Day 1 -- Grounded in Amsterdam

Well I set off today for my trip -- 2 hours early just like they say you should be, and even went so far as to get on the plane and everything until they announced that they were having mechanical troubles and everyone needed to get off the plane. They gave us some meal ticket thingies so I got a very aiporty looking Japanese chicken and noodle dish with it and waited around by my gate.


It wasn't all boring though because HOLY CRAP MICHAEL JACKSON DIED! Sitting around watching all the CNN coverage was pretty entertaining, although I was hoping for more clips of the "Thriller" video.


They kept pushing back the estimated departure time, and I'm pretty sure that they eventually just brought a new plane around for us. We ended up leaving about 3 1/2 hours later than we were supposed to. The plane ride was fine -- I watched Frost/Nixon and then got a good 4 hours of sleep or so.

When we finally arrived in Amsterdam we found out that we did indeed miss our connecting flight to Warsaw and so once again we got meal ticket thingies. I did that thing you're not supposed to do when you are in a foreign country and got a smoothie from Starbucks. I know, I know! It was the only place doing smoothies and with my time zones all screwy I was hungry but also feeling so tired that the thought of eating anything was grossing me out. So a mango passionfruit smoothie in my belly allowed me to sleep in these comfy reclining type chairs that they have at the airport here.

This picture is mostly for my friends at home -- especially the ones that work at Starbucks. I like how Dutch is a different language but it's close enough to just sound like funny sounding English if you read it in your head. "Maak Je Favoriete Drank." I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but the flavor "hazelnoot" made me laugh on the inside.

The Amsterdam airport also makes you go through security/passport checks randomly in the middle of the airport, even though I never left the gate area.

And here's my last picture -- my view from my comfy reclining chair which I've been sleeping upon:



So I get to sit back, nap a little, and watch planes take off. Life is pretty good. I'll update you guys again after I (finally) get to Warsaw.