Amsterdam and Rhine River Cruise 2011 - The Journey Home

Our cruise was full of seniors and a good percentage of them were either rich, or..  how do I put this… : had very “reduced mobility”  so I think we really threw the entire staff for a loop when we told them that when it came to checking out, we would take care of our bags ourselves (we could actually LIFT our own bags) and take public transportation to the airport. We were freaks. EVERYONE had transfers or taxis, independent travellers just don’t fit in!

Like mentioned in a previous post, getting to the airport by public transportation was simple: tram to Central Train Station and from there, bus to the airport.

Easy… but… I screwed up. How? I went against my instincts more then once. Had I just listened to myself, it would have gone MUCH more smoothly!! Why do people dismiss the little voice in the their heads when they KNOW that little voice is always right??

Here’s what happened: The Cruise ended in Basel (Switzerland) so we brought a few Swiss Francs with us. We had lots of change / coins, but I decided it would be too much trouble to bring coins, so I left them behind and brought only bill. That was mistake number 1 and it was because I was lazy.  When we checked out of the ship, we paid our bar bill and I used some of my Euro-coins. Mistake number 2 and it was because I was stupid. Even as I was doing it, I thought to myself: Instead of paying the exact amount I should be giving her more so I can get some change back (more coins).

So, off we go, bags in tow, off the boat and on towards the tram stop. It was not a very nice walk (less then 10 minutes) because essentially it was a walk though a ship yard.

We made it to the tram station and when we got to the Kiosk guess what: IT ONLY TAKES COINS! Argh! I was so pissed because I KNEW I KNEW I KNEW that in Europe many ticket kiosks don't accept bills. I KNEW IT! AAAARGH! so stupid. I KNEW the machine would take either Swiss Franc Coins or Euro Coins and I stupidly did not have enough of EITHER!

Well thankfully, I do speak a bit of Swiss-German, so I left Frank at the tram station with the luggage and went off with my smallest bill to find people on the streets nearby to ask them if they had change for my bill. no luck. I then went  looking for a store or a restaurant or SOME WAY to get some change, but on Easter Sunday morning at 8AM how successful do you think I was?

Back at the tram station, I finally went to speak to the tram conductor. After explaining our predicament, he gave us a free ride to the train station! How nice! See how speaking the local language can help out in a pinch? All in all, it cost us FOUR SWISS FRANCS EACH to get to the airport as opposed to 40 – 50 Euros by cab!

We made it to the airport in Basel by about 9AM, and I decided to chance-it and try to transfer to the earlier flight to Paris that I had told my travel agent I didn’t want originally because I thought it would be too early. Luck was on our side, there was room on the early flight, so we flew out of Basel at 10:30AM instead of 1:30PM on such a teeny plane!!! 50 seats, only 3 seats per row…  I admit I was a little nervous! but for a 45-minute flight, they are not going to break out the jumbo- jets!

When they changed the flight, they also changed our seat selection on the second leg from Paris to Montreal. Instead of 2 aisles next to each other, we ended up with 2 aisles 11 rows apart.  I went to the customer service counter in Paris to see if they could seat us a little closer together, and they did - no problem.  The reason for the glitch was because they changed planes and we were now flying on (insert drum roll here: _________) The A380!!!!  

I knew that Air France was planning to add the A380 to the Montreal – Paris route later this year, but now with all the trouble in Japan, the planes no longer fly there and the Montreal launch date was pushed up. This was day 3…  and yes, baggage claim was a nightmare!!

Because of the seating snafu, we got upgraded to an emergency exit row, so we had room galore, that plane is really a behemoth!  No risk of hitting your head on the overhead compartments anymore when standing up, in fact, the trouble now is digging your carry-ons out of the cavernous compartments! 

We were on the lower deck but I did sneak up to the upper deck to have a look…  it was the same as the lower deck… not sure what I was expecting to find.

One neat feature was the tail-cam, a camera in the tail that shows you the view from up there. Interesting during take-off and landing, but not while crossing the Atlantic.

Then, to top it all off, when we went through customs in Montreal, we got tagged for a full luggage search. I think it’s because of what I said before: I don’t declare enough. By that I mean, I come home with 20 to 50$ in souvenirs /purchases and who goes to Europe for a week and come home with so little???  Well me.

The boarder guard harped and harped on the food and alcohol question. I said all I bought was chocolates at the duty-free in Paris (a thank you gift for our neighbours who took in our mail) and I noticed on the form she circled the NO I ticked where I declared I had no food and alcohol. I admit that could be a conflict…

The agent who search our bags started off as a hard-ass, but when it became clear we had nothing, he relaxed his attitude and it became just a formality. I wanted to ask him how many times they search bags and find nothing, but I thought that would be a stupid question to ask! I didn’t want to antagonize him or make him suspicious. He even looked up “Viking Cruises” on the Internet! Wow! I am so naïve (or too honest?), it never dawned on me that someone would fake and itinerary to make it look like they went somewhere they didn't!

However, it did make unpacking when we got home easier! It was already half done by then! LOL!