Traveling with Laura

I didn’t realize how much I missed home until I walked through the door this afternoon. It was a very long day, and I’m thankful to be home and unpacked and finally resting. I was at Flughafen Wien (Vienna Airport) at 4:30 this morning and was able to bypass the long check-in line and access the lounges in Vienna and Amsterdam, thanks to flying first/business class on this trip. 

Once I was through security, I headed for the Vienna Lounge to kill some time before my flight. Not knowing what food would be served on the plane, and being the picky eater that I am, I also seized the opportunity to grab some breakfast in the lounge.

There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the boarding process for my KLM flight to Amsterdam. No announcements, no boarding groups, nothing. All 175+ people just swarmed the gate and pushed one another down the jet bridge. Well, not quite that bad, but it might as well have been. There wasn’t even anyone guarding the gate. You just scan your own boarding pass and hope for the best.

Before we took off from Vienna, the captain came out of the cockpit and welcomed us all to the flight. He said that out of 180 passengers, 135 of us had onward connections from Amsterdam to 38 different destinations on four different continents and that we had the next one hour and 30 minutes to make new friends from around the world. Pretty cool. Of course, I had a row to myself, so the only new friends I made were of the invisible variety…

We took off from what seemed like the middle of the runway (definitely not the end) at a very steep angle. The seatbelt sign came off after about five minutes, while we were still climbing, which seems to be the norm in Europe. Before long, we were high above the clouds and I was on my way home.

You’ve no doubt read the stories and seen the pictures of the ridiculously long security lines at European airports this summer. I encountered similar lines to go through passport control in Amsterdam. Fortunately, the self-service lines moved pretty quickly and I got my departure stamp from Schiphol Airport.

KLM has two lounges in Amsterdam, one for Schengen Area passengers, which I visited last week, and their flagship Crown Lounge which I visited this time. The lounge is broken up into several rooms over two floors and can hold up to 1,000 passengers. It was busy and I wasn’t hungry, but I did decide to start my alcohol consumption for the day in the form of a mimosa. 

I finally got to experience Delta One Suites on the flight back to Boston. Each seat is its own little pod, with a door and full lie-flat bed. Being able to relax and spread out on the 7.5 hour flight was definitely worth it. The food was a bit of a disappointment because I didn’t like any of the foods that were choices for either meal. I ended up picking at a piece of chicken and eating a roll, ice cream, and a cookie. Needless to say, I was pretty hungry when we got to Boston.

There is nothing like flying into Boston over Cape Ann, and the cloud-dappled skies over Boston made for some great views as we circled the city to land. One of the best feelings after returning from overseas is seeing the American flag for the first time after getting off the plane. I had an amazing vacation, but you know what they say… there’s no place like home!