Have you ever experienced flying and having to overstop from one country to another then be held up in one airport for hours of waiting for your next connecting flight? I haven't but hub did when he had to fly back here from the Philippines and had to stay two hours inside the Hong Kong International Airport. I had a straight 14 hour flight from the Philippines to here so I can't really relate to how boring that could be but I do know someone who did and this post has been inspired by that experience.
Saturday evening, I got me a katalk (whats up version in Korea) from Esther asking me how far I live from Amsterdam. I told her, it's a two hour drive and maybe less without the crazy traffic jam on the scene. I had a hunch that she's coming here or maybe already here so I asked. She told me she'll be arriving in Schiphol in the wee hours of dawn on three days later and asked me whether we could meet. Hub asked why on earth I was making dinner with my phone so I told him I was talking to Esther and the situation at hand. He suggested that we meet up with them and to take them to Zaanse Schans, where the windmills are.
Esther and her sister will have to wait for 10 hours till their connecting flight to Spain finally gets to Amsterdam. She'd be arriving half an hour before 5 am so we agreed to pick them up at the Central Station in Amsterdam so she could still go and check out the city. Yes, you could go to Amsterdam City from Schiphol. How? By train.
- You could also check on how much the fare is and even get a reduced fare. If you scroll down at the bottom - you'd find "Total journey price" of a one way ticket and sometimes, tips on how you could avail a reduced fare.
What's to see in the city? A lot and they are quite near to the Central Station, some are even a walk away. If you have plenty of time and there's not much tourist on the Month you are travelling then you could go check out the Rijks Museum and strike a pose on the letters that says I amsterdam. If you could book a ticket online and go straight ahead to Anne Frank's House and be the first in the long queue then you'd get lucky to get in there and experience the little girl's life during WWII but if not, better luck next time cause those are one of the most crowded Museums.
If you would just want to check out and experience Amsterdam, then just go around the city. Check out the stores, taste the city's food and get back to Schiphol on time to check in.
That's not what Esther did. They've already checked in their luggage so they could enjoy the rest of the day with us. She and her sister dared exploring the city around 7 am since it was pitch black and too damp from the downpour at dawn and after seeing the Dam Square.
Two hours and a half later, they went back to the Central Station at 9:30, where we picked them up to take them to Zaanse Schans. In the car, they were gushing at how beautiful the old buildings that we passed by on the way to Zaandam look like. How~~ - though Amsterdam is a city, it doesn't have any trace of the scent of pollution. Well, it had rained at dawn, the ladies haven't experienced the busy hours of traffic smog factory so yes, they got lucky. They were gushing about how tall the Dutch are and how huge they seem to look like. We're Asian, we're petite and yes, some of the Western people look like giants for us.
In as fast as 15 minutes we're near the Schans. We parked along the way hub and I trailed last summer, when we paid the place a visit. We could actually just park there for free. No road signs that says; " Special Permit Holders" only. Well, Esther and her sister could just also go ahead from Schiphol to Kogerveld Station. Click on the blued words so you could find out that there's a direct line from Schiphol to The Schaans, for 5 euro you could go check out the mills while waiting for your connecting flights.
What is there to see? If you are here in summer or near autumn - click this. If you're here during the "ber" months it's a different scene. Esther and her sister got lucky yesterday cause she and her sister were blessed with a good weather. It was sunny and dry. Though we had just 3 and a half hours to spend, we made the most of it. It was the longest and happiest three hours of our yesterday.
While checking out those old houses in there, we noticed one white heron so focused on fishing by the mere behind us. The girls couldn't help but capture that feathered guy. We tried to scare the bird but it wouldn't even budge. So, we just enjoyed that moment and left the guy alone.
The cacao lab has plenty of chocs for sale, more than last time. It weren't chocolate coated fruits they're selling this time - more of the chocs you could score in a normal grocery here and these handcrafted chocolates.
If you have seen this post, then you would notice that the mills look very different than the last time.
The only mill that was open and operating yesterday was the Spice Mill so we checked it out.
Everything there is FREE except for the entrance fee in the mill, the 0.50 cent you have to pay for the maintained toilets, the cup of coffee and tea you would probably want to have in the Schans Museum, the entrance fee in the museum at the other end and a possible souvenir you'd want to buy in the stores in the Schaans.
From the Schans, you could use the same way to get back to the airport. By the way, there's always FREE WI FI everywhere so you could just check out what time the next train leaves to get back to Schiphol and make sure you make it on time at least an hour and a half before your connecting flight arrives.
It would be handy to bring a sandwich or two with you just in case the cafe in there are closed or full. Many people do that, tourists and locals and the grass and some of the benches offer a place to sit while you eat your packed snack. You could surely score coffee in the cafe in the Schans Museum and some cakes or pie, too while you rest your back from your heavy carry on or rest your feet. We did and while having our choco-milk and tea, the lasses gave us a present.
We didn't expect that, I just wanted to see Esther and spend those hours with her. I haven't seen her for more than 6 years, I think - only in Skype. We did keep in touch and though we haven't seen each other for a while, we haven't really changed in terms of how we feel and treat each other. Though the lines of the years that have passed by have been etched on our faces, the younger us stayed and kept their innocence towards each other. On the way back to Schiphol, I had to hold my tears to bid her goodbye.
I hate goodbyes and though I know, I could just call her hours later in Spain, it's different spending time together in flesh.
So, we hugged the tightest and bid each other goodbye and before she went in the one of the airport's revolving door, I shouted her name out loud, waved and got her to wave back and watched her vanish through the tinted airport glass. A lady with much luggage was standing in front of me, waiting for her love ones to pick her up maybe .. saw and watched me wipe my tears when I sat on the passenger's seat. The time we spent was too short but because it was too happy, it was hard swallowing the fact that we had to go separate ways again.
If only I could freeze time and make the connecting flight come ten days later... I would. Unfortunately, we can't, no one can, we can only make the most of the time we have to spend with people who are special to us.
That's what we did, had and would have for now but for Esther and I, it's one of the best memories we could look back on to when our hair starts turning gray. Well... that part, I'm already there since I'm 10 years older than she is. Someday, when we get older and would be walking on sticks and it is still safe to travel, we'd be recalling this time specially now that it is already written in the block chain.
So, have you ever had such an travelling experience? Which international airport became your hours of containment while waiting for your connecting flight? What was your experience like? Was it adventurous like that of Esthers?
Aside from the pics I sourced and those of Esther's I took the rest of the pics and the video using Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 2016 edition.
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