The Joys of Travel

The flight from Vienna to Amsterdam was a no-brainer. For two hours, how could any airline screw it up? The budget airlines do it all the time, so KLM, the Dutch airline should do it better. The basic and only difference was they gave us a sandwich, but did not charge for it.

Arriving in the behemoth airport, we sought out the Diners Club lounge. When I presented my card, which had just given me royal entry into the Vienna lounge, the woman asked if I were aware that DC changed the rules as of November 20^th? As of that date, they are charging the card holder 17.95 Euros for the services. Feeling a bit ripped off sense this has always been a benefit of membership, we declined and went elsewhere. Roaming the airport for hours is not a problem in Amsterdam. The airport is virtually a small world of shopping, eating, and entertainment options.

The bright lights mesmerized Ron, the airport had more Christmas decor than all of Vienna. He took pictures of all of the trees, the airplane created from Christmas lights, and the other sparklies.

For we die hard smokers, there is a smoking cabin. Each time I use it, I feel like I am in a human aquarium. The all glass walls are maybe an attempt to humiliate those who use the room.

Our flight continues beyond Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta. The boarding area was like a New Years Eve gathering in Central Park. It was difficult to imagine how they would fit all of these people in the plane. In our section alone, there were a hundred passengers. KLM gets two thumbs down. For one hundred passengers, there were 2 television monitors to watch movies, thus no choices, no personalized video in the back seats, nothing special to make this flight stand out from others.

On a 12-hour flight, we have always had some amenities. South African Air gave us a neck bag with socks, a toothbrush and paste, and a sleeping mask. KLM, nothing. South African and other airlines provide a little menu of dinner choices, but again nothing. We had a choice of vegetarian pasta or chicken. Chicken is fine, but there were three small pieces with a clump of rice and some string beans. This was their "Oriental" selection, presumably since we were headed for Kuala Lumpur.

All of the movies, sans one were those we had seen. Mama Mia was playing as the 6th video in the list. Sleep took priority above the movie. Sleep I did, like I was drugged, I was out. With few exceptions, I slept the whole flight until breakfast.

Breakfast arrived in modular portions like a space meal. Scrambled eggs were in one pod, three potato buttons in another, some type of fluffed yogurt with a packet of granola was set to the side. It was okay, what airline food generally generates in the comments section.

Now we are sitting in the Kuala Lumpur airport waiting for our next flight. There is a five hour layover followed by a seven hour flight. Without Ringgits, it is difficult to find something to do, but why bother changing money or getting it from an ATM for just a few hours. Well six hours to be exact. In the process, we have now moved a day from Tuesday to Wednesday. What occurred to Ron while we were wandering around is that we lose yet another day getting to Adelaide arriving there at 7:30 am Thursday. The problem here is we booked and paid for tonight, losing track of our days. With the free Internet kiosks in the airport, we were able to send them an e-mail, which hopefully, they will read at some point. With their being so many hours ahead, they may have closed shop and gone to bed by now.

Traveling over so many time zones is a real challenge in keeping days and dates straight.

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