WE MADE IT !

Monday, June 02, 2014
Mount Juliet, Tennessee, United States
Written on Tuesday morning, June 3.
I was up late on the ship, but still woke up in time to see the sunrise over Amsterdam from our room . This is the "last breakfast" on the ship so it is well attended. The ship arrives early so many people are up and gone. Lots of flights leave around 11 am. That would not happen in the US ports. There was no immigration off the ship. We were told because we visited European Union countries? Our Group assembled, went to find our luggage, and on to the taxi meeting. There was a taxi waiting and off we go for to the airport. This was about 30 minutes to the airport. The group heads out to our various destinations. This airport is up town in technology. Folks who think we are ahead in technology should visit this part of the world. With one swipe of a passport we get all 6 boarding passes. Then we go to an automated baggage machine. With a swipe of a boarding pass we put in a suitcase into the low opening machine. It weighs the bag, spits out a bag tag, which Ed attaches to the luggage. Hit continue and the door comes down and the luggage disappears. What a great machine. There is a line of these so we do not back up with people very much. Off we go to kill time. Since these stores take $'s Susan finds something to buy, besides coke! We do get cokes to finish up the €5 we have left. This is a big busy airports but it seems all airports are becoming destinations. Here all the shops are out side security so anyone can visit. Our boarding pass says to arrive at your gate 1 1/2 hours before departure! We find out why. Once we go to the gate there are a few chairs, but nothing else, even restrooms are on another level. the line forms and we go through security at our gate. Each gate has its own security. It is much like the main security point to enter the entire airport in Nashville. They open more bags and have more items out for inspection, but we keep on shoes. No immigration here. On the other side there are fewer chairs so folks just line up. We board early, take off early. This is a 8 hour flight to Detroit. This flights we get to keep the economy comfort seats that we lost going over. They are a little wider with a longer recline. Not so important on a day flight. Since we are not flying overnight it is a movie marathon. I watched lone survivor, gravity, and jack Ryan. I recommend lone survivor for historic reasons, even though the language and violence is BAD. I cried to see what these soldiers went through. I am guessing it was even worse in reality. We are well fed and when we get to Detroit we have to collect our luggage, go through two immigration stations! and go back through TSA security with all our stuff. No problems but time consuming. This airport is full of stores, etc. I guess a captive audience is one that shops. Our gate was 59 of 78 on our concourse.....a lot of gates! Short fight to Nashville but it is now midnight from we left and I just keep snapping my neck falling asleep. Susan has changed her watch therefore we are not up late! Dave our driver was Johnny on the spot! Once again we are over dressed for this 80 degree weather! but it feels nice! At home all is well.
We had a great adventure with no real problems . No one got sick even though several people around us had colds. We did all the required walking. We are thankful to be home. Susan has spent quite a bit of time talking about her next bucket list trip!!! PLEASE, just let me get the laundry done before we start that! We did not gain much weight, I am sure due to the walking. I swore the laundry done on the ship shrunk my pants, so you know who did gain some weight ! 
We hit the hay at about 8:30 and of course woke at 1 and 3 and finally got up at five. Susan was even up at 6. Ed is working on the photos. Since we could not down load most of them when our cloud was saturated we have edited a lot. We still have a couple of thousand to look through. DO NOT WORRY, we will not be presenting them all to you. When I can I will upload and send to our blog. I will republish each day and you can look if you choose. I just wanted to explain why you will be getting the same days again. 
There is no place like home.
 
Other Entries

Comments

Pete & Stephanie
2014-06-03

We are glad you are home safely from your adventures. There's
nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

2025-02-17

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank