Goodbye, Treorchy!

I packed yesterday. We brought a lot of stuff. I don’t think I did too bad of a job packing. We used most of what we brought, although we did have lighter weight clothes for springier weather. Regardless, we still have an absolute ton of luggage (hyperbole, of course. Each of the FOUR suitcases weighed within a pound of each other, but did not exceed weight limits. We weighed them with the travel scale, then I made Keith take each one and weigh it on the scale in the lobby (lobby?) of the airport. I haaaaate the idea of getting to the counter and being over the weight limit). Keith got his new Cory jacket and two hats (bubble and cap), I got a sweatshirt, a stuffie leek, and a water bottle, Alexander is getting wine gums, Sean is getting chocolate, and Benjamin is getting the joy of watching his wife get chocolate, so we didn’t add too much beyond what we brought. Which is good. Neil’s mom and dad came in the nursery van to pick us up (Neil said they would be coming in the nursery van and even though I KNOW Neil works with 5 daycares, I have been thinking flower nursery – oh, his dad must be a florist – maybe there will be flowers in the van – maybe it will smell good. Oh my god, get a clue. I did figure it out when someone at band said something about Neil and the nurseries….duh!!!).

I thought it was a good idea to go down to Gregg’s and get some emergency sandwiches. I am always travelling with sandwiches. I have a fear of being hungry, I guess. I always think you never know when you might not have time to find something to eat. Keith thought I was nuts (as always). I researched food at the airport and found a cafe before check-in and restaurants after. BUT, I reasoned we eat lunch, not want to eat again before 5:30 flight, no food on the 75 minute flight, arrive in Amsterdam hungry. So, we did our last walk down our high street and got two ham and cheese baguettes. And two cokes, because the meal deal makes them sooooo cheap. After a month of no caffeine, I’m pretty sure I won’t be sleepy tonight. On the walk back, we passed a pink door. I said, was that door always pink? Keith said, I was just going to ask you the same thing. Huh. Can you paint in the rain?

We needed to get covid tests at the airport because there was just no other option. Because the van is used to pick up kindergarteners at noon, the van needed to be there then. We needed to be at the airport by 3pm to get the covid tests in time (don’t be late! You won’t get your spot. You may miss your flight!) and so Neil’s mom and dad picked us up about 9am. (Remember, Neil had surgery yesterday, so he can’t drive. And he sold his car last week. He is going all electric, which is so great)(Neil, if you are reading this, I have no idea why I feel compelled to tell the world all about everything you are doing)(Sorry). We stopped by Neil’s house (day surgery) to say good-bye, which was so great! While chatting in the van on the hour drive to the airport, we learned that Cory band is not sponsored. They used to have corporate sponsorship and we didn’t realize that that was a thing of past. So, winning competitions helps book concerts, and the concerts help fund the competitions. It is symbiotic, but also really requires a lot of time for band members. They really are amazing people.

Neil’s mom ran through the pouring rain to get us a trolley for the luggage, and we are so grateful. It made it so much easier. We went into the airport and I steered us straight to a bench right inside the door. I had no idea that it was the only bench in the ticketing area. There was NOT a lot of action going on in the ticketing area. Look back at the picture of Keith weighing things. The departures board is behind him. Four planes out TODAY 🙂 Incoming was a different story. There is a rugby game – Wales vs France – and tons of people kept coming out of the arrivals side and getting into buses. I heard an employee say they have over 4500 people flying out on Sunday. I can say with some confidence that 70ish people flew out today. A group of middle aged men and a hen (bachelorette) party went to Dublin. About 12 random people went to Edinburgh. (I missed the first flight. But who went there? I’ve never heard of it)(That seems mean. I am sorry Tenerife South. I bet a lot of people want to visit you). We had about 30 on our flight.

Strangely, quite a few people who had just arrived came in to the ticketing area looking for ground transportation. A group of French men wearing berets (it appeared unironically) came in. It was terrific. The guy wearing a Welsh flag kilt came in and I thought that was terrific. Some English speaking men were wandering around, seemingly expecting a taxi to be in the lobby (lobby?). A single traveler told them he had connected to Uber and they could ride to Cardiff with him. There were four of them and one of him. I guess he ordered a van. Or a van just was coming. They were all very excited – I mean really excited – about it and that just felt so happy.

We covid tested (not late. Actually, we went up about an hour before our scheduled time and just said, can we come now? Yep. Took about 2 minutes, then they emailed us the results. We passed). Keith wanted to get the covid test done early so we could check the bags and be free. There was no one at the counter (there was no one anywhere), but he thought if he stood there, maybe someone would come. Six seconds later he was back. Sign said counter would open at 2:55. The pre-check-in area café was closed, because covid did it in.

WE ATE THE SANDWICHES. (Not saying, but just saying. Emergency sandwiches are a thing.)

As people arrived for our flight, about 8 of them stood in line for over an hour in front of the empty counter. I mean, we had the only bench, so…But still, I would have sat on the floor. Or leaned. So even though we had been there since 10:30, we were not first in line for check-in. Which was great, because going through security was a lot of unloading. All electronics out, including the camera (I don’t remember ever having to do that). Anyway, this little airport took their security seriously and that is good. I was verrrry glad not to have anyone (anyone!) behind us as we took 8 bins of stuff through security (yes, 8 bins AFTER we checked the big suitcases)(Keith wants you to know we did not have 8 carry-ons. We did have 3 laptops, a trumpet case, sweatshirts, coats, camera, shoes, etc).

They gave us sandwiches on the plane. 🙂 (But that was at 6pm. I would have been really hungry by then without my emergency sammich).

We got to Amsterdam. We got TWO trolleys and trolly-ed our stuff the one minute walk to the airport Sheraton. It is pretty fancy, as airport hotels are, but we could NOT get this luggage anywhere farther. At 10pm we walked back to the airport/train station (train!) to look for something else to eat. Burger King is open 24 hours. BK it was. I got a salad instead of fries with my meal – absolutely lovely salad. We came back to the room with it and watched our show. Cokes…fast food…we are reintroducing ourselves to the regular life.