Amsterdamned

We were supposed to be in Orlando by now. Fate has decided otherwise. We are still in Amsterdam, near the airport. We were all up and ready to check in at the airport, when a crowd of people waiting in line overwhelmed us. We stayed calm, did whatever what was asked of us (checking in your own passport and printing the tickets is part of the deal now) and waited in line. And waited.. and waited. Some people in front were holding up the line, because one had some stupid bird cage to check in. It felt like ages before he finally checked in. By the time it was our turn, the clock had been ticking away too many quarters of hours. We took a sigh, put the luggage on the transporter and handed over the boarding passes. To hear this awful ominous message: I'm sorry, your flight has been closed.. Hello??? What do you mean, our flight has been closed?? Twenty minutes before closing time and almost an hour before the plane was about to take off, the flight had been closed??

We couldn't believe what we were being told.. We were given several options:

• you forget about the whole thing and you go home
• you book a flight to Dublin without any sight on a connecting flight to Orlando and no place to stay in the meantime
• you check with your airlines to rebook your flight some other day
• or you check with some other airlines to book a new flight at your own expense

We were a bit confused to say the least. Our friends have put so much effort, time and energy in planning this whole trip, I really felt bad for them. They are so peculiar about getting everything organized and then..

But hey, did you really think we were going to cancel our vacation? Absolutely not! We pulled ourselves together, rolled up the sleeves and thought things over. Our best option was to rebook our flight with the same airlines. Meaning we couldn't leave earlier than January 4th. Okay, that was not the best offer and certainly not the plan, but it was the only acceptable offer.

The shuttle brought us back to the hotel and we decided to extend our vacation. Meaning we'll get to spend 3 extra days in Amsterdam! And that's not such a bad deal, is it? After all, Amsterdam is not Timbuktu, is it? We won't shorten our vacation either. We'll stay in Florida a little longer than planned. You won't hear me cry about it. Instead of a 12 day vacation, we'll have a 15 day vacation! More time to enjoy each other's company. So yes, I'm a happy girl!