Last Monday, another very last minute business to Bristol, UK required that my flight journey take me through the Amsterdam airport. Bristol is a lovely city BTW…so green, on the western coast of England, close to much history – Stonehenge, Bath, etc. – we’ll be going back, for sure! That is another blog topic, though.
Normally, I am quite bummed about having to “do the connection thing”. Invariably that is a recipe for disaster for me. As it turned out, I did have a little flight delay issue, but it was not a show-stopper and in the end, what can you really do?
On the return trip home, I did have a bit of window of time to kill in the Amsterdam airport. Let me just say this: I would go back to Amsterdam for no other reason that just to shop at the airport. OH...MY...GOSH! Just like Tom Hanks character in The Terminal, I could live for weeks on nothing but the items purchased from the airport shops. I would never have to leave the airport. This includes high-end luxury goods, clothing for pretty much any need (suits, dresses, casual, shoes, handbags, accessories), jewelry, newspapers and books (much in English), restaurants, drugstores, and grocery stores (yes, I can even buy food at the grocery store), post office, every type of telecommunication device required under the sun….and of course, all the perfume, chocolate, liquor, and tobacco products I could possibly ever need (which aside from the perfume is not much). Surely I could land a paying gig, possibly even take up residence at the airport hotel?
Before you start telling me that all airports are like that, let me say, "Not the ones I've travelled through". That includes Hong Kong, which I still consider the best airport I have ever flown in/out of.
For once, I was bummed that my layover between flights was as short as it was! Plus, how many airports offer the option of buying tulip bulbs in nearly every airport gift shop? It cheered me immensely just knowing that was possible…for a fleeting moment I was tempted to bring home some Dutch bulbs. Then, the thought of the face of a German customs clerk appeared in my head and I thought better of it.
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2 comments:
I am always racing through Heathrow is seems...to or from a meeting....will remember when I go on Sunday :).
as some of us are accused for only leaving "oral" comments rather than the real stuff, here's my two pennies worth of thoughts: Initially, I thought that Schipohl is indeed a great airport... having travelled a dozen times in and out of Amsterdam in the period of about two months last year... trust me... the excitement is evaporating or worse, you start wishing for that small airport with little facilities but short conneciton points...
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