Monday, 3 October 2016
Schiphol Airport — Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Temps: HI 66F (19C) / LO 54F (12C) … in Amsterdam
We are at Gate G7 awaiting the boarding of our flight.
At this point, we have little to no hope of being upgraded … only one seat left in BizFirst and there are two people ahead of us on the list.
Actually, that’s quite OK. We have good exit row seats in the main cabin. I just need my carry-on bag out of the overhead bin once the aircraft is at flight altitude so I can have a footrest for the 10+ hours I expect we will be in the air.
Catching up on this morning. We were up around 5:30a … morning ablutions and then down to the restaurant for the breakfast included in the room rate. Good selection of items at the buffet.
Hopping on the 7:45a shuttle to the airport, we were at the departures terminal by 8:00a. The drop off point was convenient to the United check-in counter. There was no line, so we quickly got through the formalities. Next we scanned our boarding passes at the nearest self-serve gate to enter the pax-only area. Unlike our experience leaving for Turkey in July, the security line was relatively short. We quickly completed those formalities as well and headed to immigration. Here we learned something new … our US chip-passports were good to use at the self-serve kiosks. Scan the passport, stand still for facial recognition, go through when cleared, and have the passport stamped … easy, peasy. We’re going to keep our eyes open for similar kiosks at other airports.
With two hours to spare, we wandered around the shops for a bit … stroopwafels were on special … impossible to pass up … our only purchase.
Chocolate covered or not … both are yummy good!
Then, with an hour to spare, we headed to the gate, expecting a secondary security check. Surprise! Perhaps because we are heading to Houston and not DC or NYC, there were no additional formalities to contend with … or perhaps Schiphol has been cleared by TSA as a trusted-airport … or perhaps the days of triple checks are over and we just didn’t know it. Anyway, I put the hour we gained to good use. With 20 minutes left before boarding is called, this portion of the blog post is written. More later …
In Flight … Aboard UA21 to Houston
The flight map screen says we have 5 hours and 57 minutes to go before we land at IAH. It’s hard to believe we’re only 3½ hours into the flight … sure seems longer than that. Time to catch up again.
Boarding was delayed 20 minutes to 10:40a, but once it started, everything went smoothly. Having purchased our tickets with our Chase United card, we were in the priority group to board after BizFirst. We settled into our most-excellent exit row seats (32J/K) without much ado. To add to our comfort, the window exit seat remained empty … due to the entertainment system being inoperative. Maybe it wasn’t so bad that we missed out on the upgrade after all. I do feel bad for all those tall people stuck in the minimalist-legroom seats, but hey … we planned, we paid, we got, and we are enjoying the seats now. Mui placed my carry on bag on the floor in front of my seat, and it does quite nicely as a footrest.
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I love these exit seats on the B777!
UA21 was 25 minutes late pushing back … the sensor on the cargo bay door was showing it still open, but after the maintenance crew confirmed it was closed and locked, the captain said we were ready to go. He further set our minds at ease by saying that the way the door is constructed, it is impossible for it to open while in flight … whew! We were wheels up by 11:55a … 45 minutes late, but better than being stuck on the ground waiting for a replacement aircraft. The cockpit announcement set our expected arrival in Houston as 2:18p, which is 27 minutes earlier than scheduled, so no adverse impact from the delay.
Once the plane leveled off, lunch was served. I wasn’t holding my breath on the quality of the food, so I wasn’t disappointed that the pasta with artichokes was barely edible. I think Mui’s chicken and risotto was better. Dessert was served later — toffee ice cream … not bad, actually.
After the meal service was cleared up, I browsed the entertainment system and settled on All the Way, a movie that covers LBJ’s tumultuous first year in office in the wake of JFK’s assassination. Somehow I didn’t realize he was so instrumental in the passing of the Civil Rights Act.
Now that I am caught up, it’s time to check out the entertainment system again. I’m going to see if I can make the “personal device” system work … just for the heck of it. I don't have my earbuds handy, so even if it works, I’ll have to use the old-fashioned in-seat device on this flight.
Home Sweet Motorhome … Feels Good
I love it when deplaning and getting out of the airport work like a charm … but before I get to that, a few words on the last part of our flight.
I managed to make the “personal device” entertainment system work … sort of. Turns out the system has not been fully installed on all of the 777s. I connected to the United wi-fi — no charge to stream movies and such from the inflight system — but the entertainment tab wasn’t available. So, I went back to the tried-and-true and watched two more movies — George Clooney’s Money Monster and the original Independence Day. Then I watched an episode of Chopped before I had to stow the screen.
About 90 minutes prior to landing, the flight attendants came around with snack service — chicken and cheese or cheese sandwiches. What can I say — at least they were warmed up and edible.
UA21 landed at IAH around 2:20p … well in advance of the scheduled arrival of 2:45p. It then took us about 10 minutes to get to our gate. Before we could get out of our seats, however, the captain requested that we remain seated for a few minutes so that paramedics could board to check on a passenger … turns out it was nothing more serious than a nosebleed.
Global Entry rocks! We were through all the formalities at IAH a little after 3:00p — 15 minutes from the jetway to picking up bags … and the longest part of that time was spent walking from the gate to immigration and then waiting to collect our bags to go through customs. Everything worked like a charm.
As we were walking, I noticed posters advertising a “Mobile Passport” app that is supposed to make the entry process particularly easy. I need to check it out and see if it has any benefit to us since we are GE participants … maybe for domestic flights.
Customs, where all we had to do was give the agent our GE receipts, was a cinch too … we were directed to a GE-participant line and waved ahead of others in the regular line. What can I say? You pays, you plays. Minutes later we were on the way to pick up the Phaeton from the storage facility.
We took our time going through the checklist to “untuck” the coach and by 4:55p we were on the way to Advanced RV Resort. Traffic delayed us en route, so it was close to 5:30p when we arrived at our temporary home. The office was already closed, but I had been in touch with the staff and had a number to call for an escort. Turns out, he saw us arrive and came to escort Mui to site 709 before I even had a chance to take my phone out. I’ll stop by the office tomorrow and pay for our stay.
We’ll be at Advanced for three nights — enough time for Mui to stock up at Costco and rest up a bit before driving south to Port Aransas. It will be good to get settled in for a couple of months … before it’s time to set off on another overseas adventure.
P.S. The high in Houston today was 88F (31C). It is expected be even warmer and more humid the next two days we’re here. What happened to the fall temps?
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