Istanbul to Amsterdam

The flight was entirely uneventful. We pushed back from the gate on time, and my girlfriend was asleep before takeoff. They brought around orange juice and hot towels early on, and I read the inflight magazine. Breakfast was Turkish-catered, and included what seemed to be scrambled eggs and something like mashed potatoes packed into tight triangles. There was also a nice hot bun with butter, strawberry jam, and Turkey’s version of Laughing Cow cheese. The breakfast also included a strange cup with what looked like white cheese, something made with spinach, a tomato, and more things beneath that - but I didn’t take off the plastic wrap. They brought a tray of pastries after a bit, then later in the flight a tray of candy bars and cookies. The last service was a choice of water, orange juice, or apple juice. We landed on time in Amsterdam and while we did have to wait a bit, it wasn’t too hard getting off the plane.



Schiphol Return

We had about 90 minutes to kill before we were due at the gate - much better than racing to make the connection - so we wandered through Schipol’s “See Buy Fly” duty-free shopping areas. We picked up a couple of small trinkets in one shop for the equivalent of about $25, and then wandered around again. Only once did we encounter the other member of our group who had been on our flight from Istanbul; we later heard his flight to Atlanta being called for a 10:55 departure. We peeked at the airport’s casino and I wanted to see the chapel but for some reason the signage stopped abruptly - you’re directed to the left, and then find neither the chapel nor another sign. We headed back downstairs and my girlfriend decided to stop at a cafe. I had a raspberry yogurt drink and a fruit tart, and she had a doughnut and water. When we finished, we headed to the gate and waited by a wall. Airport staff emerged from the waiting room and began setting up a large security area with six lecterns, forcing the passengers to crowd between the rope and a moving sidewalk (which you couldn’t lean on because the handrail was moving). We were fairly close to the head of the line, and I would have let my girlfriend go first but they wanted us together. The security officer gave us an extended version of the “have your bags been with you at all times” question given at check-in in the U.S., and wanted to know about electronic battery-operated devices. my girlfriend mentioned the camera and that we each had Palm Pilots, and he entered something into an electronic keypad sitting on the lectern. He then asked where we had been prior to Amsterdam, and I told him Istanbul. He asked us more questions - how long were we in Turkey (three weeks), where did we go (western Turkey’s tourist traps)? He went off and talked to someone, then when he came back put stickers on the back of our boarding passes. He asked if we spoke Turkish, and I said not more than hello, goodbye, and where is the bathroom - the last of which he repeated in Turkish and waved us on. We waited a while in the waiting room, and when they called rows 32 and higher we headed for row 36. I had managed to get seats A and B, which are a pair on one side of the plane. There’s an aisle, a row of five seats, another aisle, and two more seats. my girlfriend let me have the window, and we sat at the gate for 45 minutes or so before pushing back around noon.



Amsterdam to Washington

We didn’t have to wait long on the runway; we taxied into position, waited our turn, and took off. I declined the first beverage service, and when it was time for the meal I was alarmed that they didn’t bring our vegetarian plates, and it didn’t help when my girlfriend confirmed that yes, on occasion they really do give away special meals to people who didn’t order them. It turned out that the regular pasta plate was vegetarian, though, so we had what was supposed to be pasta with tomato sauce but was more pasta with overcooked vegetables and light reddish-orange goo. The dish also included a mix of salads, a room temperature bun with margarine, and a strange dessert. It was partly chocolate so I didn’t have any, but my girlfriend didn’t finish hers. The pink grapefruit juice was a bit sweeter than I would have liked, but it was still good. Because we were awake, we both watched the movie. It wasn’t very good, but it did kill at least 90 minutes, and maybe as much as two hours. Around the time we hit the East Coast and turned south, they served a snack of pizza and ice cream. My girlfriend determined the pizza was worse than school pizza, and while the ice cream pops were okay, they were dipped in chocolate. She tried eating off the chocolate and letting me have the vanilla ice cream inside, but all we did was make a mess. We were just a few rows from the back of the plane, so when we landed it took forever to get out. We went under the sign for US citizens and had our customs declarations stamped, then went to wait by a luggage carousel. One of our suitcases turned up fairly quickly, but we had to wait a while for the next one. We each took a bag and went up to a customs agent. The only thing she asked was if our bags had been with us since arrival, but when I passed through she pulled my girlfriend’s declaration back out and looked at it, probably because we had the same address and each family only needs one declaration. We found the taxi counter, and I went to get some cash from an ATM. There was nothing unusual about the ride home, and we deposited our suitcases right inside the front door.