Thursday, May 13, 2010
Norway Day 2 - Arriving
This is an after-the-fact transcription of the journal I kept on a two week trip to Norway.
May 13, 2010, 9:20 am
Aboard KLM 678
I am on Amsterdam time now and somewhere over Scotland. They've just turned on the lights.
After the snacks, I watched a movie. Highly recommended - The Blind Side. In the middle of that was dinner, which was pretty decent. And then they turned out the lights.
According to the flight tracker thing, the movie got me from somewhere north of Saskatoon to the very tip of northern Quebec.
When they turned out the lights they also asked everyone to pull down the window shades. We never quite crossed the Arctic Circle, but we were close, so it never really got all the way dark.
I did try to sleep for those five hours or so, and I think I succeeded a little.
Oh! One nice touch are the hot wet towels. I got the first one just after that first snack. And the other one just now, after a glass of orange juice. The juice was perfect and the towel was timely.
We're just south of Aberdeen, with about 650 kilometres to go.
I'm glad I got to sleep a little bit. It's going to be a long day regardless. But I'm beginning to feel a little pumped
May 13, 2010, 11:35 am
Schipol Airport, Amsterdam
OK, if you buy a bottle of water here, you either drink it in the airport or on the plane. No bringing open bottles on the plane. In fact, if you want to take it on, they seal it in a bag for you at the store.
Another trip up was that the Starbucks in the airport here is one of those not-really-a-Starbucks, in that they don't take the Starbucks card, so I had to pay cash.
Anyway, back on the plane, once I opened the window screen, there was nothing to see but cloud. There wasn't a lot of cloud over the North Sea, but it's all grey water.
Forty minutes before we touched down, we got breakfast. And not at all rushed. That was kind of nice.
And then we descended through a lot of cloud until we were quite low, probably less than a thousand feet before I could see anything.
So now it's grey and overcast, but not raining. This part of Schipol is no different from Calgary, except in Calgary, all the 737s sport the WestJet livery. Here there are all kinds of paint jobs. From here I can see KLM, Continental, Finnair, and a couple I don't recognize. Also, they aren't all 737s, although that seems to be the dominant short haul critter.
MartinAir, never heard of that one before. Looks like an A330. This place must be a haven for plane spotters.
Whoops, what I thought was Continental is actually Augsburg Airways. They were just pushed back.
I'll need to go for a walk soon. When people get close to the end of the moving sidewalk, a voice tells them to "mind your step." It's repetitive and monotonous, and getting on my nerves. Plus I want to know what airlines those two planes belong to.
May 13, 2010, 12:10 pm
Schipol Airport, Amsterdam
Alitalia and Air Malta. And there is a SwissAir one too.
It's true! A beer tastes much better in its home country. Heineken is not my favourite at home, but this is quite good. Mind you, it's on tap and not in those horrid green bottles.
I'm sitting at the Constellation Bar in the C wing of Schipol. I'm guessing by the dozens of pictures of Lockheed Constellations with KLM livery that it's named for that. The height of luxury air travel sixty years ago.
When I walked down this way an hour ago, it was deserted. Now it's pretty hopping.
Oh yeah! I got my first stamp in my passport. That was kind of cool. I wasn't expecting to talk to any customs person cuz I'm not leaving the airport. But I guess it's because I crossed continental boundaries?
There goes an Air France 737. Boeing must have build thousands of those things.
Air Astana - another one new to me.
One thing that stands out here are the number of duty free shops. At least I think they are duty free. Each one is a specialty store - perfumes, liquor, clothing - and they're huge!
Another thing is the number of perfume shops. A couple of big stores in the middle, but there are also a few little kiosk places. It's actually kinda stinky in the main concourse from those big shops.
And yet another thing. I am surrounded by unknown (to me) languages. Seems like everyone on this continent is multi-lingual.
It's noon here, actually 12:30. I just realized it's 4:30 am at home. I'm really glad I managed to sleep a little on the way over.
Wow, just looking around. This place is suddenly full of people. And my plane to Oslo is just pulling up to the gate. I still have and hour and a half before it leaves again.
All this hub-bub, and still there is that "mind your step" over and over and over.
May 13, 2010, 2:40 pm
Aboard KLM 1147
A little bit of a late start, but we're above the cloud deck now. I think we drove to Copenhagen first though. Seriously, Schipol is one big airport; the taxiing was endless.
We sat at the gate after boarding. I don't know what was up with that. So the toddler behind me got a little restless, slamming the window shade up and down until she caught her fingers in it. Once she calmed down over that, she slammed the tray up and down, and kicked heck out of my seat, all the while screaming at her mom. Luckily, she calmed right down as we were pushed back, and there was only one brief outburst while we taxied.
It's a pretty full load here. There seems to be some high school girls group taking up the middle of the plane.
It's an older 737, and there are no seat-back TVs so we don't get the flight tracker. I have no idea where we are now.
An interesting variation on the safety demo - how to put on the life vest located under the seat. I imagine we're over water right now.
May 13, 2010, 3:15 pm
Aboard KLM 1147
We are definitely over open water. There are dozens of boats down there. They passed out a surprisingly good sandwich that I scarfed down while watching all the boats slide by. It's quite beautiful.
But now we're over cloud again. It looks like a layer of mold I once saw on fruit juice. Slightly off white and scummy along the edge of it.
Oh boy, cookies! Or a cookie. "Stroopkoekje" - very tasty.
There are breaks in the cloud, and more boats.
I dozed off just before push back, and I think that little five minute powernap was just what I needed.
May 13, 2010, 9:20 am
Aboard KLM 678
I am on Amsterdam time now and somewhere over Scotland. They've just turned on the lights.
After the snacks, I watched a movie. Highly recommended - The Blind Side. In the middle of that was dinner, which was pretty decent. And then they turned out the lights.
According to the flight tracker thing, the movie got me from somewhere north of Saskatoon to the very tip of northern Quebec.
When they turned out the lights they also asked everyone to pull down the window shades. We never quite crossed the Arctic Circle, but we were close, so it never really got all the way dark.
I did try to sleep for those five hours or so, and I think I succeeded a little.
Oh! One nice touch are the hot wet towels. I got the first one just after that first snack. And the other one just now, after a glass of orange juice. The juice was perfect and the towel was timely.
We're just south of Aberdeen, with about 650 kilometres to go.
I'm glad I got to sleep a little bit. It's going to be a long day regardless. But I'm beginning to feel a little pumped
May 13, 2010, 11:35 am
Schipol Airport, Amsterdam
OK, if you buy a bottle of water here, you either drink it in the airport or on the plane. No bringing open bottles on the plane. In fact, if you want to take it on, they seal it in a bag for you at the store.
Another trip up was that the Starbucks in the airport here is one of those not-really-a-Starbucks, in that they don't take the Starbucks card, so I had to pay cash.
Anyway, back on the plane, once I opened the window screen, there was nothing to see but cloud. There wasn't a lot of cloud over the North Sea, but it's all grey water.
Forty minutes before we touched down, we got breakfast. And not at all rushed. That was kind of nice.
And then we descended through a lot of cloud until we were quite low, probably less than a thousand feet before I could see anything.
So now it's grey and overcast, but not raining. This part of Schipol is no different from Calgary, except in Calgary, all the 737s sport the WestJet livery. Here there are all kinds of paint jobs. From here I can see KLM, Continental, Finnair, and a couple I don't recognize. Also, they aren't all 737s, although that seems to be the dominant short haul critter.
MartinAir, never heard of that one before. Looks like an A330. This place must be a haven for plane spotters.
Whoops, what I thought was Continental is actually Augsburg Airways. They were just pushed back.
I'll need to go for a walk soon. When people get close to the end of the moving sidewalk, a voice tells them to "mind your step." It's repetitive and monotonous, and getting on my nerves. Plus I want to know what airlines those two planes belong to.
May 13, 2010, 12:10 pm
Schipol Airport, Amsterdam
Alitalia and Air Malta. And there is a SwissAir one too.
It's true! A beer tastes much better in its home country. Heineken is not my favourite at home, but this is quite good. Mind you, it's on tap and not in those horrid green bottles.
I'm sitting at the Constellation Bar in the C wing of Schipol. I'm guessing by the dozens of pictures of Lockheed Constellations with KLM livery that it's named for that. The height of luxury air travel sixty years ago.
When I walked down this way an hour ago, it was deserted. Now it's pretty hopping.
Oh yeah! I got my first stamp in my passport. That was kind of cool. I wasn't expecting to talk to any customs person cuz I'm not leaving the airport. But I guess it's because I crossed continental boundaries?
There goes an Air France 737. Boeing must have build thousands of those things.
Air Astana - another one new to me.
One thing that stands out here are the number of duty free shops. At least I think they are duty free. Each one is a specialty store - perfumes, liquor, clothing - and they're huge!
Another thing is the number of perfume shops. A couple of big stores in the middle, but there are also a few little kiosk places. It's actually kinda stinky in the main concourse from those big shops.
And yet another thing. I am surrounded by unknown (to me) languages. Seems like everyone on this continent is multi-lingual.
It's noon here, actually 12:30. I just realized it's 4:30 am at home. I'm really glad I managed to sleep a little on the way over.
Wow, just looking around. This place is suddenly full of people. And my plane to Oslo is just pulling up to the gate. I still have and hour and a half before it leaves again.
All this hub-bub, and still there is that "mind your step" over and over and over.
May 13, 2010, 2:40 pm
Aboard KLM 1147
A little bit of a late start, but we're above the cloud deck now. I think we drove to Copenhagen first though. Seriously, Schipol is one big airport; the taxiing was endless.
We sat at the gate after boarding. I don't know what was up with that. So the toddler behind me got a little restless, slamming the window shade up and down until she caught her fingers in it. Once she calmed down over that, she slammed the tray up and down, and kicked heck out of my seat, all the while screaming at her mom. Luckily, she calmed right down as we were pushed back, and there was only one brief outburst while we taxied.
It's a pretty full load here. There seems to be some high school girls group taking up the middle of the plane.
It's an older 737, and there are no seat-back TVs so we don't get the flight tracker. I have no idea where we are now.
An interesting variation on the safety demo - how to put on the life vest located under the seat. I imagine we're over water right now.
May 13, 2010, 3:15 pm
Aboard KLM 1147
We are definitely over open water. There are dozens of boats down there. They passed out a surprisingly good sandwich that I scarfed down while watching all the boats slide by. It's quite beautiful.
But now we're over cloud again. It looks like a layer of mold I once saw on fruit juice. Slightly off white and scummy along the edge of it.
Oh boy, cookies! Or a cookie. "Stroopkoekje" - very tasty.
There are breaks in the cloud, and more boats.
I dozed off just before push back, and I think that little five minute powernap was just what I needed.
# posted by Kelly @ 4:00 p.m. 
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