Warning: If you plan to travel by airline anytime soon, be ready to flex. I heard stories of gross delays and unplanned hotel stays, but it always seemed to be “the other guy” . . . until I tried to leave the EU. My “Brexit” to London got complicated.
Laura had an apparently smooth non-stop from Amsterdam to Dallas. But my planned trip to London was rescheduled twice, and from different airports. I guess the airlines right now just consider air travel to be “lucky” post COVID, and therefore treat passengers as just another piece of UPS freight to be rerouted and rescheduled at their will. If they all do it (as it seems) then there is no recourse. It just “sucks” for travelers.
In a noble effort to make my situation less sucky, Viking got me a spare room (upgrade) on the ship and offered to drop me off at Rotterdam (my new departure spot) this morning. They even checked train and boat schedules to London. So here I sit in a hotel lobby at the Rotterdam Airport, camping out until my 3pm flight. But at least I’m well fed and we’ll rested!
However, the day is not over: Since I’m now flying into London City Airport rather than Heathrow, I’ll arrive much further away from my host and will be taking trains to traverse London traffic for the last two hours of my journey. Truly “trains, planes, and automobiles” today.
Are these First World Problems? Perhaps. I will say that being “job-free” certainly ratchets down the stress level. But it hasn’t eliminated it. That’s something I need to work on. 
And, on the topic of stress reduction, I have been attempting to be more “mindful”—that is, living in the moment and enjoying the little things. For example, I had an unexpectedly fascinating conversation with my cab driver this morning. His name was Shakavan (rhymes with Chaka Khan). When he initially told me he was from Iraq, I at first clammed up. I had visions of a former Republican Guard soldier taking his final revenge on one of the airborne infidels that had threatened him.
Instead, I found out that Shakavan was an Iraqi Kurd from the north. “We love America . . . when they stay”. “When the US is in Iraq we are free—when they are not, we are not”. So Shakavan is here in Rotterdam with his wife and three children, driving a cab, changing diapers, and worrying about his relatives back in Iraq. He admits that it’s a good life for him.
By the way, Shakavan speaks Kurd, Arabic, Dutch, and pretty darned good English. He learned his English from watching TV shows. Uh oh. I hope it’s just the language that he’s picking up and not the western insanity. That said, he had very little good to say about “the arabish” southern Iraqis. “They listen but they don’t hear you”. “They have one belief in their blood and any other belief [is punishable by death].
Interesting place, these Netherlands. I just realized that I missed the North Sea Jazz Festival (in Rotterdam) by only a few days, similar to my missing the Farnborough Air Show in London due to my hurried trip back for the Oshkosh Air Show in the US. Too much to do and see. I’ll have to come back!
Here are a few shots of Amsterdam on an unusually warm and sunny day:
True North Blog 
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