Well I was finally in Europe! Deplaning was quick, again due to the limited number of seats. I was fully expecting to be herded to immigration, as this is what happened on all of my international flights at my first point of entry. So I was pretty surprised when I stepped out into the terminal. I was even more surprised when my family was waiting in the gate area for me. A few weeks before departure, I upgraded my family to Economy Comfort to make up for me flying in J while they would be in flying in Y. It wasn’t cheap, at $180 per person. But it was worth it in terms of buying a little peace for me, and not being constantly reminded of the situation! They definitely appreciated the extra legroom. After the pleasantries, we headed to a food stand for some snacks, since they hadn’t eaten since the flight, which arrived several hours before mine.

I was extremely impressed was Schiphol Airport. It was modern, airy, and clean. The many shops and eateries make it a great place to kill time, even if one didn’t have lounge access. Speaking of which, I had planned to enjoy the Crown Lounge in the Schengen Area. But since I met up with my family, I was unable to immediately to head to the lounge. After they ate, we cleared immigration and headed toward their gate. Due to award availability, my family was scheduled to be on KL1675, which left two hours before KL1677, which I was on. I waited with them at their gate until they were about to board. Only then did I head to the Schengen area Crown Lounge.

Upon entering the lounge, the dragon (ok that term definitely didn’t apply here) scanned my boarding pass and welcomed me with a smile. The lounge was good sized with plenty of seating. However, there were no windows giving the lounge a rather cramped feeling. In the two hours I was there, it never got too crowded. The food spread was very nice with both hot and cold items. Cold items included cold cuts, cheese, bread, and veggies. Hot items were limited to cream of asparagus soup and a pasta dish. A self-serve bar was also on offer. I fixed a small plate and a cup of soup. There was a nice selection of reading items as well as several large TVs located around the lounge. However, like any good member of Generation Y, I chose to spend my time on Facebook and other various facets of social media. After a little over an hour had pass, I left the lounge to take a preflight walk. I discovered the little outdoor patio overlooking the tarmac. Man, I wished I discovered this sooner. The weather was perfectly cool and crisp. And the view was great.





After the watching the operations on the tarmac for 10 minutes or so, it was time to the head to the gate. The gate had a seating area located above the boarding area, with an escalator leading the boarding area. After an announcement that boarding would start in a few minutes, everyone on the flight decided to head down to the said boarding area. The crowd surged toward the boarding lane after business class and elites were invited to the board. However, the agent did a good job of turning away anyone who wasn’t eligible and the crowd soon receded. I took this opportunity to head toward the boarding lane. My boarding pass was scanned and I was on my way down the jet bridge.

KL1677
Amsterdam (AMS)-Barcelona (BCN)
Friday May 27, 2011
Depart: 5:10 PM
Arrive: 7:25 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400
Seat: 3A (Business Class)



I was welcomed aboard by the friendly purser and turned right to find the much ballyhooed European business class, which is essentially coach seating with the middle seat blocked. I’m not a small guy by any stretch of the imagination; however, I have never been uncomfortable in a coach seat. I would prefer something similar to domestic first class in the US, but I would gladly take the service over the seat.



After the entire business class had been seated, the purser offered a selection of newspapers. I chose the Financial Times. Pre-departure beverages consisted of water and orange juice. Despite the completely full flight, boarding finished up pretty quickly and we were soon pushing back from the gate. After a quick take off roll, we were airborne and winging our way over the European continent. After we reached our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet, the captain made his welcome aboard announcement as the familiar smells of a meal service began to fill the cabin. The purser did a drinks run before the meals were served. I just ordered a glass of water. Meals were served from a cart from front to back, without preference to status. As the cart reached my row, the purser smiled and inquired if I would like the pasta. I asked if there was another option; however, everyone in the first two rows had opted for the beef. Pasta turned out to be tortellini, served on one tray with salad and dessert.

Dinner

Amuse
Gazpacho of carrots, topped with almond shavings and parsley

Salad
Frisee salad with tomato, cucumber and organic balsamic dressing

Bread
Assorted hot rolls

Main Course
Spinach tortellini served with creamy cheese and herb sauce

Beef Provencale offered with skin on herbed potatoes and ratatouille Provencale

Dessert
Mousse and coulis of passion fruit and flambéed meringue



The tortellini was piping hot and delicious. The same box with the “hourglass” salt and pepper shaker was also included. As with my previous flight, the salad was fresh. The amuse and dessert were small, but tasty. Drinks were topped off after the last row was served. A few little quibbles with the meal service: salad was served in the same tacky plastic container as my long haul flight. Even AA uses a real plate for salads in domestic First Class. Also, my meal was handed to me with the aluminum foil still covering the main. These little things just make the service seem a little less premium. But that’s where the negatives ended. Service was good, with the purser offering constant refills and clearing trays as individual passengers finished. I passed time admiring the view.

French countryside.


Traffic is an A321, 8 o’clock high. Report in sight.


Our decent into Barcelona offered excellent view of the Spanish coast:


Touchdown was smooth and after a quick taxi, I was stepping into the Barcelona’s modern terminal. There was no need to clear immigration, as I did not leave the EU. It was a bit of hike to baggage claim. Bags from my flight began trickling onto the carousel 15 minutes after arriving at baggage claim. I am happy to report that priority tags did work and both of my bags made it through unscathed. My family again surprised me by meeting me outside of baggage claim. I had listed my mom as a guest on one of the rooms so they could check in first, as I would be arriving late. After they had checked in, they realized there weren’t a lot of eating options near the hotel, so they headed back to the airport for a bite and to meet me.

We hoofed it to the shuttle bus area and waited nearly half an hour for the Renaissance shuttle to show up. On the way to the hotel, my mom informed me she had chosen the food and beverage amenity over the points for my Platinum amenity. I was dead tired at this point, but this gave me a little jolt. Oy. Anyways, we arrived at the hotel to find the lobby to be a complete mad house. Since my parents had checked in earlier, we were fortunate to be able avoid that mess. It seemed most of the guests were Americans also staying the night before the cruise. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get an upgrade due to high occupancy and the fact I had two rooms. Our rooms were next to each other; however, there was no connecting door. After dropping off my bags, I headed back down to the lounge, which is located down in the lobby, to grab a drink and a snack. The food and beverage amenity, which consisted of strawberry ice cream and two glass bottles of Evian, arrived as I was leaving. The ice cream was nicely presented in medium sized glass goblets. After quick snack of the same ice cream and fancy water in the lounge (go figure), I went back to the room, showered, and fell asleep on one of the very comfortable twin beds at around 9 PM. I apologize for the lack of pictures from the hotel. Like I said, I was dead tired and my sisters had already strewn there stuff around both rooms, making them less photogenic. Take my word for it when I say the hotel is clean, modern, and nicely appointed. I did however take pictures of the neat aviation related photos decorating one of the rooms.





After 10 blissful hours of sleep, I woke up decided to grab a quick work out at the gym. The gym was located in a dark dank corner of the hotel basement. It featured some weights and some half functioning cardio equipment. After a half hearted 2 kilometer run, I went back upstairs for another shower before breakfast. Everyone had woken up and was ready to go after I got back to the room. We headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast after I quickly ran through the shower. I mentioned earlier I had booked a pre-cruise package for 110 Euros per room. The package included breakfast buffet and a transfer to the cruise terminal for two adults per room. Given the buffet was 25 Euros per person without the package; it was a fantastic deal in my opinion.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, our rooms were crossed a list of those booked with the aforementioned package. The spread was fantastic with huge variety of hot and cold items. Hot items included cooked to order eggs (including omelets), traditional breakfast meats, grilled veggies, etc. As far as the cold items go, I zeroed in on the smoked salmon but there was a good variety of cold cuts and cheese. A selection of fresh breads was also available. We offered a choice of orange juice and coffee as we were seated. A selection of fresh juices, such as fresh pear and grapefruit juice was available at the buffet. Service was good with drinks constantly topped off and plate cleared quickly. The restaurant manager came by to talk to us, as we were finishing up breakfast. Since we had 4 adults (my parents, one of my sisters, and myself) and 2 children (my two youngest sisters), I had planned to pay for the two youngest because they were not included in the package. However, the manager told me not worry about it, and wished us a pleasant trip. I know that the tipping culture isn’t quite the same in Europe, but I left a 30 Euro tip since they did take good care of us and to kind of make up for comping my sisters’ breakfast.

We went back upstairs to gather our bags and headed back down to check out and catch the shuttle to the cruise terminal. Again, the lobby was a mad house as the majority of guests were leaving on cruises. Check out was uneventful. We waited about 20 minutes for the next shuttle, as the concierge was sending off a different shuttle to each respective ship departing that day. Upon boarding the shuttle, I paid the concierge 20 Euros for my little sisters, as they were not included in the package. The weather was a bit overcast and dreary, but it was a pleasant 30 minute drive through the city to the port.