Days 1 & 2: Planes, Trains and… well, no one Automobiles
Welcome back, folks. It’s been a healthy 6 years since we’ve spoken, but that’s the true measure of friendship, right? The ability to wander off for a few years and pick back up just where we left off.
My well known depths for tolerance haven’t noticeably improved since the last run of these in December 2016 when I recorded my trip to Hawaii for New Years. So, to make sure we have something to look back on when we’re old(er) and decrepit(er), here is Book the Second: Josh and Jamie’s European Adventures! Just like last time, we start our story before the Stage Directions.
The Kids (TM) went off without complaint to their deluxe holiday destination without complaint, unless you count Benson insisting he sit up front to make sure we didn’t pull any tricks and take him to see Dr Dan for more prodding… Off without a second look back, we settled into a quiet afternoon of finishing packing, doing a deep clean (fortuitously, we had an inspection booked during our first week away) and planning and replanning our back up plans as news of timetable changes kept popping up. I had planned the sequence of flights and trains from Launceston to Amsterdam via Sydney, Singapore and London with clockwork precision, so each change really wasn’t welcome. Now I don’t want to brag or anything, but my planning was (I thought) top notch. I had taken account of high traffic times and known pinch points (West Tamar into town, then Wellington St into the outlet, then the outlet itself in rush hour morning traffic), as well as things like the first flight exodus out of Launceston of a Monday, and the hassles caused by the Airport refurbishment we’re currently getting. So imagine my shock when we end up about an hour early for bag drop, and need to cool our heels waiting for boarding… Sydney was smooth as well - I knew the QANTAS transfer bus could be slightly hit or miss, and the airport refurbishment they are getting would throw a spanner into international border clearance works, but even the bus being even more inconsistent than expected and the incredibly tight transfer window got us to the gate with about half hour of waiting.
QANTAS deserves a moment of praise here - their interior design on the A380 was spectacular. Clearly lots of R&D have gone into it, with extensive testing and only the best products being used. I should pause - my praise comes from being a shareholder and the clear cost/benefit ratio that was used, the R&D clearly was done with hobbits and by “best products” I mean the webcam of a teenage girl circa 2005. I don’t know if I was just spoilt going to Fiji earlier this year, but the image that their Skycam gave vs QANTAS is absolute chalk and cheese. No, I’m not upset about my upgrade bid being rejected - why do you ask? Anywho - the grand plan involved staying up through the Singapore leg, and sleeping most of, if not all, the London leg. Unfortunately I omitted to tell Future!Josh this, so out of the 50 hours or so we were in transit door to door, I maybe got 3 hours sleep? Recipe for good things only, promise. I also got a mild shock when the pilot made a beeline for Baghdad as soon as we entered Middle East airspace, before remembering that it was 2025, not 2005, and it was more important presently to avoid the boom booms happening in the south east of that region.
My extensive research had also prepared me for Heathrow - we had to be at St Pancras by 9:30, and landing at 7:00 caused me not an insignificant amount of anxiety with the horror stories of hours long border clearance and baggage claim, and the hour long multiple train journey from Heathrow to Kings Cross. Literally, I read so many blog posts and reddit threads where the typical Tuesday morning Heathrow experience was close to a human rights violation. Our experience? I think we stood still in the clearance line for maybe 2 minutes, and our bags were #1 and #2 on the carousel. There is also a Heathrow Express (don’t ask me why my research had me taking multiple trains and lines when there was a purpose built line right there), which put us into Paddington 15 minutes later through to St Pancras (via the H&C Line) 15 minutes after that. So all in all, we got into St Pancras a literal hour before we had to be (when I was expecting to be cutting it fine). Great opportunity for a coffee and a snoop of the filming of the new Harry Potter series going on upstairs. Eurostar Departures at St Pancras was very smooth, if not very bad smelling (some cleaning now and then would not go amiss, FYI), and we were quickly settled into our Plus seats ready for some Salade niçoise and local drinks as we coasted through the English, French, Belgium and Dutch countrysides through to Amsterdam. So very glad we chose to take the train, rather than fly - picturesque doesn’t even begin to describe it (well, it does technically, but you know what I mean. It is going to be very trying to break myself of English idioms here, they tend to confuse the fuck out of everyone).
We fell instantly in love with Amsterdam - for such a modern performing city, the fact that there are more buildings from before 1800 than after makes it very interesting to take in. An easy tram down to Rembrandtplein and straight into the Hotel Schiller - very artsyfartsy, but a great room and a very nice shower after being stuck in fast moving metal tubes for 50+ hours. Very green here (including the very real risk of second hand pot smoking), and explicit and strict rules against “wildplassen” in the square. Settled in for a quiet light dinner and drink with some people watching, then a very well deserved and well beloved sleep.
Settle in, another 2 days here before we move onto Paris.
