The flight to Amsterdam was very, very quick – about 40 minutes, and, also refreshingly deserted. I had an entire row to myself, Not that I needed it for such a short hop.
Schiphol is massive, just massive. It took me a good 20 minutes walk to get from the arrival gate, in terminal C, to the departing gate in terminal F. Thing is, there isn’t actually any seperate terminal buildings, it’s just one long, long, long concourse of departure gates and ‘retail opportunities’. It’s certainly a different approach – there’s no ‘airside’ and ‘landside’ as in most airports, security and baggage scan is all done at each individual gate. Seems a bit daft to me – especially as there’s no prior warning of this for a transiting passenger – and juding by the number of ‘Vee are in zee process of unloading jour baggage’ announcements over the tannoy, I’m not the only one with that opinion.
Comedy moment of the day – and the one I wish I’d caught on camera – the campest Dutch policeman in the entire world, zipping around Schiphol on a Segway, patrolling the endless corridors of the concourse.
The 747 to JFK departed on time, and is packed to the gills. It is a ‘combo’ 747, which means that its half-passenger, half-cargo – the entire rear of the plane is for cargo. This means that the galley, which would usually be at the back, is up at the front, taking up a large chunk of the right-hand side of the plane. I knew this in advance, thanks to Seatguru.net, and knew to book a seat near the front of the plane, opposite the galley. This little section exists inbetween Business at the front, and the 3/4/3 of economy in the back. More space, and a quieter cabin. Winner. Seat 16D is a good ‘un, bargain hunters. 
I’m sitting next to a pleasant Dutch chap – we’re forming quite the relationship – he asks me to move so he can go to the toilet, I ask to borrow his pen to fill in the US immigration papers. It’s a laugh a minute, really.
One tip I had to help combat jetlag, was to set your watch to the time at your destination as soon as you get on the plane, so, right now as I type this, it’s 16:41 Eastern Standard time, or – 21:41 UK time. I’ve been travelling now for nearly 15 hours. But, I’m, not supposed to think about that now, so, sssh.
I watched ‘Be Kind Rewind’ on the One, choosing to avoid KLM’s offering of ‘Get Smart’ – basically because the tiny TV screen is way too far away for my short-sighed eyes. Mos Def and Jack Black are very good, and Danny Glover is very likable in Michel Gondry’s second (I think) flick – it shares a few of the same quirky elements that were present in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, where you have to suspend your disbelief for a little while, just so that you can let the story unfold around you. It’s a neat little film, and has a heartwarming ending. Check it out, if you haven’t already.
KLM have been nice hosts, thusfar – I think they have to try a little harder what with their aircraft being a little older than their competitors, and missing some of the modern amenities of newer craft – like seat-back TVs, video on demand, games and so on. And, as if on queue – I’ve just had to stop typing, because the stewardess just came round with little pots of ice cream for everyone! The food was good – it’s the age-old airline food choice, ‘chicken or beef?’, and I plumped for the latter. Indonesian Beef something-or-other, with plenty of rice and green beans – pretty good for airline food. I was also quietly stunned when unwrapping my knife and fork to find, for the first time for me in many, many years, metal cutlery. Crikey! I’m easily pleased!
I figure too many complimentary liqeuers (Baileys, Cointreau, Drambuie, Cognac, etc) will do me no good, and am sticking, somewhat reluctantly to soft drinks and tea – more anti-jetlag advice. Another 2 and a half hours, or so, to go, and the One is still reporting 3 hours of battery. Pity there’s no magical interwebby goodness on the plane!
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