Amsterdam - Day of Departure

Two hours of sleep creates a tired, zombified, grumpy Tamara. Suprsisingly, I woke up easily at 3:00am. I think my cats were wondering what I was up to at such an odd hour. All went well until I arrived at the airport.

The shuttle dropped me off at LAX at about 4:35a.m. TOO EARLY! This is when I discovered that although I did a great job packing everything into a duffle carry-on and a 20" carry-on, the duffle, which I intended to carry over my shoulder was quite heavy. But alas, I am stuck with a heavy bag. I ended up having to check my small suitcase, which actually was fine since it arrived with me :) I was like a child with a new toy upon arriving at the Starbucks. I so needed it!

Two things happened while waiting to board. First, I called the family in Amsterdam who I was going to go to for Shabbos. The woman seemed to not know I was coming, and didn't seem super excited about it. Because of this and the fact that it was too far, I didn't go to her house for Shabbos. I figured I could at least go to the Portugese Synagogue for services (which didn't happen for OTHER reasons, but I'll digress for now).

My flight from LA to Newark was great! My row of seats was "out of commission" and so I got changed to the emergency exit which meant MAJOR leg room for this short girl! I was quite pleased,and with a window seat-ideal for sleeping! I was able to take a few short snoozes on the plane which is great. Eventhough that 5 hour flight to Newark did not feel good on my sore tailbone (see previous blog).

I met up with the person I'm traveling with in the Newark airport and we had quite a long layover. This was good. Since I don't hang out with this friend often, I was hoping it would be a nice warm up time. But it was sort of awkward. Not a good sign...guess what's coming up next. :)

The flight to Amsterdam was long. I was tired. The plane was VERY cramped. Travel partner was not so communicative and did not seem the least interested in being excited to travel and didn't want to look at guide books and stuff...much to my disappointment. And so, I watched some of the t.v. that each seat has. I played a couple games. I love that you can do this on planes! I then slept some. I think I slept a few times.

Finally, after 7.5 hours on the flight to Amsterdam and 24 hours or so after I left L.A....I had arrived.