Made it to the Netherlands

Beau was visiting for the weekend before I left which was really fun. I had mostly finished packing by the time I picked him up from the airport so we could concentrate on having fun. Monday morning, though, I had to say good-bye for what will most likely be over 8 months. Katie drove me to the airport, with my boxed up bike. It’s always hard saying good-bye for these trips but at least this one is less than half as long as the last one. I’ll be back on October 5.

Check-in was super fast and easy, and for the first time ever, my bike flew for free. On United it just counts as an ordinary piece of luggage. I had an hour to kill at the gate then it was boarding time. Due to the rampant covid stories from the news and so many friends, I masked up with a N95 at the airport entrance and kept it on the whole time except for eating.

It was a non-stop flight, just under 10 hours, through the night, up and over Greenland and Iceland. I slept a couple of times, watched a couple of movies (Avengers End Game and First Man) and had three meals. As you approach Holland, you first see lots of windmills, way out to sea. Then finally the beach and then flat watery land with lots of canals.

Passport control took almost an hour but then when I got to the oversized baggage claim, my bike still wasn’t there. I could see it was “Nearby” in the Tile app, so didn’t worry and it came about 30 seconds later! The train is so convenient at Schiphol Airport because the station is right inside the airport. I had a simple ride, about an hour with one change of trains, then Wytze picked me up and whisked me to his house.

After lunch, we put my bike together then I took a nap before Andrew arrived. There was a nice party that evening with seven riders from our 2019 Andes Trail trip getting together. We had salmon and delicious pasta and salad, outdoors with beer and wine. After dessert and saying good-bye I could feel it was time for sleep, although it’s a strange time, 7 am at home.