Welcome from Chicago!

For previous readers of my blog, you will realise that I like to post pictures of the various methods of travel that we have used.  This year is no exception.

I didn’t manage to get a picture of the taxi that took us to the station as it dropped us off at 05:00 Saturday morning as it was still dark.  However, here are pictures of the City Hopper that took us from Norwich to Amsterdam and (for those who are really interested) the Boeing 747-300 that took us from Amsterdam to Chicago.

Most of the journey was really smooth and enjoyable.  I have to say that all of the airport staff and especially the KLM staff were really wonderful and helpful, starting right at the beginning of the day when, following us being unable to check in online due to “immigration issues” and then not managing to scan my passport at the self-service check in at the airport, somebody was on hand to guide us through it successfully.

The second hiccough was once we were onboard the Chicago flight at Amsterdam, when we first heard over the tannoy “is there anybody onboard who speaks Swahili” followed a little later by the announcement that two passengers would not be travelling as they were feeling unwell; the real delay was as their luggage was found and removed from the plane.  My suspicious nature puts two and two together and wondered whether they were unwell or whether they were told that they were unwell based on where they were travelling from and to!

Anyway, by the time we arrived in Chicago, setter down with Heidi, Christian, Elsie and the two dogs Gracie and Gilligan and later had a meal, we had been up for over 24 hours.  I should really have given the post a different title though, as by crossing time zones, the day was in reality 30 hours!