The Spoonpluggers Forum

I left Minneapolis yesterday at 2:45pm and I am now in Amsterdam at 6am. It's just short of an 8 hour flight but I crossed 7 time zones to get here. The nice thing about going from Amsterdam to Johannesburg is that there are now more time zones to cross. It's just LONG 10.7 hours.

A bit disappointed that the jet didn't have working Internet because I was planning on Skyping people the whole time. Maybe the flight south will have it but I am not sure.

Being that most of the last 10 years has been in an airliner, I am really surprised how excited I got. I was literally shaking. I will say that Amsterdam Airport looks just like any other space age 1970's airport in desperate need of an update. That is no different.

So far a lot of good omens have happened. I pulled right up to curbside check in and was 2nd in line. I have checked 3 bags and when they went to charge me the $75 (since I have shipped a TON of stuff via FedEx, I can say that this fee is CHEAP for international) and the cost changed to $15.

Security took 10 minutes so I sat at airport for 3 hours before flight. Which is what I like.

Now I am going to hang around for 4 hours before the next flight leaves. Morning

Fran; keep us posted on your progress. We are all excited to follow your adventures. Basically we will be living through you. So be safe. Bill.

I am in Johannesburg, South Africa! 10 hours on a plane really is as LONG as it sounds. Actually slept about 5 of them and still had time to watch 2 movies...I don't think I will ever sit straight again...

Now I have a 9 hour layover. Thought I'd be able to get into a world club or lounge but that didn't work as planned. Now I'm just camped out in the airport restaurant area. Flight leaves at 620am so I really only have about 4 hours to wait.