Tiptoe through the tulips

Today was a day of travelling.  After arriving at King's Cross/St Pancras last night and safely negotiating our way to our hotel, we had a relaxing night in.  Alison was woken at midnight by some drunk people and the reception dude (thick glossy beard and man bun by the way) telling them that if the lift was broken they'd be getting charged £200 for it.  Sure enough, it was broken, and we were on the third floor.  So, in the morning, down to breakfast we went.  lt was in the basement so four flights down.  And then another four flights back up again.  At least we weren't carrying in our bags.

We were flying to Amsterdam from Stansted on a 4 pm flight so we left when we checked out at 11am.  Got to the airport and just relaxed and read and did a bit of surfing.  Stansted has only one hour free internet.  Better than Auckland but still.

Our choice of airline was EasyJet.  And it was ok.  Very small seats.  Lucky that the flight was only 40 minutes because it wasn't very comfortable.  Amsterdam must have a big runway system because, once we landed, we drove around for another 10 minutes.  Once we got off the plane there was a long wait in a queue to go through passport control.  I got a new stamp in my passport but it is very hard to read.  On the way through Stansted security, Alison was stopped because she still had the knife we had taken from Nandos in Cambridge in her bag.  Oops!  Much joviality later we were allowed through, no strip seacrching required!

When we had finally cleared passport control and picked up our bags, didn't even have to wait for them, we headed out to find a way to the hotel.  We decided to get a shuttle once we had looked at the trains and taxis and other options so had to walk back to the shuttle desk and grab our ticket.  Upon exiting the terminal we were greeted by the aroma of pot.  This was because the shuttle stop was located right next to a big carport type thing that had 'Smoke' printed on the side.  No prizes for guessing what was being smoked, we could smell it!

Our hotel is on a canal, not sure which one, maybe a far one, and I was really hoping it was floating on it so we could be gently rocked to sleep by the waves.  But it isn't.

So now we are tucked up in the hotel.  Had to turn the aircon down as it was a bit hot, first time ever.  The beds are comfy and the room is pretty modern.  Here's to a fantastic night's sleep!