Getting to Amsterdam, Part Two
As I usually do, I leave packing until the last minute. This year, I also gave piano students the option to take the day off from lessons. All but one was glad to take the break. So, I taught one student in the morning, then started figuring out what to take for a variety of weather situations.
We got to Dulles Airport and, of course, the flight with Aer Lingus to Dublin was late. After finally boarding – my “carryon” had to become checked baggage so some rearrangement of contents had to happen – the flight was ok. Snack, meal with surprisingly spicy chicken, sort of sleep, then breakfast. I was really surprised that no traditional Irish food was served for any of the 4 legs of this journey. Irish Shortbread was offered at a cost on the way back. I’ll offer my opinions on that when we get to that day’s post!
There were bad earphones so it was hard to watch anything on the small screen. Nothing to hold them in place at all. Someone else had brought a bluetooth dongle to send the sound to his own airpods so I may be looking into that next flight.
Deplaining was normalish until we got into the Dublin Airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam.
This older airport was a mess. Very disorganized with lots of walking and nowhere to sit. We walked 2.24 miles in this airport to get to our plane. The hours are messed up because of the time changes.
The signage was terrible and we had to ask directions at least 12 times and the workers didn’t know where our gate was, either. Finally a nice man wheeling a passenger came along. He knew where were were going and let us walk along with him and his passenger. Turned out our gate was in the basement and from there we took a bus to get to the plane. Then climbed stairs to get onboard.
We vowed never to go through Dublin airport again but we did have that to look forward to on the return trip.
We retrieved our luggage in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, got a taxi and headed to the hotel with no problems. Hooray!
I had booked a Holiday Inn Express because I like the “free” breakfasts and this trip was no exception. I was very surprised that this hotel room was identical to the one we were last in in Scotland. Except for the toilet flushing mechanism.
I have never seen 2 buttons before. they both seemed to do the same thing.
I had booked a candlelight canal cruise for the evening but we were both too tired from the travel and the 6-hour time difference. We got a late dinner in the hotel and called it a night.
What we missed:
Candlelight Cruise
Treat yourself to a wonderful evening of wine, cheese, and Amsterdam’s finest sights. Once the sun goes down, you’ll see the city in an entirely new light, or lack thereof. Witness Amsterdam’s major landmarks and attractions by candlelight on this unique Amsterdam cruise that will tantalize your senses.
Your Amsterdam candlelight cruise provides you with a serene and delicious ride through the city’s elaborate canal system. Amsterdam isn’t called the “Venice of the North” for nothing. The system spans more than 60 miles and features over 1,200 bridges and 90 islands. This canal tour will take you near the city’s many highlights, including the street markets, museums, and other Dutch structures that give Amsterdam its charming appeal.
While you take in the nighttime wonders, the helpful staff on this Amsterdam canal cruise will treat you with generous wine and cheese portions. You’ll have the choice of white and red wine to complement the delectable cheese board freshly prepared for your taste buds. There’s no better way to spend an evening in Amsterdam. Experience Amsterdam in all its nighttime glory. Book your Amsterdam candlelight canal cruise today for an unforgettable time in the city.
We were very lucky that this hotel was honorable. We had made reservations several months ago. Then, Taylor Swift had decided to have a concert the night that we were there. I understand that lots of other hotels had canceled existing reservations to resell for more money.
Getting to Scotland
Thursday, August 6, 2015
As these things go, of course Tom’s computer stopped working. There was a deadline to be met before we left and the HP PC was finally dead.
Michael had given Tom his old Mac from 2010. There was nothing wrong with it, other than being several versions old. I wanted to be able to easily transfer files to the Mac, in case I ever got the PC working again. (Insert evil laugh here!)
I started upgrading the OS which seemingly took forever but work needed to be done so my 2015 Mac was commandeered.
Thankfully, all the important files are in the Dropbox so work could continue.
Most of this day was hectic, getting Tom set up on his “new” computer. He’d had it for a while but never really used it. Now, it was essential.
I knew we were flying through Amsterdam and this video started appearing on my Facebook feed. I’m never a good flyer and I don’t think I could have made it though this Amsterdam storm:
Friday, August 7, 2015
The new/old mac finally finished the OS upgraded. Because this computer hadn’t been used with Dropbox before, it was taking forever to index files. We packed it up anyway. Who knows what kind of internet we would have in Scotland anyway.
I got my Mac back. Hooray! There had been some discussion of Tom using my computer on the trip and I’d take my older Macbook Air but that changed just before we packed up. Hooray, again!
Earlier in the month, I’d had some biopsies done. The one in that post was the one I was “traveling with”. If anyone looked in my carryon bag, they’d see mostly bandages, Neosporin, other medical stuff.
Luckily, I’d checked out the temperature in Scotland and found that the high was usually about 60° so I’d packed actual long jeans and shoes instead of my regular sandals.
We left for the Dulles airport about 3.
There was some ticket confusion. Our ticket said it was Delta, so the taxi driver dropped us off at the Delta area. They sent us off to KLM instead. The kind ticket agent moved us around so we could sit together – and checked our bag all the way through to Edinburgh. Hooray!
I had been a bit worried about picking up our suitcase in Amsterdam and taking it to the next gate but that was no problem now. Major yay! A note for the future – our new dermatologist, the one who is doing the biopsies, travels often to Scotland and leaves from Philadelphia – direct to Glasgow. If/when we get to go back, I’ll look into that or going from New York.
I followed directions and got through security just fine with no one finding my secret medical stash. Tom, OTOH, had stuff in his pockets…
We still got to the gate with plenty of time to spare since our flight was at 5:30 Eastern Time. The times are going to get confused since Amsterdam is 6 hours ahead and Scotland is 5 hours ahead.
Our flight was fine – one of those planes with 8 rows of seats across. 2 by each of the windows, an aisle, then 4 in the middle. The seats were quite comfortable, near the restrooms, had USB jacks. We got dinner and breakfast as well as a snack.
We arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 6:42 am on Saturday (their time, 12:42 am our time). We wandered around the airport a bit and came across V!ZZ!T D-Pier (the D-Pier means D Concourse). This store is sort of an airport Walmart. They seemed to have a bit of everything, including a small grocery store. I could have gotten wooden shoes but decided against them.
From the T-shirt selection at V!ZZ!T, I learned that marijuana is legal in Amsterdam. The local maps also showed exactly where the red light districts were located. When I got home, I mentioned this to my mom who said that they’d been on a tour of Amsterdam which included the red light district.
Amsterdam is a brave new world but we weren’t there long enough to leave the airport!
Our “Delta” flight, AKA KLM left for Scotland at 9:55 am (3:55 my time). I wasn’t sitting with Tom this time. When filling out Customs paperwork, I noticed the passports of the 2 women I was sitting with. One was from China, the other from Brazil – all of us on our way to Scotland. What a small world we’ve become.
We arrived at Edinburgh Turnhouse Airport at 10:25 Scotland time – 5:25 am, my time. Customs and Immigration were a snap, as was getting our suitcase.
The rental car was an absolute fiasco. I had reserved one online through a company William Shatner advertises. I didn’t know the names of any rental car companies in Scotland and the price of this one looked good so…
We went outside the airport and walked what seemed forever to the Car Rental Centre. We got there and it was buzzing with people – probably all off our plane. The circular enclosure was filled with car companies like Avis, Alamo, National, Hertz, Budget, all names I knew. The name on my reservation wasn’t there anywhere. Tom went to one of the desks and they had no cars available. All the others had long lines.
The phone numbers on my reservation paper didn’t work, possibly because I was using my cellphone and calling from the states.
I left Tom with the bags and set off looking for a pay phone. Finally found one by the far exit. We had no coins so we tried using a credit card. There was no central information number that we could find. Basically, we got nowhere with the pay phone.
Tom went back in the building and was gone so long I was considering what my options were. He finally came back and said he’d rented a car from Europcar, as well as a GPS. The price was considerably more than our nonexistent other car.
It took quite a while to find where the car was located in the huge lot but we finally found “our” silver KIA. Being a newer car, the windshield was slanted so the GPS couldn’t be used. It didn’t talk anyway, so I’d have to be looking at it all the time.
We turned on the car and it had a built in GPS already – which did talk. I set it up for where we were going – Macdonald Craigellachie Chalets, Dalfaber Village, Aviemore, Inverness-Shire PH22 1ST Scotland. Naturally, It couldn’t find that so I settled for Aviemore PH22 1ST just to get into the vicinity.
It seemed we drove forever and there was lots of traffic, which the GPS called “Attention. Traffic situation ahead.” Ok, how do we get out of it? There’s no way out. 🙁
We stopped for lunch (or dinner, or breakfast?) at a Dobbie’s Garden Center we’d seen off one of the exits after we drove past the Kingdom of Fife and the Firth of Forth.
Dobbies Garden World Kinross had a nice little restaurant/tearoom and we got to sit by the window. I ordered coffee americano which is your basic coffee with a shot of espresso. I don’t really remember what I had to eat but I think it was a sandwich of some sort.
Continuing on the M90 we saw a guy in a roadster with no roof stopped by the side of the road with a huge golf umbrella covering him and the inside of car. We also saw a couple people camped just off the highway. Apparently, they were living there for a while because I got a picture of them and their tents when we were heading home a week later.
We got off the M90 towards Aviemore and started looking for the Macdonald Craigellachie Chalets. We went by the Macdonald Aviemore Hotel which wasn’t it. Our GPS took us through town. We missed the turn, crossed a railroad crossing and made a U-Turn near some sort of golf course. We went down the little road and ended up in an industrial complex. I guess that’s where the Aviemore PH22 1ST was.
When making the U-turn, I’d seen a dark brown sign similar to the one on the Macdonald Aviemore Hotel and thought they might be related so we went back there.
That place was Macdonald Spey Valley Golf & Country Club. We parked and went inside to see if they knew where the Macdonald Craigellachie Chalets were. The desk person didn’t know but asked someone else who said we were in the right place. Go figure.
Apparently, they call where we stayed Luxury Woodland Lodges at Macdonald Aviemore Resort.
You’ll find our 4-star Luxury Woodland Lodges nestled amongst Macdonald Aviemore Resort‘s ancient Caledonian pine forests. Our 18 deluxe Highland lodges combine luxury with outdoor living; after a day of adventuring in the surrounding mountains, store your bike or skis in the woodshed, order a pizza delivery from Giovanni’s – our onsite Italian restaurant, and settle into your woodland home-from-home in front of a cosy wood-burning stove.
Enjoy long summer evenings with a drink on your private deck, take a stroll to one of the resort restaurants nearby or for the more energetic take a walk to the Craigellachie Nature Reserve. Alternatively guests have use of Spey Valley Leisure’s 25m indoor pool, complete with wave machine and flume.
Each of our lodges sleeps up to 6 people in three en-suite bedrooms. Lodges include:
- Living Room with flat screen TV, DVD player
- Gallery Kitchen with a 4 ring hob, microwave, fridge, toaster, Nespresso coffee machine, tableware and cutlery
- Breakfast Table with 6 chairs
- “All-in-one” cupboard with iron & board, high chair/travel cot for the “wee ones” and vacuum cleaner
Ground Floor – 1 King with WC, Bath and separate shower & 1 Twin with WC & Shower
First Floor – 1 Double with WC & shower
- Beautiful pine forest setting
- Sleep up to 6 people
- Storage for bikes, skis etc
- Luxury bathrooms with separate showers
- Access to 25-metre swimming pool
- Free Wifi Powered by The Cloud
My description is somewhat different. Part of it will show up later in my Trip Advisor review.
First off, there were spiderwebs. Place could use some work. No phone, key didn’t work, Internet didn’t work.
We had trouble with the keys opening the door. There was no phone, so Tom went back to the main building to get a maintenance person to help us. The Maintenance Guy showed us how to work the keys. I figured out wifi. Still no phone. I took some pictures of the exterior and interior.
It was so cold out and in. I went in the various rooms and turned the little heaters on. Only in the bedroom could we control the temperature. The other rooms were on and off. The bathroom was heated only by a heated towel rack. I was picturing myself getting out of the shower, losing my balance and grabbing for something, that towel rack and being fried.
I was exhausted and took a little nap. Tom watched the tv and it blew a fuse. We didn’t realize that until next morning when fridge, microwave didn’t work.
We ventured into town to go to the Tesco grocery store. One of the first items I came across was haggis pizza which we didn’t get on general principle.
I was too tired for dinner so I just had Scottish breakfast bread, similar to Bajan salt bread. Tom had popcorn.
At bedtime, I was still cold so I took the comforter from “Michael’s room”. We called it that, even though we knew he wouldn’t be there. That room ended up being our walk-in closet since there wasn’t much space anywhere else.
All pictures from today