The first evening when I heard we were on the flight the next day, that was exactly my attitude. I had never been to AMS and decided I wanted to go into the city. Unfortunately, all our bags were in some holding area and my wife did not have shoes that would work in several inches of snow. So I went into town the morning before our rebooked flight and looked around for a few hours. In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake to not check whether the flight was on time (It would have been cancelled by then.) I didn't have internet access at the hotel, but certainly could have called my Mom and had her look while I waited. I even could have checked the departure screen at the train station at the airport (where I boarded for downtown). Lesson learned, I guess. Then I would have been in line much sooner to rebook.

And thanks for the 12,500 miles info. I wasn't sure how much others had received and that is great info to have.