Introduction

It's been a few years since my last trip report, mostly due to pure laziness. We moved across the world to live in Canada and after two years of Covid-19, it's time for us to go back to South Africa to visit some of those things dear to us, and to catch up with family and friends.

1. Calgary to Amsterdam via KLM business class
2. A day in Amsterdam
3. Amsterdam to Johannesburg via KLM business class
4. Jaci's Sabi House - Part I: Journey & Lodge
5. Jaci's Sabi House - Part II: Wildlife
6. A week in Cape Town
7. Johannesburg to Paris via Air France business class
8. Amsterdam to Calgary via KLM business class

1. Calgary to Amsterdam via KLM business class

Air travel in Canada has been nightmarish for the past two years, and I daresay a crime against humanity. Air Canada, surely the world's worst airline, has been particularly egregious and has cancelled or altered 100% of our flights over this time period. They have messed us around to such an extent that we decided to boycott them and switch to Westjet, our only real regional alternative who remain superior, for now. It's difficult to imagine how Air Canada's conduct could be legal, as they are in the Canadian news almost weekly and responsible for people missing vacations, weddings, funerals and all manner of engagements, but their standard drone-like reply seems to buy them a pass time and again.

With that in mind, Westjet experienced a massive computer outage the day before we were destined to fly to Calgary and hundreds of their flights were grounded for two days. By some miracle, our flight was the first one to take off to Calgary unimpeded and we boarded and flew seamlessly in our little Dash-8 without problems. Westjet and KLM did inconvenience us at stages but more on that later!

After a small layover we boarded our KLM A330-200 for our first leg to Amsterdam. A deluge of wheelchair bound people preceded our boarding to such a degree that when we landed they asked if only people who are truly incapable of walking would ask for assistance as Amsterdam did not have so many attendants for the task. Miraculously, some of these supposedly less abled people were revitalized and started walking to their next flights after they were told the delay could lead to a missed connection.



With a 2-2-2 configuration the cabin is a bit dated to what could be offered, but they are busy rolling out a more modern fleet with direct aisle access for their business class patrons. The seat is comfortable with a full recline, but the foot space can feel a little narrow at times. Standard amenities are provided like a pillow, blanket and amenity kit with the usual gifts like toiletries, socks and an eye mask.



With a glass of champagne on board, we waited and waited the Captain said that we were waiting for ground crew to be available to load the plane and that it would be about twenty minutes before we could leave. Part of the airline nightmare stems from the fact that there is a massive shortage of workers of any kind in all industries in Canada - sometimes there aren't enough servers in a restaurant, or just one teller in a bank. It's a complex story and outside the scope of this trip report but it can be horribly frustrating. After 45 minutes we started our taxi to the deicing area where we were covered in green goop, as it was well below freezing outside. Unfortunately, there was also a deicing staff shortage so we waited for an hour there too. Eventually the Captain came on and said 'you'd think a country covered in snow would have figured out how to streamline this process by now'. Ouch. Almost two hours later we reached the runway and without exaggeration I can tell you that I watched an entire movie on the ground, namely peace by chocolate. The takeoff was smooth and I was glad to escape Canadian air travel for a few weeks on this nine hour flight.



After climbing for a while the pleasant crew sprang into action and delivered more champagne, water and nuts (unfortunately not warmed). Instead of nuts you could also have their cheese platter which I had on other legs and was pretty good.



It was our first flight on KLM and we loved the way they presented everything with neat decorative trays and glasses, delft china, and engraved cutlery. It was very reminiscent of past times, though to be honest I was not alive in those times and can only base it on the new Downton Abbey movie that I'd started to watch.



The first course was a lobster, prawn and salmon sashimi with hearts of palm salad, pineapple vinaigrette and mango miso sauce which was quite tasty.



This was followed by the tasting of delicacies which included butter chicken with aloo capsicum, gobi matar masala, basmati rice with coriander and red chili - and of course a deep red merlot to enjoy it with. Other menu options included veggie meatballs and tortellini cheese and butternut squash. It was all very delicious and the cabin crew were always willing to donate another bread roll or top up the wine. I decided to hold off a little after I couldn't discern between Lord and Lady Grantham.



By now I was starting to get quite full but I still ordered the dessert which was a a petit grand dessert of chocolate and fruit petit fours, macaron, kiwi and whipped cream. Scrumptious and even better with a glass of port. There was no way I could eat a cheese platter after this and I settled down for some restless sleep for a few hours until we reached the coast of Scotland on this mostly smooth flight. I did find the cabin quite hot and I took off my jersey, socks and blanket to get some sleep.



At 90 minutes out the crew came round to serve various types of breakfast but I was still full from dinner and declined. I did accept a good cup of coffee though which did the trick.



As we started our descent the crew came past with the signature KLM delft houses and we started our collection. It's a small gesture that has remained unique to KLM and goes quite a long way. I didn't know that the houses are filled with a tot of liquor with a wax seal, so that was indeed a surprise. We made sure to document which numbers we collected so we didn't get duplicates later.





In the morning hours we touched down in sunny Amsterdam after a great flight. It was our first KLM flight and was quite impressive and memorable.