O’, Amsterdam

Just off the United Airlines flight from Houston to Amsterdam. In 11 hours, not one United employee smiled at us. They did not even try to make us feel loved. We trudged off the flight in full Stockholm Syndrome, afraid to disobey our captors.

Our guaranteed 3pm hotel check-in did not occur until 4pm so I spent day one sleeping in various places, not least was the bar of the hotel. We were served a courtesy water so as to not look like full-on loiterers. Later, I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and the damned room had been moved. “Turn on the light!” I barked to The Husband. When he did, I was inside the bathroom facing the back wall trying to open a door that was already opened. This had been going on for around 10 minutes. Jet lag is a real thing, y’all.

First thoughts on Amsterdam: 1) The buildings along the canal jag and crook incredibly. My OCD brother would just die. 2) Everyone is friendly. 3) “It’s a perfect day” from the concierge means, “It’’s not raining at least”. 4) The red light district is funny if it weren’t so sad. 5) There are a lot of freakishly tall people here.

The Humphreys arrived this afternoon. Tom is sick. We can’t make him laugh because his ribs hurt from coughing so, seriously, what fun is that? And Joan has impersonated a pirate and a southern belle without knowledge of doing so. So she’s a write off as well. We’ve sent them to bed early.
Tomorrow we embark upon our boat tour. Will it be a small dinghy or a real ship? It is called The Monarch Empress or some such (and not The Minnow). I just hope the Humphreys are in fighting shape by morning as we have already seen a lot of monkeys.

Thanks for following along and tot ziens!