyer's Eve · 10-13-2005, 11:02 PM

Damn I can't wait till the summer!

WerrtZer · 10-14-2005, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KzinKiller

I take the train in & out of Schiphol any time I can, but at the crack of dawn or late at night when I just want to get to the hotel ASAP, it's a cab .... especially when it's on the company expense account.

When we arrived on Friday morning and we had plenty of time and it was on my dime ... definitely on the train.

No body search when I got back to Sea-Tac (although I do think that security guy at the gate at Schiphol who did a pat-down should have at least bought me flowers), but the sniffer dog did hit my bag TWICE at Seattle customs, so I was happy not to be carrying.

I never so much as spotted a dog at the airport...we have 3 drug dogs in the entire conutry

they over trained the ones that do the explosives

You prolly got the same asshole at schipol as I did....I fit the profile cos I was on my own (late at check in, others had gone on ahead through with no search at all)....I ALWAYS fit the profile....if there's a random search going, I'm the one that's getting picked for it.
Last time I fkew to the US the brit cops at Manchester did their impression of the Spanish inquisition on me before they'd even let me check in for my connection...however once insdie US territory I could have had anything on me (this was pre-9/11)...

10-13-2005, 05:34 PM	#2
WerrtZer Radio Isotope Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Checkin' more beats than a fuckin' heart specialist.... Posts: 12,887	WTF? You takes cabs in and out of Schipol? The fucking train costs €3 and does the run in 10min. 'Dam taxi men ain't cheap either....hope that was on an expense acccount As for the guy in London...no everyone here and in the UK (well, not everyone) goes to NYC for xmas shopping...no VAT, get your sales tax back, weak dollar (well last year), better prices on top of all that, plus you get a cheap holiday out of it. For any family doing a large xmas shop, the savings are high, especially on branded clothing and electronics. You left your stash behind? My buddy did his 200 gram run again....just stuck the vac-pack into his holdall ;never even got a body search...on the other hand I got the full pat down from some Dutch geriatric giant that seemed convinced I had contraband strapped to my torso... luckily I had it someplace else Only had a few gm....just imbibing some now actually Jet lag = the debbil __________________

10-13-2005, 09:34 PM	#4
BlindTyldak Has surprise sex with unicorns Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: It's a beautiful island, Rowf. Posts: 12,507	Visit the sex museum and take lots of pics! __________________

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10-13-2005, 05:19 PM	#1
Kzin Frequent Flyer Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 48,925	A rough timeline of my last day-and-a-half in Amsterdam: Wednesday: 0330 -- wake up two hours before the alarm clock was set and can't get back to sleep. FUCK! Sleep deprivation fights with jetlag. 0600 -- check out of my hotel, share a cab to the airport with Bob, who is on a layover between Prague and London, and by coincidence he's another Information Security guy and is installing one of the products I train people on, so he picks my brain on configuration issues during the ride. 0755 -- on a British Midland flight to London for my day of actual work ... stash my big luggage in a storage locker in Amsterdam to retrieve on the way back, just take the laptop to work. 0815 (gaining an hour between Amsterdam and London) -- get off the plane at Heathrow ("The Airport That Time Forgot") and find the driver that's waiting to take me to our partner's office in Woking (right near the McLaren factory/test track) ... funny guy, big sports fan, sends his wife & daughters to New York every year to do the Christmas shopping "because it's so much cheaper" .... geez, driving a car must pay good cash in London! 0930 -- arrive at the partner's offices, meet the guys I'll be working with -- do some actual work. 1230 -- pub for lunch 1345 -- more work 1700 -- back in another hired car for a ride back to Heathrow, a good time was had by all in training, good guys to work with. 1820 -- try to get on an earlier flight back to Amsterdam than the 8:25 flight originally scheduled, they want a hundred pounds to change to the earlier flight. No thanks. Kill time at Heathrow and skip dinner. 2025 -- back to Amsterdam on BMI, seeya London. 2245 -- lose an hour on time zones returning to Amsterdam, retrieve the luggage, grab a cab for a quick run down to the Marriott where I'm spending frequent-guest points for a free night. 2330 -- check in, run through the shower, DAMN I was hungry! Head over to Satellite Sports and get a double Black Label on the rocks while I think about what to eat. One of the waiters is chowing down on some great looking pasta, when I ask he says it's the Bolognese, that sometimes it's okay and sometimes it's great, but this week it's great, and if I don't like it he'll make it free. So I order a big plate of pasta (yes, it was great) and another drink and start bullshitting with "Sylvana," absolutely the hottest bartender there, but I've never talked to her before because I usually hang out in their upstairs bar and she's in the downstairs crew. Half Surinamese, half Indonesian, 100% exotic, she is a walking commercial for whatever jeans she's wearing and has a million-volt smile. She's heading for a 3-week vacation in Curacao later this month ... she'll fit right in on a Caribbean beach. Thursday: 0100 -- Satellite closes and I head back to the hotel, enjoy the view from my patio and reduce my surplus hash supply that I can't bring home with me anyway. Pack for the morning airport run and the flight home. 0700 -- alarm clock goes off ... ohhhhhhh, my head! Three consecutive days of low sleep plus enough liquor = major league hangover. Room service brings breakfast but I can barely touch it, I stick to the coffee and juice and get another shower, finish packing. Hey, I'm ready to go! One last look around the room ... hmmm, my stomach isn't feeling so good ... maybe I should go check out the bathroom and ..... ok, details aren't necessary here, but I got another look at the Bolognese! 0830 -- another cab ride to Schiphol Airport, this time a full-size Mercedes with a driver wearing a sharp suit ... feel like I'm in a scene from The Transporter. Rush hour traffic looks nasty, but my driver peels out of the onramp and hits the back roads and I'm still at the airport in under a half hour. Worth every Euro! 1020 -- on that big Airbus home, settling into my seat ... wtf, a guy from my office is two rows in front of me! On his way back from our Quarterly Business Review in Nice. The flight was routine ... except for the lady who, halfway into the 10-hour flight, stopped in the aisle 15 rows in front of my seat and blew chunks all over the floor, right in the middle of the aisle .... then she wandered aimlessly in search of a bathroom and blew chunks AGAIN, right next to the guy seated behind me. Man, at that point I was glad I ralphed at the hotel before heading to the airport, because if I hadn't, that sure would have done it for me! It says everything about the quality of airlines today that they didn't even have a fucking spray-bottle of carpet cleaner to clean the shit up with, they just used water and paper towels. Since that didn't do much to remove the odor that was filling the cabin, they improvised by dumping ground coffee on the wet carpet and duct-taping some towels over the wet spots so people wouldn't have to step in vomit-soaked coffee grounds. GENIUS! 1115 Seattle time -- into Sea-Tac to wait a ridiculous amount of time for our luggage (as usual at our dump of an airport), then another cab ride home and YESSS, a lonnnnnggggg shower at home. Now I'll try to stay awake until near local bedtime.

10-13-2005, 11:02 PM	#5
Dyer's Eve I am the cheese! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: More Human Than Human. Posts: 13,831	Damn I can't wait till the summer!