SATURDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2026

(Calgary, AB – Amsterdam, NL)

You know the score by now. Woke up. Again.  Had coffee. Again. Had breakfast. Again. Went to the Columbia store…again!

When we did wake up and Andrew opened the curtains it was quite foggy outside. It wasn’t very thick, but we couldn’t see the terminal building at times, which we’d had a clear view of the night before. Breakfast was in the hotel, and they had a good range of options, everything from porridge to pastries, burritos to bagels, cereal to sliced bread, and traditional cooked options to waffles. And since I’d only made waffles once this trip, I thought I’d have those. Andrew had a lighter breakfast as there’s no hiking today.

Well. Unless you count the Columbia store. We had in mind what we were looking for, if they had them available (being an outlet store, it is very seasonal and very changeable stock). We were lucky and our trip only took an hour or so, before we were back at the hotel. By the time we came out of the store the fog had lifted and it was now a sunny morning, so that boded well for our flight.

At the hotel it was time to pack everything up, which somehow we managed to do. Amazing what you can squeeze in when you try, although a lot of our clothes are of the fluffy-but-pack-into-small-spaces variety for the cold weather. After packing we showered and, at one minute to one pm, we checked out. We had dropped the car back off with Alamo by twenty past the hour. This was a low-mileage trip by our usual standards, 1,536 km, which is just 954.5 miles.

We walked across to the terminal building (nice not to have to take a shuttle bus) and found the KLM desk to drop our bags at. Once through security, for which there was very little queue, we made our way to the lounge for a drink and some lunch.

When our flight was due for boarding we went to the gate and straight onto the plane, to settle in and have our welcome drinks. Take-off was smooth and on time. And, after that, there’s not much to report, which I suppose is what you want from an overnight flight. The beautifully presented meal was served in the hour after take-off. When it came to dessert, Andrew rather fancied mine, which was cheesecake (the specially ordered vegetarian meal, not generally available). He got the cheese plate instead and we shared them. It’s a good job I offered to share before I tasted it because it was a very good cheesecake, and I might not have been so magnanimous…

We watched a movie while eating, and once that was finished I settled down to try and snooze. Not much in the way of sleep, but nice to lie down and stretch out. Andrew watched another movie. Not long after that it was time for breakfast to be served, then time to tidy up and prepare for the descent and landing. They give you little pottery houses in business class (filled with gin or wine). I didn’t appreciate them on the outbound and so failed to get one, but I made sure this time.

The sun was rising as we approached Amsterdam. Just one more lounge and one more flight to go…