'Home' at last

Well my Zanzibar-Amsterdam journey was going to be long as it was without any problems, but with all of the delays it wound up taking me 37 hours! I was in Muscat for 3 hours instead of 1, Bahrain for 8 hours instead of 1 and Heathrow for 5 hours instead of 2. After all of my problems in the Middle East I got to Heathrow where I was told that I would have to pick up my bag and check it in for the flight to Amsterdam. Normally it would've gone right through, but since I had missed my BA flight from London-A'dam I had to reschedule it, and since there was no BA office open in Bahrain when I left they told me just to do it when I got to Heathrow.

Of course when I went to get my bag at Heathrow it wasn't there, and I was told that there that since it was checked to Amsterdam then it would theoretically go on the next flight to Amsterdam. So after waiting in line to go through UK Immigration for no reason I still had no bag, missed a 5:55 flight to Amsterdam that I could've caught and had to go on an 8:40 flight that didn't leave until after 10. There were computer malfunctions at Heathrow all day which was resulting in nightmares for BA and lines as long as you find at SFO when the fog cancellations roll in (but the BA staff stayed calm and friendly the whole time - unlike United at SFO).

I arrived in Amsterdam at midnight, a full 13 hours late. I made it to Central Station by 12:45 and luckily the Hotel Brian (my favorite small friendly cheap hotel) was still open so I checked in there for the night and luckily found my friends the next day. My friend Craig had come down from England for a few days to visit and his friend Arash was living there now, so we stayed with him. Ironically Arash lives in the Rievenbuurt just a few blocks away from my old apartment.

I was orignally supposed to fly to Dublin on Friday afternoon so that I could be at the St. Pat's Parade on Saturday, but it has been postponed/cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak so I changed my ticket to leave on Saturday. It was a good move considering my delay in getting to A'dam.

In 2 days I managed to see a lot of old friends (Abdallah and his new baby), made it back to Boom Chicago, ate several snacks from Febo, some vlaamse frites met knoflooksaus (belgian fries with garlic sauce), Bubble Gum, goat gouda cheese, and drank a lot of pear Loozas. I even made it to Mazzo - my favorite club in town.

It was great to be back there and I can't wait to make it back again. It will always feel like home to me.