KLM, Here We Go

Hard to believe it’s almost over.  I did a last morning walk and ended up at one of my favourite places, the Begijnhof courtyard.  Beginning round the 14th century, the beguines were less nuns under monastic discipline, and more women who had chosen to live lives of simplicity and good works; they owned their own homes, and as such, the Begijnhof was the only Catholic institution that survived the Reformation. The chapel itself had to be handed over to the Reformed Protestants and has become The English Church. I didn’t have time to go to the service there as well as hit all my schedule for the journey home, but a quiet early morning half hour in the Begijnhof courtyard was all I needed. It's very much not like an almshouse, where everything is the same - these homes have real individuality.

I made Centraal Station just in time before the skies opened, but once there, I was under cover all the rest of the way. Schipol is SO crowded and confusing – it was good that I had a bit of extra time, and also that my Business Class booking gave me all sorts of priority lines as well as access to the KLM Crown lounge – a good place to get a bite and a drink and make sure all my electronics are well charged.

Makes sitting around an airport a much more pleasant experience!

This has been such a wonderful trip – both the time with family and old friends, and the links to the past, but also the doing of new things, and really enjoying time alone. If I ever do the Hurtigruten trip again, I would want to spend more time in Bergen – perhaps in retrospect, I should have waived my Amsterdam days and done Bergen-Amsterdam-YVR in one go. But this weekend has been fun. I’ve just been a bit bugged by a sore throat and a cough in the last few days, but I faithfully RAT-tested, and it showed clear. There are other bugs....

Welcome back to Vancouver

Very calm and easy flight home – part of me feels guilty about spending the extra on business class, but it was SO nice to be able to get my feet up and stretch out. We’ll see how jet-lag goes – I didn’t actually sleep much, so arriving home was like getting in at 1:20am!  But so nice to arrive in the sunshine, and to be met by Debbie – I’m leaving Scout with her one more night so I can do a nice noisy vacuum-clean of the place before I bring him back.

Thanks for travelling with me through the blog!