part 1 Virgin Atlantic Club House & Virgin Atlantic JFK-LHR
part 2 Air France LHR-CDG
part 3 Air France CDG-VIE
part 4 Le Meriden Vienna
part 5 KLM VIE-AMS
part 6 KLM AMS-HEL
part 7 Helsinki
part 8 Finnair HEL-CDG
part 9 Paris Sheraton CDG
part 10 Paris, France
part 11 Air France CDG-LHR
part 12 Virgin Clubhouse LHR & Virgin Atlantic LHR-JFK
KLM
KL1838
Aircraft: 737-800
Actual seat:3C
Depart: VIE Vienna Airport
Arrive: AMS Amsterdam Schipol Airport
Sched.Departure: 6:55am Actual Departure : 7:17am
Sched.Arrival: 8:57am Actual arrival: 8:48am
At 4:30am I woke groggy and rolled out of bed to get ready to head to the airport. I was thinking of taking a cab, and sleep longer, but It wouldn't really take any longer to get to the airport with the Ubahn and the CAT express train.
At 5:10am I walked out of the hotel and walked a short distance to the station picked up some fresh croissants and a krapfen (jelly donut) and boarded the train 2 stops to pick up the Cat train. The train departed at 5:36am, 16mins later I was at Vienna airport. Very quick and user friendly.
I headed towards the other side of the terminal to enter the Schengen part of the airport. I was surprised to see a gate that you scanned your boarding pass and it automatically let you in. How cool is that! I was going to check out the lounge, but honestly I didn't have a lot of time, so I thought. There is a security level on the main floor but its only for crew and Handicap passengers. I followed the sign to downstairs to a huge security area which was virtually empty.
CAT
I handed the agent my boarding pass, scanned and I put all my belongs in the belt and kept on my shoes. Another aspect was I was not asked for ID. Honestly I don't understand why we have to show ID in the US as well as now say our full Name. Seriously whats the point of saying our name. Look at the picture its ME! Anyways I headed to the gate and sure enough I was there far too early. Needless to say I waited for my flight.
Right as we boarded I crashed for the entire flight. So unfortunately nothing to report other than it was a complete full flight. upon landing I headed towards the Crown Lounge 25 Schengen side, checked in a put my carry on in a closet and then went shopping. From a quick glance, the lounge was packed.
I do love AMS, there's quite a lot of shopping and laid out like a mall. I headed to Duty free and picked up couple bottles of champagne, chocolates and beauty products. Gotta look good when flying, ha!
I had a 5 hour layover, and what I really should have done was head into Amsterdam for a few hours, but didn't think of it at the time. I fly through AMS at least 3-4 a year but have never actually been to Amsterdam.
One of these days I should take an 8hr layover and go exploring.
Pic of AMS Schengen area taken at christmas time
Pic of AMS Schengen area taken at christmas time
Money spent, I headed back to the lounge to eat and drink and finish up some of my trip report. I found an area in the back section of the lounge that used to be the smoking part of the lounge. They have decreased the size for the smokers. I wonder how long it will before they don't have any smoking sections.
The usual breakfast was laid out, boiled eggs, cheese, ham and bread rolls. nothing too interesting. By lunch time they had meatballs which really were not good, nothing like you would get at Ikea! What I really liked was a special plate of macron, which were absolutely delicious. After what seemed for ever, it was time to head to the gate to board my flight to Helsinki
Champagne in the lounge
Champagne
AMS tarmac
