The Getting There

14 Jan 2025 - Tuesday (I think) 

Mood: currently traversing that mind numbing space-time continuum that is getting to Kenya.  When it’s perfectly acceptable (expected?) to be drinking cappuccinos to revive myself a mere 8 hours after knocking back a couple of gin cocktails in the SkyLounge.  When it seems like time ticks by in increments of meals:  drinks, dinner, a quick nap, breakfast, snack in the lounge, lunch, binge watch, dinner once again.  A week’s worth of meals in what is really only a day’s worth of hours.  I’m sure that all contributes to the overall crappy jet lag feeling I’m earning myself.  My only goal today is no sleep till Nairobi.  I must land prepared to sleep.  Fingers crossed.

All told yesterday (departure day) went well.  I wisely took the day off so I could finish getting the house ready to go (cat sitter prep and all) and dote on my kittles before I go.  Simon didn’t seem to want me to go, Maisie was well and truly over the goodbyes after the second cuddle and smooch.  She got ten more against her will anyway.

This time I did not drive to preflight parking and instead took a local driver.  He was wonderful!  A spritely retired gentleman in an Audi.  He deftly handled the rush hour traffic (which wasn’t that bad at all) while engaging in fascinating chat about local chefs (talk about spilling tea!) and I arrived at the terminal 45 minutes after leaving home.

As I’m flying DeltaOne again, I had priority check-in and lounge access, as well as access to the new DeltaOne lounge which is really a restaurant.  It didn’t seem like the type of place to just sit and have a drink and I think the expectation is that you’ll eat your meal there and not on the flight.  While it was tempting, it was only 4:45 and far too early for dinner (and I wasn’t up for adding it to the litany of meals I was about to embark on).  So I had my two gin cocktails and managed to miss early boarding and boarded with group 5 (those who travel with me know how absolutely egregious I would ordinarily find that!)

The plane was older and everyone boarded through the front, so my late boarding meant that I missed boarding first only to be paraded by everyone else on the plane.  While I loved lying flat and not having seatmates, I found this plane a bit cramped and indeed a flight attendant woke me when she opened my pod door to clear an empty glass while I slept. Come on people.  (Yes I’m actually complaining about business class!). I thought I only managed to doze because I was watching A Gentleman in Moscow (hope to finish it on the way home) but I must have slept more than I thought because the first time I looked at the time, we only had an hour left.

Dinner was really good.  Smoked salmon and asparagus soup to start and some really good spinach and ricotta ravioli as the main.  And I had yogurt and fruit right before landing.

There doesn’t seem to be an exhibition on at the Rijksmuseum annex in Schipohl airport, so I’m killing time in the SkyLounge drinking free cappuccino.  It’s not crowded and quiet and lots of daylight (once the sun comes up at 8:30!) so maybe this will help reset my clock.