Brief Excursion

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spot
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Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: Brigstowe

Brief Excursion

Post by spot »

Being half term I thought I might take the boy to Amsterdam for his seventh birthday. Cheap Easyjet flight out of Stansted, one-room cottage near Schiphol, just the thing.

Off we set on the train, a bit of a look at London and out to Stansted for an early Sunday flight. The night was like the blitz with explosive thunder, we got to the airport and everything was cancelled or delayed. No fuel for the planes, the fuel depot had been hit by lightning.

When Easyjet finally got round to flagging our flight as cancelled we went back to Square One where an impressive queue had built up. We got a sheet of apology with a customer service number, went outdoors and rang it. Would we like a refund? No, we'd like a flight. Tuesday from Gatwick perhaps?

We settled for Monday morning from Luton, paid £60 by phone for a room at the Ibis and the same for an Uber ride. Easyjet had better refund those costs when I get back. Next morning we walked the half mile into Luton Airport to get the replacement flight.

It's like a scene from a disaster movie, Luton Airport. Not just the building work all over, I could live with that, it's the deliberate circuitous snake-walk round the houses to get to Departures. Totally pointless, there's an exit from the exact same hallway at the beginning of the 400 yard meander which is easily wide enough to be two-way but no, entrants please meander. We refused, we walked the 20 yards against the non-existent flow of foot traffic and went into the hall the easy way.

For those interested, pedestrian access to Luton Airport hasn't even a pavement. It's an unpaved mud track alongside a mud-slimed two lane access road along which traffic crawls. I walked into Mumbai Airport thirty years ago along a better footpath than that. Why Luton wasn't just rebuilt down the road and the existing airport converted to a landfill tip I've no idea, it's all it's fit for.

Easyjet whisked us to Schiphol in 45 minutes and we've toured Amsterdam several times, lazed at the beach for a couple of days, it's been ideal. We fly back on Monday so long as the Thundergod doesn't destroy another fuel depot before then.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
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Clodhopper
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Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:11 pm

Brief Excursion

Post by Clodhopper »

Ah, so it was you the Gods were aiming at! Phew. Thought it was me...;)



Never seen anything like it before.
The crowd: "Yes! We are all individuals!"

Lone voice: "I'm not."
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