Everything worked fine this afternoon. Jay arrived on time (thanks so much for the lift to the airport Jay), check-in went well and we headed to the gate for a bite of lunch. It seems today is the "King's Day" in Holland so everyone got a tulip as we boarded the plane. We are traveling on a Boeing 330-300, at a cruising speed of 880 km/hr, and we have a completely booked flight of 292 paying passengers and crew.

I’ve adjusted my watch reflect time in Rome (9 hours ahead of Vancouver) but it seems like we’ve been on this air boat for hours now and it’s only been 4 hours – which leaves six hours to go to get us into Amsterdam. I can’t understand how celebrities and executives do this on a regular basis – it’s really quite boring, other than the exceptional loud bursts of laughter (they have their ear buds in) that come from Tom & Jamie as they watch Mr. Bean on the 4” X 7” TV screen.

As I mentioned in my lead off blog yesterday, Popes John Paul II and John XXIII will be canonized tomorrow (Sunday) during a mass that will be conducted by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. I thought I’d give you some of the numbers in this unprecedented event.

CANONIZATION BY THE NUMBERS

- Pilgrims and tourists expected around St. Peter’s Square – 250,000

· In all of Rome – 1 million

· Giant outdoor TV screens spread out around Rome – 17

· Free bottles of water to be distributed: four million

· Portable toilets near the Vatican – 1,000

· Number of tourist buses expected – 1,000

· Liturgical booklets for the canonizations – 150,000

We are scheduled to arrive around 11:00 am at Schiphol and then endure a four-hour wait for our connection into Rome. So far so good other than the fact that the four of us are sitting in 28 DEFG – which unfortunately backs up to the four toilets in Economy. You just get a snooze going and then there’s a flush – not just the normal house flush but the airline whoooosh. Just a few minutes ago we smelled a very faint hint of cigarette smoke, but no alarms or whistles so maybe we were just mistaken.

It’s about 5:30 am local time and I’m likely only one of about ten people in the entire plane that is still awake. Things have gone very quiet onboard. The shades are all closed and the cabin is only lit by the three small no smoking lights that are above each row. The attendants have finished their service and all back in the galley swapping stories from previous flights. It’s very easy to see how this could mirror MH370’s flight into the Indian Ocean. My heart goes out to all those souls who sat in seats not unlike mine for their last trip into eternity. God rest their soul. That’s why it’s so important to live life to the fullest every day – you just never know when your number is up.

On a brighter side, we touched down in Schiphol and on time. Great flight KLM. My job now is to find a European micro sim for my unlocked iPhone so that we’ll have a contact number and a useable phone during our time here in Europe.