A Tale of Two Cities

Feb 24, 2008 by Monica Danna    No Comments    Posted under: travel

Dickens said it best: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That pretty much describes my last 48 hours.

If you’re one of the tweople keeping up with my tweets, you know the hell I experienced on Friday night with a 5 hour delay at IAH. The plane was supposed to depart at 7pm. At about 6:30pm they told us there would be a delay. No reasons, just that there would be a delay.

At 8pm, they came back on, telling us that there would be another update at 9pm. Again, no reasoning, just that the next update would be at 9pm. At this point, I had been at the airport 4 hours, and people were getting unruly, which was not helped by the bitchy Continenal staff’s rude “updates.”

At 9pm they came on and informed us that there was a faulty engine and the part had just arrived, and we wouldn’t be departing until midnight. A fact, that if known at 7pm, i would have gone home and taken the next day flight. At this point they started offering food vouchers, um, what does $8 buy in an aiport? A newspaper? And not only that, it was only minutes before all the restaurants closed, when ensued in a mad dash to all the remaining opened restaurants. read: Pappasitos.

I chose to spend my $8 voucher wisely on 2 beers, in an effort to calm my temper. And as i sat, not more than 30 seconds, a yellow caution tape was thrown up around the 5 chairs I sat near. Disinterested airport worker: “Ma’am, this table is closed.” Me: “How do you close a table in an airport?!”

So I gather my 2 beers, 2 carry-ons and search for power. Of course not one of the outlets at IAH is anywhere NEAR a table or chair, so I plopped myself down on the floor, in the middle of the terminal, and charged up. At this point, just laughing at each new experrice like a maniacal traveler. Delirium set in, and as I talked to the 3 main M’s, i think they were all worried for my sanity. Maggie made me laugh, Mom was concerned that my loud comments concerning Continental was going to get me kicked out of the airport, and Matt did what he does best, make me feel normal even when I feel like a crazy person. Banana, banana, banana.

Around midnight, I made it on the plane, thankfully yo an entire row to myself. I spread out, and slept for the entire flight. BEST part of the night. :-)

Once I arrived in Amsterdam, I was still pretty exhausted, but happy to be as far away from IAH as I could be. After taking a spill down the escalator in the train station with FOUR rolling bags, and nearly getting caught in one of the steps (thought about you Rhonda!) the maniacal laughing returned and I had no choice but to make light of the situation. I arrived at the hotel, cracked open a Heineken from the mini-bar and took a deep breath. Hello, Holland!

I quickly showered and decided to make a night out of it. It was almost 6pm by the time I arrived, so i wanted to head out and get as much done before i had to officially start working on Monday. I headed to the hotel bar for another beer, before I made my way to Leidsplein. Here’s where the luck starts to turn.

At a bar I usually visit while in Amsterdam (i SWEAR it was the same bartender as 3 years ago), I started talking with a few guys at the bar. Two English guys, and 2 Dutch guys. We had a few drinks as I explained to them my last 24 hours. They all vowed to make sure my next 24 were drastically different. (Would it be poor taste to say at this point i felt like Natalie Hollway, I mean, the Dutch boys and all. Oh, kidding! Mom, don’t freak out.)

One of the guys was spinning that night at the infamous Grasshopper coffee shop and bar. They invited me to come and we were off. I wish I had some pics, but I stupidly left my camera in the room. I had 4 escorts for the night, and we ended up having a blast. Dancing all night, and into the morning. Ended back up at the hotel about 5am, with European house music still pumping in my head. Reminded me of the last time I was in Amsterdam with my sister, and we had a similar experience at the Paradiso with some Canadians and a Vin Diesel look alike. I’ll have to upload those pics here when i return home. good times, good times.

So there is the story of my last 48 hours. I sure hope the next are more like the later 24.

Headed out to dinner with some work peeps, some pics soon.

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