Holly Doyne

When, a long time ago – let us say a decade or so when I spent a fair amount of time cursing in the Mediterranean – all of us passengers could be treated to hearing the same ship announcements in German, Spanish, French, English, and Italian. This morning Edelweiss Airlines skipped the Spanish.

This particular 2 engine jet was at an outer parking position. By the time the second bus load of people managed to get themselves on, sorted, and seated we missed our take-off window and were delayed by 30 minutes. Since I have a huge amount of time in which to change plans in Zürich, it wasn’t a problem for me. Other than the young woman next to me, I didn’t see another masked individual on the plane. I had decided that I had already done enough damage by sharing my “whatever the hell it is” that I picked up on the Symphony/on a flight/in the Netherlands/somewhere with Beverly that I didn’t need to add more misery to my or anyone else’s existence.

I had a lovely river view followed by coastal view on take off before, no surprise, being swallowed up by clouds. Not a break in sight till we were within approach distance to Zürich. At that point, it felt like decades gone by with IFR. We sailed along above the landscape with the ability to “I fly rivers, roads, rails” which was the joke for most chopper flights in Germany, the Balkans and places in between… which was actually more properly known as VFR (visual).

—————– >-8 ————

insert hanging out at the airport from landing ~1000 through to 1930. And yes the flight was significantly late departing. After changing from A63 -> A82 -> A66. Hint – none are next to each other …

—————– 8-< ———

And it was a bus back from the screaming baby flight to the Lisbon Airport. Far end of the terminal to baggage claim. To the last bag off. To the taxi to the hotel.

I am wiped.

That might seem like a weird combination to you – but that was my shopping list today. Both are actually obvious. Chocolate? I always need chocolate and I am more than delighted to drop a number of bars of dark chocolate in my carry on luggage. Either I will eat them on the way or have chocolate tasting when I get home.

Without a working phone, I have no clue as to time. My apple watch effectively died last Oct/Nov. It just wouldn’t hold a charge for more than 4-5 hours. Inquiring at the Apple Store, since it is one of the very early series, they would have to special order the battery and then there would be a replacement charge without a lot of guarantee. It was suggested that it might be faster and easier to just buy one of the new, shiny Apple Watches. I demurred.

Since I have been living without a watch for a while, I have a pretty clear idea of what I need: I need to be able to check the time and having the date displayed is a bonus. I really don’t need it to monitory my exercise, buzz with GPS turns, give me txt or email message. I just need to know the time. Setting an alarm? That might be useful as well.

Asda has a small store in the corner of Sainsbury’s. Electronic kiosks for ordering, a nice woman behind the register who collects payment and fulfills orders. I am now the owner of a simple. resin band, digital faced watch. It was not expensive at all. Comparable in price to what I used to buy 20 years ago.

Early supper and packing. My 0415 taxi for the airport is going to feel early.

You will hear the phrase “old money” from me off and on, especially when referring to Imperial measurements which the US persists in using as apposed to the rest of the world which is firmly entrenched now in the metric system. Today – I am literally talking about old money.

Let me start at the beginning in Alkmaar where my hotel was. Walk to the train station – no problems. Buy a ticket. Oh – there is only one machine. Today it is not taking cards. Luckily the local newspaper/magazine location was willing to provide change. Did I mention that the ticket machine only took coins? No bills, just coins. And when it said – No Change Given – what it really meant was exact change only.

I managed to get to Schipol (with the usual train change in Zaadam), found the market which hadn’t been listed on the airport’s website as it is actually in the “trains” area… Anyway. drop baggage through a machine that weighs the bag and checks to make sure your luggage routing tag is readable. Through security, through the automated passport control and on to the gate.

A few hours later, I boarded – flying to Edinburgh.  By the time I was off, had my bags, and exited the airport, I was tired and elected to take a taxi. Arriving at Beverley’s was when the fun began. I have cash, a lot since I closed out my UK Bank account in 2014 and kept meaning to either use it or change it. But in reality, I kept forgetting to bring my pounds sterling along.  And some of my pounds are Bank of Scotland.

Well, the UK has gone to the same kind of fancy bills with embedded plastic like the rest of the world. I didn’t know this till I tried to pay. I have LITERALLY old money

Changing my money at Bank of Scotland is on the agenda for the morning.

You have all seen the posters claiming that “All who wander aren’t lost “

Well there are some of us who don’t check the weather report, necessitating a trip back to the room for my raincoat. 

Then it was “along the canal and over the bridge.” 

At this point I thought two things 1) turning on the phone would improve my chances of not getting lost & 2) the cafe on the corner had a sign for hot chocolate. More dark than sweet, it was lovely. The biscuit went in my pocket for later.  The outside temp was 11*C (51F in old measurements). 

Speaking of the bridge – just as I got there, some heavy equipment needed to head down the canal, then there was a passenger vessel going in the other direction.

The rest of the walk was anti-climatic. The same type of barriers come down at railroad crossings complete with flashing lights and the old “Bing, Bing, Bing, etc) that doesn’t stop till after the train has gone by. I was entertained by that on my walk back (minus most of the rain but accompanied by enough wind….)

And if there was any question – the location of Alkmaar –

should easily explain the constantly blowing wind from the Atlantic.

I had a lovely day chatting, stitching and being entertained by the three household cats. I elected to hike back (it is only a couple of kilometers) and l I left earlier than yesterday since I wanted to be back before dark. The wind was still blowing, but the rain had quit for the moment.

I finished Grind – which seemed never ending. I am not happy about the placement of the knob on the grinder draw so will probably pick it out and restitch it in the next few days.

tomorrow I will be headed back to Schipol, then flying to Edinburgh where I will be staying with a colleague and friend from the 2008-2010 time I spent in Camberley. It will be Scotland only, I am not making the trip down into England. There is a lot to do in Edinburgh and surrounding area.

You would think it would be easy – two major cities, all inside the EU. Airport, check-in, security, gate, plane -> Amsterdam….. not exactly.

With two bags (one full of stuff to leave in the Netherlands) I was not about to do walk-off. And, since I had onboard credit I would not otherwise use, it seemed logical to use it on an airport transfer. Even after running into a couple of my early morning coffee buddies who offered to include me on their booked Uber, I decided to stick with what I had.

With a flight at 1300, the ship seemed to think that a “late departure” meaning 0830 would be fine. About 0745 I got antsy and used my loyalty program status to escape the ship. Unlike a decade ago where it was wander off the ship and leave, Barcelona is the actual Port of Entry for everyone on this ship. Not the ports along the way, but the final destination. This is the first time landing in Europe that I have ever experienced an Immigration/Customs line. There were actually two lines – EU straight ahead and the rest of us to the right. It took about 25 minutes to navigate all the way to the front of the line. The actual screening was about 15 seconds. But then, I had my documents out….

Found my luggage and stood around waiting for the bus. We left shortly after 0915. It makes me wonder if everyone actually made the bus… the near ship is MSC, the more distant one is the Symphony.

Drop off at Terminal 1 because I was on KLM and didn’t want to change planes for such a short run.  And then the fun began. Like many other places, airports haven’t exactly been overwhelmed with people wanting to return to work, Baggage drop off? It took me 85 minutes to get my bags dropped off. And that was with already having baggage tags. The  problem? Only one poor woman working economy and 2-3 working “status.” One of them seemed to be reasonable and took an occasional other passenger from our line but the other? No clue what she was starting at on her computer. And then we are at 1030. There is a KLM flight to Amsterdam at 1110. So those people obviously need to go to the front of the line.

Finally it is my turn. Bags checked in about 30 seconds to include passport check and I am on my to security. Of note – there are going to be a minimum of 150 passengers and usually  in the 180-235 range.  Even if half of them check bags… and the poor woman at the counter was handling both Air France and KLM….

Just after security (with lovely screening personnel who almost off-set the passengers unable to empty pockets,  take off belts, forget battery items, etc. Finding the first flight information board – delayed. OK. And, in an imitation of Heathrow – gate numbers are posted till 45 minutes before the flight. And a good ½ of the pedestrian by-pass belts (what do you call them anyway?) aren’t working,  Instead of at 1300, we take off a few minutes before 1400. The nice couple next to me is worried – they have.a connecting flight to Glasgow. There is only 35 minutes between the flights…

Did I mention the plane was absolutely packed full? And, unlike SW, United and a few other airlines, which the cabin attendants provided gate numbers for connecting flights – they did not make what I consider the standard announcement – “We have x many passengers on very tight connections. If this is your final destination, please remain seating and let those passengers off first.”  Almost all of those connecting flights were once a day opportunities…

Given that I was toward the back of the plane, I was almost the last passenger off. By the time I had walked from the far end of the terminal to the other end of Schipol, I collected my baggage and caught the 1653 Sprinter to Zaadam. From there it was across the platform to an ICE for just a few stops. Ina, a Dutch cross-stitcher I know, met me at the train station. After dropping off my luggage at the hotel, we went to her house for a lovely evening. It wasn’t all that late when I got back to my room But I was pretty tired….

Oh, and Ina has cats. Three of the funniest critters….especially Oskar Wilde, who is.

I didn’t get off. Because of the size of this behemoth ship, we docked at a major industrial; shipping port. No walking or hiking, but a mandatory shuttle to the gate. From there one can hike to the city or spent 25E on the contracted round strip busses. This ship has more than 5k worth of passengers and more than 2k of crew. Spend the time in line dealing with sardine can buses, even if they look new and modern? No thank you.

Instead I packed, stitched a bit,  and just wandered around confirming that I really haven’t missed a lot.  It is kind of like a buffet – it is a lot of food, only if you actually eat it.  Swapped emails with a few people and went to the show. It was well done – singing, dancing, and a lot of acrobatics on swings etc which seems to be a new trend. Allegedly the history of flight going from the future back to the Wright Brothers. The take-off on H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds” segment was confusing to most non-English origin members of the audience and I also suspect many of the younger English speaking ones as well. Hello? Dancing and singing green headed costumed individuals? 

The ship was trying to clear out Logo items. I picked up a magnet – the postcards were all gone. I also got a picture of the ship to go with my “crossed the Atlantic” certificate…

The Symphony is scheduled for a 3 week dry dock at one of the Spanish ship yards. So 5K passengers off  and hundreds upon hundreds of contractors boarding tomorrow. 

It should be interesting.  I am headed to the airport and will be flying KLM to Amsterdam followed by a train ride…

We sailed into Malaga with the morning sunrise, calm seas, and barely a wind. The ship was cleared by 0730 and I really thought about watching the mad rush off ship. And didn’t bother. Instead I elected to go for coffee and a nice chat with a couple of gentlemen in the lounge.

The view from my balcony facing away from our pier. I have been here before, and have hiked the 30 minutes into town and back. 5E (anyone remember what the ASCII is for the Euro symbol? Apparently Apple doesn’t think it important to have … nor pounds sterling or  ….) is the cost of the shuttle bus – which the ship is quick to point out – it belongs to the City and they don’t have control …..

About mid-day, in what should turn out not to be a surprise to anyone who knows me well, I thought about getting off. I really did. This is a Catholic country and it Sunday. I have made the walk into town before as well as hiked up the old fort/battlements/whatever. So I settled for making a foray into the terminal where I found postcards and came right back to the ship.

I also broke down and turned on my phone. By doing so and paying AT&T the princely sum of $10 for 24 hours I was able to call the San Antonio bank idiots and spend 15 minutes wading through menus and less than helpful staff to get my credit card unlocked. Nothing like having dealt with multiple days of routine, automatic payments bouncing. I also found that certain merchants who are only in the US – such as Peet’s can’t be reached for password reset from a Spanish IP. Perhaps the amount of business from those outside the US, possessing a US bank account, and wanting to send something to a US recipient isn’t all that high?

Afternoon spent with the other stitchers who were all back on board.

making slow progress – this is actually a lot denser than I had originally thought. I would really like it done before I get off the ship.

and our late night positions. After crossing the ocean – it is amazing to see the density of ships.

tomorrow is our last day – Valencia, packing and a last wander of the ship.;…

What would be a post without a Wiki Link? Go read about the Straits of Gibraltar – It is interesting, informative and explains sooo much as to why there is cultural connection between Spain & North Africa, a favorite place to attempt illegal immigration from Africa to Europe, and why the UK hangs on to their small bit of land…

Early in the cruise, there was a rumor that we would actually see the Straits during daylight hours. This turned out to be patently not true. Between some rolling waves and navigational choices the time slipped to about midnight. (BTW – you will notice that the publication time on this post is prior to midnight which has to do with the differential time zone between TigerTech’s servers and my current CET clock. Additionally, it seemed a bit stupid to be posting before midnight here and prior to entering the Straits. 

My cabin is on the Port side – which means that I was looking at the Spanish coast as we approached right before midnight. 

I had both the TV screen set to map (duh) as well as used Marine Tracker to follow our progress…

which I found to be much more interesting as it includes ALL the maritime traffic. Instead of an empty sea, there were more than 35 registered vessels within a 10 km distance from us. From my balcony, the running lights of ~ five ships ahead of us were easily visible as were several following vessels. 

Stitching update: only one coffee bean left to finish and lettering… maybe by the end of the cruise?

I managed to stay awake through the Straits. The Rock was not alight. Someone mentioned earlier that lighting it up at this time of year disturbed the nesting birds. I am going to need a lot of coffee to function in the morning….

Today was the third of six time zone changes. The interesting challenge for many is that the change is being done at noon, rather than in the middle of the night. The tough thing for the crew is having to work a bit harder in the mid-day with lunch being messed up and less prep time for dinner. The benefit is that the majority of the crew is not loosing sleep.

Up early again, I was one of only four early this morning in the Diamond lounge – me, a Canadian who managed to trash his knee the first day on the Flow Rider and a couple from Glasgow. Rather than hit the cabin – I headed up to the Solarium, finding a nice location and just relaxed while stitching. This turned out to be one of my best decisions yet. A woman doing needlepoint sat down near me and we chatted till interrupted by another woman who mentioned that there was a stitchers get together every afternoon at 1400 in Dazzles. 

So that is how I spent most of the afternoon – one Scott, several from the East Coast of the US, one from Michigan, Florida, and me. As it turns out, we are all “of an age” give or take 10 years. Besides stitchers (both cross stitch and needlepoint) there was also someone knitting and a woman meticulously making Christmas ornaments out of beads. So that is where I will be at 1400 for the rest of the cruise. 

Today’s position is past the Azores and coming up on the Canaries.

and I suppose I should really have some pie…

The first bit of good news today: no time zone change. That more than happily worked for me. Mostly what I am trying to do is make sure that I know the “official time zone,” not as related to any city but in terms of GMT.

Looking at our current positions doesn’t really help. While it has position and ship’s time along with temperature and humidity – there is nothing, absolutely nothing that places anything relative to GMT. Why do I care? Because I am trying to calculate time differences for messages, Zoom calls and just general sanity. 

I went back to my other current stitching project which I can’t show until the pattern is released. From there, I probably should return to my LongDog sampler rather than start another new project. But shiny is calling to me ….