The day before our flight back to the States for the holidays, Amsterdam was nailed by a huge snowstorm. The ground was covered with inches of snow and ice bringing the city to a halt. Cabs, buses, trams, trains and planes were all affected by the blizzard. This led to a very stressful next 30hrs.
Early the next morning the snow cleared up enough that our flight was not cancelled and we had a cab driver willing to get us to the airport. Before our cab even arrived, I got a phone call from my friend Erin saying "get to the airport now - it is madness - and you have to cut the line otherwise you will not make your flight." So much for getting to the airport 2.5 hours early - we would have been better off getting there the night before.
When we arrived, Schipol was a mess. Thousands of upset travelers in the terminal entrance. No order, no help. To make matters worse, we still needed to print out our boarding passes and check our bags. There was no choice, we had to cut the line. It's not fair, but we were competing with thousands of travelers who did not actually have a flight at all (cancellations from the day before). Plenty of folks yelled at us "what are you doing?" and "my family has been here for 3 days," "you're going to cut a baby?" Kirk pressed on. I talked back. At one point telling a woman that I don't care about her family......a new low for me. Kirk was determined and kept moving forward with our baggage, cutting through the mass all pushing just to get into the switchback line. Once we got there it was obvious we weren't going to make our flight - the line went beyond view before it switched back 5 times. That's when I decided to grab our passports, walk right to the front and ask for help. I explained that I didn't think it was fair for us to be stuck in the same line with people who don't have tickets, that we have a flight to make in an hour, that we were not able to print out our tickets online since the system shut down from too much activity, and that if we miss this flight we would then be thrown back into the mess - creating more of a headache for them. The lack of order was truly frustrating, with no sight of resolution. Even just creating a line for travelers that have a flight within 2 hours and a line for people who need to rebook.....they couldn't even do that. She understood - took our passports, printed our tickets, checked our bags and got us through security. I met two other gentlemen earlier in line heading to Los Angeles and I was able to help them get on the flight - hopefully good karma for me since I said some not-so–nice things to people yelling at us for cutting.
We made it to our gate only to find out our flight was delayed over an hour. My friend Ali made the flight too - a happy reunion!!!! We watched an old lady de-icing our engines with a broom - very comforting. At this point I didn't care how long the wait was, as long as this flight gets us home within the next day - we were lucky to have a flight going out. Once boarded we had to wait an additional 2 hours for more de-icing. KLM kindly handed out snacks and put on movies!
Now our next issue was making our connecting flight in Los Angeles to Seattle. Luckily that flight was delayed by an hour making it possible for us to board! Finally touchdown in Seattle!!!!
We now have been up for over 30 hours and headed straight to Emily and Kai's Christmas Cocktail Party (where we were staying for the night). What a wonderful welcome home - seeing all our friends dressed up, drinking, and enjoying the Christmas spirit!!! It was a bit shocking since I have not been home in 9 months, nor have seen most of our friends pretty faces in about a year. I was tired, a little overwhelmed, but overall happy! Home sweet home!
Next stop, the Mackenzie's. Brock and Hannah kindly offered their home to us for a place to crash for the next few days. They hosted a gathering for friends to come over, eat, drink and catch up! We finally were able to meet Ryan's now fiance Nicole! We had heard so much about her that it was about time we got to meet in person!!! We spent the next few days meeting family members for lunch, shopping for Christmas gifts and eating at all of our favorite Seattle spots!
Ryan and Nicole had us over for the night at their lovely home! I unfortunately got nailed with a gnarly flu. Glad we were able to stay in and keep it low key - a good way to spend some quality time with Ryan and Nicole!!! The next day we headed to Tacoma for the night, staying with Tyler and Erin and making an early Christmas dinner with my folks!
My dear friend Kelly (from 1st grade) hosted a gathering at her parents for us gals and husbands to catch up and visit!!! I had such a nice time seeing Amy, Kelly, Lisa and Mari (and all the spouses and kids)!!!!
After the gathering we headed straight to Seattle for another party with college friends! We of course had to hit up Dick's for a 2am burger run before heading to bed at Eric's.
We headed over the pass to Ellensburg to meet Kirk's family for Christmas! It was so nice to see everyone!!!
We ate a ton of good food, exchanged gifts, played Wii, went snowmobiling and got in some more quality time with family!!!
The next few days were filled with more lunches, dinners with friends, shopping, meeting more babies (Si and Bay) and seeing brand new homes (Buri's and Steenson's)!!! Thanks for having us over!!!
We drove out to my cabin for my mom's birthday! The Hulen's and my cousin Jacob joined us for a night! We celebated the Huskies huge bowl win, had a big feast and watched movies!!!!
For New Year's Eve, we spent some time at Jake's new condo in Queen Anne before heading to Brock's party for dinner. After eating, playing games and a mini dance party we headed over to our final destination, Emily and Kai's! We rang in the New Year's with great friends - couldn't have asked for anything better!
Kirk flew out on New Year's Day and I went back out to my cabin with my folks for the weekend before heading to Los Angeles! LA had experienced some nasty weather, but when I flew in the clouds parted - maybe it was a sign!!! After being picked up I asked Candace to drop me off in my old neighborhood where I shopped, ate tacos, got my nails done and a massage. I miss this place!!!
I spent the week seeing friends, going to yoga and karaoke, working, eating at all my favorite spots, shopping at the new mall in Santa Monica, and finally my favorite, playing soccer!!! Candace, thanks for hosting me for the week!
An overall wonderful trip!!! We are so lucky to be blessed with beautiful family and friends! We definitely look forward to our next trip home!
