This morning we had a bit of a sleep in and then took the train to the airport to catch our 1:15pm flight to Amsterdam. Packing was interesting. I wore 2 shirts and 3 sweaters because I had no room in my bag. I had a very warm trip to the airport.
It was sad, heading to the airport, knowing I may never come to Italy ever again. Also, knowing the 2-week trip I've been looking foreword to for almost a year is at it's end. It's been amazing and I can just hope I have the opportunity to do something like this again. Believe me, I'm saving money with hopes of a next time.
We got to the airport early, and we had a 2 hour wait. So I made friends with a little disabled boy and we played angry birds together. It was pretty cute.
My mom talked to his parents, and they told us about the gypsies we saw in Athens and Rome, I think I mentioned them before. I'll repeat what they said, because it was really interesting.
Apparently they have a gypsy king who has a house where all his gypsy subjects sleep, often many to a dirty room. The subjects bring him the money they earned at the end of each day. It is said gypsies are pleased when they give birth to a disformed child(such as the little boy we saw in Athens with club foot) as they will yield them more money out of sympathy. Sometimes they will even maim their children for a higher income. Often the older gypsies will hunch over and act frail to get more money. They never send their kids to school, and the kids are taught to steal and beg for a living, which will be their legacy. Sad, right? It's so sobering that this actually happens in the world.
Anyways, we had a painless 2 hour flight, and we went right to our new gate in Amsterdam airport to check in. But apparently metal detectors aren't good enough for amsterdam, and every single gate has been equipped with full body scans. So Amsterdam pretty much knows everything about me now. Like completely everything. On record.
Anyway, we also had to remove all liquids from our bags (again) and scan all our luggage (again). I don't remember Amsterdam being so anal last summer.
But inconveniences aside, we finally boarded our prison for the next 9 1/2 hours.
I got what has to be the worst seat on the plane, the middle seat in the middle row. Mom being a couple rows back, I settled into my own little isolation ward. I discovered quite quickly that the air conditioning didn't quite reach my seat, and the man in front of my likes to obsessively recline his seat. Luckily the lady beside me was a sweetie and we had some good talks, but it was still a very long flight. It was a bit trippy though, seeing as we left Amsterdam at 5:30pm and arrived in Vancouver at 7:30pm. Time change melts my brain. As will the jetlag, tomorrow.
I pretty much just loaded up on movies and tv, it was pretty sweet to watch tv in english again, as opposed to Greek and Italian. And klm stuffed us with food, again. If you are ever hungry, trust me, fly klm. We touched down on time, and our trip officially ended which is unbelievable. So I guess it's bye for now!