Travelog: Amsterdam 2009, Part I

Saturday, September 05, 2009 9:56 PM (Amsterdam time)

As I sit down to write this, I’ve just emerged from a soak in the tub. I don’t know what it is about European hotel baths but they invite me to soak, whereas in American hotels, you wouldn’t catch me dead sitting in one. But the hotel bathroom here at the Grand Amrath is spectacular, and plus, they offer Fizzy Bath Sugar as part of the bath products. I’m not sure exactly what fizzy bath sugar is intended to do; yes, it was fizzy, but I can’t attest as to whether it made me sweeter.

Regardless, I’ve finally found time to capture the memories of this trip, here on the eve of my leaving. Not that I haven’t tried to document more in real-time; one of two criticisms I have of the hotel is that their wireless internet connections are extremely unreliable. The other criticism is that someone opened the booze in my mini bar, drank half of the vodka nip, and left the rest open in the fridge. Including the cap! That was yesterday, and today when I returned from the day’s adventures, it was still there. I’m not worried about any charges (the mini bar is included in the room!), but it’s just disgusting.

And those have honestly been the only negative aspects of my visit here. I’ll take you back to the beginning…

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 7:05 PM (Eastern time)

The plane pulled away from the gate after what seemed like an eternity during boarding. I had my favorite seat – 22J – a window seat right over the wing. I’d read somewhere that over the wing was the safest place to sit. Would it really matter if it came down to it? Probably not, but it’s one of those small tales I let myself believe.

When I’d checked in online earlier in the day, the seat next to me was shown as empty, and I was looking forward to having some room to curl up and sleep, but as chance would have it, someone else either moved or booked last minute and thus the seat was occupied by the time I boarded. It worked out ok – the gentleman, a native of Amsterdam who’d been in the States visiting hospital pharmacies, was neither chatty nor invasive of personal space. I managed to sleep through most of the flight; I’d deliberately abstained from caffeine that day in anticipation of this flight and needing to head straight into work upon landing, and that definitely helped.