The start of our new adventure was Saturday at 12:34 pm when the 1st of 3 flights would take us to Bologna, Italy. I was taking the journey one step at a time trying not to have too high expectations, especially since I didn’t know WHAT to expect. The flight to Detroit was uneventful (thank goodness), only about 2 hours. We flew a DC-9 plane. The seats were very uncomfortable, crinkled every time you moved & very close together. Luckily, we sat next to a gentleman going home to Detroit & he was friendly.
The airport in Detroit was like a mall! Shops everywhere! They even had a sort of tram that went from one end of the airport to the other about every 5 minutes. We only had about an hour to get to our flight to Amsterdam. The flight from Norfolk was ½ hour late although it said “On Time”. Fortunately, our gate was not far from where we arrived. Since the plane held so many people, it wasn’t long before we got there that they started seating everyone.
This time we got to ride on what they called an Air Bus, double seats on either side & 4 across the middle. Each seat had its own monitor & you could choose from 20 different movies, music, games and the best part, especially for George, a screen that tracked our progress to our destination. It had a map with an icon of the plane showing how far we had gone. It also had a page that showed how many miles we had gone/left, altitude, air speed/temp, tail wind, etc. Our highest altitude was 39,000+ ft. & the temp got as low as -72 degrees! George being the numbers guy that he is, of course, had this section on most of the time.
It was a very long flight (almost 8 hours!). They did feed us a couple of different snacks & dinner was a very strange choice I thought. They served Indian curried vegetables w/coconut rice & currents, & a salad w/couscous. Right up my ally, but I don’t think anyone else’s. We weren’t given a choice . . . that’s what was served. You know I liked it. George sure didn’t.
It was good to finally land in Amsterdam, just to be able to walk around for a while. And we had plenty of time too – 3 ½ hours. We had to stand in line for security check for about a ½ hour, so that killed a little time. Then sit & wait. I thought the Detroit airport was nice . . . THIS airport was definitely a mall, lots of perfume & cosmetic stores. We got to see most of it too because our gate was on the other side of the airport.
They finally started to admit people for boarding at the time the plane was supposed to take off. We had to take a bus to the plane, board outside & go up the stairs of the plane. Obviously, it wasn’t very big & the flight wasn’t even half booked. It was a lot more comfortable than the first plane though. We still arrived on time in Bologna because the flight was only 1 ½ hours. They tried to feed us sandwiches for lunch, but to us it was only 5 am. So starts the time change & trying to get acclimated.
2 comments:
tapping finger on monitor (like Johnny Five in Short Circuit) "need photos"
Sorry, Johnny! :) I don't see where there's a way to post photos. This is a very basic Blog & the quickest way I could think of to do this. I'll have to post them some other way. I'll let you know.
Post a Comment