2014 EUROPE by Rail 33 - And Away We Go Home

The next morning was a 03:45 get up for a 04:30 cab reservation to the Central Train Station. As we readied, we watched the news and weather on TV. It reported that many flights had been cancelled due to high overnight winds. We were so glad we had actual reservations rather than being on airline employee standby. This seemed well worth the price of a "real" ticket.

We were within walking distance to the station, but at 04:30 that morning it was cold, wet and dark, so we choose the easy route. Our cab driver was probably the only disappointment on the trip. He tried very hard to talk us into taking his cab all the way to Schiphol Airport for about 40 euros. It seemed a good deal, but we had plenty of time and didn't feel the need. We were used to the trains now and stuck with our plan A.

Anyway, he dropped us off at the opposite end of the station from the only door that was actually unlocked at this hour. It was cold and we were loaded down with luggage. Not a pleasant situation in spite of our prep work for a smooth getaway. We don't know if he did that on purpose (we kind of felt that way) or if that was the only legal drop off point for taxi drivers.

This resulted in a long walk in the drizzle over cobble stone streets with our tons of luggage. It was dark and there were quite a few homeless bum type guys hanging out under the eves of the station, trying to keep dry. It was a bit intimidating, but as we tried each door along the way, they all said, "Keep going to the end," so they were helpful after all.

Finally, we got to the last door (a really long block away) and bought our tickets for the train. Pretty fancy for a short train ride, with iridescent strips. 

The ticket guy said there were track repairs that night, so we would have to take the train half way and transfer to a bus for the last leg into the airport. We would get there only a few minutes later than scheduled.

Signage was not the best, at least at this hour, and it took us a while to find our track. What might have been the beautiful glass ceilings we were used to, seemed "under-ground-ish" in the dark of night. And there were few passengers to keep us company.

These gates to a closed restaurant were the only thing of beauty to photograph at this hour. The bus transfer was inconvenient, but not a big deal.

At airport check in, we thankfully found our flight was not cancelled and was on time. Recalling his last trip through this airport, Mike expected to see lots of shops and eating places to browse. But what were we thinking! It was still the middle of the night.

We had not had dinner, so we grabbed a tasty hot breakfast sandwich from a portable cafe cart. But ... we were so anxious to be on our way home, that we forgot to investigate the duty free shop. Dang!! How was that possible?

Not much browsing time anyway, as we were routed through multiple security check points. When the plane took off, we were just happy to be on board and on our way home with an on-time departure.

Half-way point.

Time passed fairly quickly on the flight. We lightly napped and I watched Angelina Jolie in "Maleficent." It retells the tale of Sleeping Beauty from the evil godmother's POV. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Meals were decent, but too much for us to eat all. I threw the snack cheese and crackers in my purse to eat later. But in U.S. customs we discovered you had to go into a longer, more strict line to declare cheeses you were "importing." Not sure if that applied to us, but we went there anyway. The agent laughed and waved us on after I confessed my cheesy contriband story. Other than that our transfer connection in Detroit went smoothly.

As we landed in Kalamazoo, it was wonderful to see the vibrant "neon" trees we are so used to in fall. Europe did not live up to this performance. Ah, home sweet home.