Moving Day

Today is the day! We woke at roughly 5:30 this morning and had breakfast before hopping in the car for the drive to DIA. Traffic was kind, for once, and we made it to the airport with nothing more than one turnaround when we missed the cell phone lot. I wanted space and time to say goodbye to my husband and my dad, who came down to Denver last night to escort me to the airport this morning, and had hoped parking for a few minutes before the chaos of the drop-off point would allow us that time.

Fortunately, though we missed the cell lot, the passenger offloading lanes were relatively open, so we had plenty of time to say our goodbyes and for them to give me well-wishes.

There's construction at DIA right now (when isn't there, though?) and I did spend a few minutes going up and down elevators and through hallways until I found the Delta bag check, which is currently in an odd place between the United bag check and security.

Security itself was a breeze - no linger are they asking for liquids, electronics, or meds to be removed: it's one all-encompassing scan of the bag. Shoes no longer have to be removed, either, so though I was randomly searched for the third time in a row through different airports, I was through TSA in about three minutes.

Wild.

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The second half of this post is a bit of a time- skip, because once I was through the airport and boarded, I had no time to post anything. The first flight was an easy hop from Denver to Detroit - but it was delayed, so what would have been about an hour and a half layover in Detroit became a 40 minute layover - and they began boarding at least a half hour before take-off. I had just enough time to eat a Wahlburger at the stall next to my gate (how should I feel that a Wahlburger was my last US meal for the foreseeable future?) before my zone was called and I was boarding the massive international plane.

The second flight was 7.5 hours - not bad, all things considered - but didn't have WiFi available as the first one had. I spent my time watching movies - "Alien (1979)" and "I'm Still Here," for anyone interested - sleeping, and reading. We were fed one mushroom ravioli dish and a strange little breakfast calzone over the course of the flight. I was dutiful and drank water and almost nothing else, as I have a history of letting myself dehydrate on planes.

We landed in Amsterdam at 5:59am local time. The sun rose as we taxied and deplaned, and it was only a little after 6 by the time we all filed into Schipol Airport. Passport check was as simple as a stamp in my book, and Customs was walking through the "nothing to declare" exit and wishing the guards a goedemorgen. Unfortunately I had a bit of a mishap with transportation and ended up paying out the wazoo for a taxi to just take me to my apartment complex. Between my 18-hourish travel time and the fact I was lugging three roller bags around made figuring out the foreign transport system an insurmountable task - even though I'd already done my research before leaving and had a pretty good idea of what to do. Alas, travel brain vetoed that idea and I wandered past the system of trains and busses to search for a more direct route. I tried booking an Uber instead of a taxi - for literally half the price - first, but because I'm wandering around without an active SIM card, I'm reliant on nearby WiFi access. ...And the airport's WiFi service didn't extend to the passenger pickup, which is a rather lengthy trek from the front of the complex around the taxis and busses and into a portion of the garage. I couldn't book a car without lugging my bags all the way back to the entrance of the airport, where WiFi pinged, and then rushing back to wait for the car, without the ability to track its location or confirm I was the one who had booked.

Anyway.

I'm about $100 poorer than necessary, but I made it safely to the apartment complex, checked in, and was finally able to collapse into a surprisingly dead man's sleep for about five hours.

At this point, I've showered, rested, done the smallest grocery shop for dinner tonight, and made myself an instant coffee to get me through the afternoon. I've realized, while unpacking, that I only brought the socks that were literally on my feet, so I've added "SOCKS" to my little list of things the apartment needs .The other items, for the curious, are a kettle, house slippers, and a little rug for my bedroom. And, eventually, a better pillow. These next two or so weeks are going to be on a tight budget, as I need to open a local bank account before my loan money will be disbursed - and even then, it will be September before they finally pull tuition out of it. Fortunately I have nothing on the books until tomorrow evening, when I will attend a little gathering of other Americans and hopefully get some insight on what the move over here might be like. I am overwhelmed, and grateful, and hopeful and also a little heartbroken.

I hope you continue to join me on this journey! Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you next Wednesday.

A shaky photo of the in-flight flight-tracker displaying the plane's intended fight from DTW to AMS

A photo from relatively high up in a building, through a window overlooking several train tracks, where two trains are visibly parked.

A picturesque shot out of a large window, overlooking some buildings and many trees. In the distance there are a few taller buildings, but mostly it's a flat skyline.

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If you'd like to buy me a ko-fi, check out this link: https://ko-fi.com/woodsyl