Tuesday, May 24th (12:14 a.m. Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands)
Today started strange and just keep getting stranger. I got out of bed at 8:27, showered, packed and caught my 12:00 noon flight to Dallas, via Detroit, via Amsterdam... from Köln. After checking in, I watched the second season finally of Deadwood (damn straight great, by the way) that finished downloading the night before.
Then I waited some more.
Then the lady came.
The lady announced that the plane was late 'due to some technical difficulties' and that any missed connection issues would be dealt with in Amsterdam.
Understandably, some people did not like this situation —at all. Times like this, where unexpected monkey wrenches get tossed into the plans people make really separate the how-dare-you-mess-up my-lifers from the huh-...-wonder-how-this-turns-outers
Amsterdam Schiphol was an aggravated sea of pissed off people. At it happened, the Air Traffic Control system had a glitch, and the missed flights tumbled down like dominoes. People got bitchy and took out their fustration on the airline staff that was trying to help. In situations
like this, I -- not unlike my father -- dive right into the churning chaos.
No flights out to the States this day, so everything was rescheduled for the next day, and I was kindly put up in a nice 4 star hotel, taxied there and given a handful of other little tings to ease my travel pains and —such as being upgraded to business class. On a 13 hour flight a few extra inches makes all the difference.
To be honest I was all giddy with 'oh boy, a Amsterbaden night on the teat of KLM! Well they shipped me instead to this sleepy seaside town called Noordwijkerhout. So amongst the tulips and half excited half grumpy co-passengers, we all started to 'deal with it'.
I checked in, showered, asked for a map and headed to the sea. Weather was sloppy, but I found what I was looking for: A walk along the ocean eating oorlog frijts (french fry war).
Then a mini adventure transpired like a blur, but went something like this:
Long walk...
Asked a kite surfer dude if there where any Coffeehouses in the area.
More walking, then ran into this dude named Lodi.
He invites me to his pad where we sat around and talked.
Lodi's friend came over and we visit he backpacker hostel for Happy Hour
Meet more people
Watch an intense game of Chess
Walked home
Drink my free drink, informed my pickup buddy I will be a day late Ok, I have an ass-crack-of-dawn wakeup call I need to get ready for.
4:30 am wakeup, showered and checked out. 5:30 buss ride driven my some type of demon driver whipping through those round-a-bouts like a man possessed. Normally something I find enjoyable-- the bit-to-fast curve--just not while eating my good-morning yogurt.
Nice that KLM could get me back to the airport on time for my flight. Plenty of time. One might even say way too much time. Good thing AMS has an abundant supply of eye candy.
