Back to the Netherlands
Nov. 7th, 2007 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miekecDay 0
Yesterday was a full day; first, a regular school/work day for Karin and I, then rush home to finish the last bits of packing, take a quick shower and a deep breath, then off to the airport.
Of course, we juuust missed the green line train at out station, and then juuust missed the blue line train at Govt.Center. Then again, that's why we leave an hour before having to be at the airport. So, we were perfectly on time. Karin was really, really excited, and actually listened pretty well the whole time. I'd already checked-in online earlier that day, so all we had to do was check in out one (big) suitcase and show passports. Piece of cake. At this point, we already started encountering the Dutch-speaking contingent. Not surprising, since Northwest and KLM are partners, so they mix crews and planes and such. The checker-inner weighed the suitcase, and then Karin waved goodbye to is as it went down the conveyor belt, off to "the belly of the airplane". Then of course Karin got weighed too, and she demanded he push the button to make her go on the conveyor belt as well. Not!
Off to go through security ("Yes, Karin, you have to take off your shoes.", "No, it doesn't make sense, I agree.", "Yes, your bag has to go through the machine too.", "Don't touch the sides of the gate, that makes the alarm go off!") where all went pretty smoothly. The only thing confiscated was the can of ginger ale. Could be worse. I guess if you want to cause problems, you should hide it in your half-eaten sandwich, not the closed can of ginger ale. Sigh. These days, you can barely even think it before they scrutinize you, let alone write it on LJ, or god forbid, say it out loud.
Anyway, at this point almost all the formalities were done, so we found something to eat, and then sat down by a window with a view on the airplanes of course. That kept Karin busy and plenty excited; enough so that she forgot that it was way past bedtime by now. By the time we made it to our seats, she was getting pretty impatient with all the waiting we had had to do. "Are we flying yet?", "Can I had gum yet?". The plane was very full, and of course there were too many people with too much carry-on and arguments in the aisle. Oh well. We had been lucky to have seats relatively far back, so could board with the first wave.
No arguments about wearing the seatbelt this time, and about 2 minutes after lift-off and watching the beautiful lights of Boston, she crashed hard. I had to pry open her mouth to get the chewing gum out, and she didn't even stir. She slept all the way (aside from a toilet-break somewhere in the middle), until I woke her 20 minutes before landing. I wish I could have... I did sleep some, stretches of an hour or so. Had forgotten how uncomfortable plane seats are. Oh well. At least I got some sleep.
Day 1
Once awake, Karin loved watching us fly in the clouds - first above, then in the middle of them. And of course, during landing, watching all the little houses and cars and roads. Just like toys. After getting off the plane (by now it was Tuesday), the next barrage of questions started :) "Is oma daar?" [is grandma there] "Are we there yet?" "Where is our suitcase?" "Is that our suitcase?" "How about that one?" She didn't seem to suffer from the short night, and was full of bouncy and excitement. When we walked through customs and she saw Opa and Oma, she squealed, and ran straight at them. Very nice.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the whole trip had been.
We drove home to my parents', had some food and drink, relaxed, talked. I took a brief nap, but K was way too excited to lie still for even half a minute. Nice to have grandparents there to keep an eye on here, so I could actually sleep. Ahhhhhh!
Later that day, my brother Paul came over to hang out, chat, and have dinner. Karin had run out of juice by now, and I didn't get more than 3 bites of food into her. She didn't even finish desert!! A few minutes, teethbrushing and pajamas and stickers later, I put her to bed. There was not even a peep from upstairs after that, I think she had fallen asleep by the time I left the room.
Day 2
Ah - the luxury of sleeping in. Very nice. My mom is a morning creature, so when Karin was up at 7:15, they went downstairs together. She's enthralled with the little doll (now named Saba) and cat (named Purry, since it has the same light gray and white coloring as a cat named Purry that we know) that Deb had gotten her as plane entertainment. I guess we're doomed wrt dolls - she loves them. Groan.
Anyway, time to wrap it up and go have lunch, and see if the animals survived Karin and Omas visit to the petting zoo. Hopefully pics to follow.
Will try to keep LJ updated, if only for having a travel log myself. Pictures should get uploaded to PicasaWeb, if the gods of technology cooperate.
Yesterday was a full day; first, a regular school/work day for Karin and I, then rush home to finish the last bits of packing, take a quick shower and a deep breath, then off to the airport.
Of course, we juuust missed the green line train at out station, and then juuust missed the blue line train at Govt.Center. Then again, that's why we leave an hour before having to be at the airport. So, we were perfectly on time. Karin was really, really excited, and actually listened pretty well the whole time. I'd already checked-in online earlier that day, so all we had to do was check in out one (big) suitcase and show passports. Piece of cake. At this point, we already started encountering the Dutch-speaking contingent. Not surprising, since Northwest and KLM are partners, so they mix crews and planes and such. The checker-inner weighed the suitcase, and then Karin waved goodbye to is as it went down the conveyor belt, off to "the belly of the airplane". Then of course Karin got weighed too, and she demanded he push the button to make her go on the conveyor belt as well. Not!
Off to go through security ("Yes, Karin, you have to take off your shoes.", "No, it doesn't make sense, I agree.", "Yes, your bag has to go through the machine too.", "Don't touch the sides of the gate, that makes the alarm go off!") where all went pretty smoothly. The only thing confiscated was the can of ginger ale. Could be worse. I guess if you want to cause problems, you should hide it in your half-eaten sandwich, not the closed can of ginger ale. Sigh. These days, you can barely even think it before they scrutinize you, let alone write it on LJ, or god forbid, say it out loud.
Anyway, at this point almost all the formalities were done, so we found something to eat, and then sat down by a window with a view on the airplanes of course. That kept Karin busy and plenty excited; enough so that she forgot that it was way past bedtime by now. By the time we made it to our seats, she was getting pretty impatient with all the waiting we had had to do. "Are we flying yet?", "Can I had gum yet?". The plane was very full, and of course there were too many people with too much carry-on and arguments in the aisle. Oh well. We had been lucky to have seats relatively far back, so could board with the first wave.
No arguments about wearing the seatbelt this time, and about 2 minutes after lift-off and watching the beautiful lights of Boston, she crashed hard. I had to pry open her mouth to get the chewing gum out, and she didn't even stir. She slept all the way (aside from a toilet-break somewhere in the middle), until I woke her 20 minutes before landing. I wish I could have... I did sleep some, stretches of an hour or so. Had forgotten how uncomfortable plane seats are. Oh well. At least I got some sleep.
Day 1
Once awake, Karin loved watching us fly in the clouds - first above, then in the middle of them. And of course, during landing, watching all the little houses and cars and roads. Just like toys. After getting off the plane (by now it was Tuesday), the next barrage of questions started :) "Is oma daar?" [is grandma there] "Are we there yet?" "Where is our suitcase?" "Is that our suitcase?" "How about that one?" She didn't seem to suffer from the short night, and was full of bouncy and excitement. When we walked through customs and she saw Opa and Oma, she squealed, and ran straight at them. Very nice.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the whole trip had been.
We drove home to my parents', had some food and drink, relaxed, talked. I took a brief nap, but K was way too excited to lie still for even half a minute. Nice to have grandparents there to keep an eye on here, so I could actually sleep. Ahhhhhh!
Later that day, my brother Paul came over to hang out, chat, and have dinner. Karin had run out of juice by now, and I didn't get more than 3 bites of food into her. She didn't even finish desert!! A few minutes, teethbrushing and pajamas and stickers later, I put her to bed. There was not even a peep from upstairs after that, I think she had fallen asleep by the time I left the room.
Day 2
Ah - the luxury of sleeping in. Very nice. My mom is a morning creature, so when Karin was up at 7:15, they went downstairs together. She's enthralled with the little doll (now named Saba) and cat (named Purry, since it has the same light gray and white coloring as a cat named Purry that we know) that Deb had gotten her as plane entertainment. I guess we're doomed wrt dolls - she loves them. Groan.
Anyway, time to wrap it up and go have lunch, and see if the animals survived Karin and Omas visit to the petting zoo. Hopefully pics to follow.
Will try to keep LJ updated, if only for having a travel log myself. Pictures should get uploaded to PicasaWeb, if the gods of technology cooperate.
