PART 3 LHR-AMS

Ok, arrived at Heathrow Terminal 3. It was great to get off that dear plane, even if it was at the very last gate of that outer satelite. Great to be able to walk and see all the planes at T3. I know sounds stupid, but I love the big radar tower at Heathrow spinning around, always fun to see.

Now we start off with British bureaucracy(idiocracy if you prefer ). There is a rule that you can't visit the lounges airside in any way if you are an arriving passenger, not the case in any other country in the world that I know of(would be physically impossible in the US with the set up of our airports). To my surprise, there is another rule, can't visit a lounge, even though you walk right past it, if you are a transfer passenger until you have cleared security again. If you are going out of Terminal 3, I don't have a problem with it, but I do if you are transfering to another terminal as you then have the pleasure of clearing security twice, which is really quite a pain. They stamp your boarding pass, oh goody. I had the option of exiting through HM Immigration and customs, but then the landside way to Terminal 4 is a royal pain.

I believe, if I am correct, that it is because of the British rule that arrivals lounges( a good concept) was created. London was the first place to have arrivals lounges because of this rule, but I am glad that the concept has spread worldwide. In other European countries, you can visit the lounge on arrival, no problems. Oh well. I do it all the time in Paris and Frankfurt. Just give them your flight #. This is helpful when I only fly into the airport, out of another, would feel cheated by not being able to visit.
So, I played their game, after visiting the Admirals Club and confirming the rule, went to the secure area, fortunately no queue(line), did the security fun, then toured the shopping area, which happens to be one of my most favorite on earth. The British Airports do have wonderful shopping and departures areas. Singapore and Sydney the same.

Then I was able to visit Admirals, in my opinion their best club in the system, though the new DFW club at A concourse gives competition. I also visited the Kuwait Airways Lounge, which I am entitled to under the Priority Pass program( can visit many lounges around the world, love it!) The negative was that when I had gone to visit the BA lounge at T3, to which I had full access and was completely empty, she had sent me away, saying as I wasn't flying BA out of Terminal 3, I couldn't go (BS!) The fact that my fellow Americans(cool guy working there) took me at Admirals says it all.
The fact is, if you are traveling on a Oneworld flight, with the appropriate status, you have lounge access and she was just being nitpicky, one of my gripes about my ancestral Britain. Oh well. She did tick me off, in all honesty, more on principle. Usually, I visit other lounges to get magazines, but would be flying out of here later and had enough rubbish to carry, so didn't bother.

Anyway, for my first time, I took the transfer bus to Terminal 4, kind of fun, as you go out onto the field and then underneath the tarmac. It was a new approach to Terminal 4, which is huge. I also love this terminal, excellent shopping and the BA Terraces are great. I had 5 hours altogether between flights, set up that way, so I had plenty of time to check out the shops and then hang out at the 2 lounge areas, with permission to visit the First Class lounge, all very nice. It was my first time to avail of the comfortable showers facilities there, a pleasant touch after an overnight flight, and I did come out feeling fresh. At this time, BA's sandwhiches were out(which are delicious) along with several little cookies and nidbits to munch on. I grabbed a few of the snacks and then went to the gate. I also visited the KLM lounge on the other end of Termainl 4, gratis a Priority Pass. Nice, but very basic snacks. The irony is that I can visit this lounge at LHR but not the KLM lounges at AMS, save when I used to fly Northwest/KLM Business some time ago.

I boarded my first BA A319, possibly my first A319 altogether, though I could have sworn I have flown an Air Canada 319bus before, will have to research the flight log book. Friendly crew greeted me and the plane was immaculate. I was surprised to find the bulkhead ( a plus of AA Platinum/Oneworld Sapphire) to be the row behind Business, nothing special/roving curtain. Business Class in Europe is a joke as it is a moving curtain, but then Bus. class is really full Y fare. I loved the inflight map that popped down from the overhead. Standard announcements and then a good take off out of LHR.
North, over the orbital, and NE toward Holland. Middle seat open, fellow yank at the aisle, didn't
say a word, which was fine. I was reading Business Traveler and passing out here and there.

They did a quick white snack bag of a sandwhich and a cup of water. Sometimes you get a biscuit/cookie, muffin, or whatever. I didn't care. First, I was full from the lounge and second, I was exhausted, as I had been up for who knows how long. Was counting the minutes til I hit my bed at the Amsterdam Airport Sheraton, a very nice hotel. They do a nice full beverage service, duly taking my Malverns sparkling water, a la Americain(with ice).

We had the customary approach over the Dutch coastline, love it, completely straight and flat, nice, then over the countryside. The negative was that they had retracted the map, hate that! Turns out with winds and maneuvers by the Amsterdam ATC, the pilot referred to it as the tour of Holland and we actually had a nice bit of scenery, flying over the coastline and some small villages, loved it!, we had to circle for about 20 minutes or so.
Then for my first time I had a spectacular view of Amsterdam, right hand side, from the air. This I loved. You could see everything and clearly AMS has grown since I was last there years ago, very impressive.

We had a good touchdown and taxi to the gate. BA and all the British carriers seem to share one concourse, concourse D. It is perfect, it is the last concourse in the international area of the airport, but next to Schengen(no borders in Europe ), so works well for customs. I was exhausted and knew I would be back later when I flew out, so I took a quick look and then went to get my first passport stamp in 2002.
I miss the old stamps from Europe pre-Schengen, now they are all generic and boring, but it is still fun to get a stamp. They were impressed with my couple words of Dutch and smiled. Then baggage reclaim, always happy to see my bags again . Last time I was here, no customs officers were present, as the area shares with the schengen arrivals and no customs for those boarding in the UK, but full customs for anyone coming from outside the EU as this was my first port of entry into the EU.

I made the mistake of being friendly, again, surprised he was even there, and said hello. For some reason, I feel funny saying Goed Dag, don't know why. He then asked if I spreek Nederlands? I don't speak Dutch but know a few words and understood him. I think he was surprised when he knew what I had asked.
When he saw I was a bonafide Yank tourist he waved me on in the Green channel, but I think he was suspicious that I was actually Dutch trying to get by through speaking English. A customs tip, they are usually after their own citizens coming home, very much the case in the US, as they usually have the most to declare, when they are returning home. It was cool to be landise again, pushing my luggage cart between the shops.

They have an entire shopping concourse in the arrivals level, probably one of the best in the world, why Schiphol is one of the World's favorite airports, I agree.

The way to the Sheraton is via a large shopping area, very spacious, up a ramp, through the bridge to the car parks, and there you are, in the lobby. The hotel is fanstastic, very comfortable, good colors, multi level atrium, and the staff are as friendly as could be. As a Sheraton/Starwood Gold member, I was upgraded to a Club room, but missed the Executive room, so next time, will have to shoot for that . When I said "tot ziens" (goodbye), the staff at the desk just smiled. Impressed. Hey, Dutch is a neat language.

Can you imagine my relief when I hit the room? It is a gorgeous room, as requested, high floor with a view of the planes. The bed is incredible and just everything, bathroom and all, very nice. I stayed there once before and swore I would get back. One of the advantages of staying by the airport, the hotels are newer and cleaner, vs. the hotels downtown that are so overpriced and old,for the most part...

With a little bit of energy left, how, I don't know , I changed and checked out the main terminal. The place was packed, tons of people everywhere and you could see the new security checks in place(manual/KLM and X-ray/Delta) for the US flights.
I love this airport and my favorite is that Oneworld has its own areas at the end of the check-in concourse at the South Terminal, every Oneworld airline has a very large and spacious facility. Kind of a :-P~~~ to the Star Alliance, . I would like to see an area like this at all airports, as from what I have seen, it is the first of its kind.

As mentioned before, great shopping. I went to the airport supermarket and bought a few fresh sausages, bread, and some Droste Dutch chocolate-pastilles, love those! I was looking forward to Spa, a Dutch/Belgian mineral water, very good. So took a short break from Perrier.
All good and for a reasonable fee. Ah, my first time with the Euro, which I exchanged at the customs area exchange desk. They are cool in that they are close to the US $$$. With Holland before, it was divide by 2, no problem, but with Greece, it got sticky, so the Euro will come in handy. However, I would ask the Europeans if they are ready to lose some individual sovereignty??? If they are, great. I would never want to part with the US $$$. Too special. The Euro will make traveling easier for us and them, however, I think that years down the line, they will miss their own money and having control over it. I am proud of our British cousins holding on to the pound. Denmark and Sweden also held on to their crowns,fyi.

Ok, it was an evening of sleep and watching Euro tv. My favorite being CNN Int'l, truly a good station. I toured the hotel and love the ice machines, they know us Americans . The job now was to fight the jetlag, from which I was exhausted.


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MD
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
Hilton Gold
Sheraton Gold