MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Part of the glamor of flying is the holiday away from friends and family in foreign lands and this year I got my turn. Normally I get the hot spots like Baltimore or Albuquerque for the holidays but this year I wound up in Amsterdam. It simply is a spin of the big wheel at nwa as to where a reserve will spend a holiday as the computer assigns trips based on the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. This year, I got Amsterdam. My first Christmas layover was Fargo, which was the running joke of training. The trainers all joked that newbies always got stuff like Fargo layovers on Christmas because it was the least desirable place to be. I was also an add which meant that I was there with the plane and not the crew so I was basically alone. It turned out that a classmate was also there and she had brought her husband so I was able to hang with her which made for a decent Christmas.
This year in Amsterdam though is turning out to be fairly nice. The crew is younger so we are all still enjoying the job and the flight wasn't packed to the rafters so it wasn't overwhelming like AMS flights can sometimes be. Northwest arranged a nice buffet for dinner and we retired to the crew lounge afterward for some hanging out time. There wasn't much open today here which I guess shouldn't come as a big surprise as it is Christmas here too. The Netherlands are much like the rest of Europe and close fairly early and regularly even on normal days so I can't be surprised by it on Christmas. I hope that the grocery across the street is open in the morning before we leave as I'd really like to get some spicy mustard and some cookies before climbing back on the plane. I'm scheduled back to Detroit at about 630pm tomorrow night so I'll miss the first day of the frantic "After Christmas" sales but should be back to catch day two of them!
Merry Christmas to All!!
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