As I had a very busy week and wasn’t looking forward to getting up early, traveling to AMS and going through the hassle of doing some ticket changing etc at the KLM desk I decided to get an airport hotel to spend the night and relax a little. I used to spend almost every weekend at the Sheraton but as I converted to Hilton the AMS airport Hilton was the obvious choice, besides that, their rate was e100 less than the Sheraton…

I booked online, and got a very decent rate of €149 incl. all taxes and service charges.

Checking in was done within a minute, it used to take over 10 minutes at the Sheraton but it looks like Hilton have their stuff sorted out here, I received my key and a personal welcome letter personally signed by the hotel manager (and I’m only a gold ). Even on this reasonable rate I got a room on the executive floor and therefore didn’t need to ask for an upgrade, the price even included breakfast. I was instructed where to find the executive lounge and went up to the room. Compared to the room I used to get at the Sheraton this one is a little smaller, nice large bed, decent airport view (although the window was a tad small…) but a rather small bathroom with bath and shower in one. I suddenly realized why I needed this room as I lay on the bed and passed out for over an hour…

When I woke up I had a shower but was disappointed to find that the shower wanted to decide how much water I was going to get and at that temperature it was going to be .

I then popped over to the Schiphol Plaza to do some shopping and get something to drink as the minibar in my room looked a little too tempting The weather in Ams was amazing, we already had a lovely pre-spring week but this was like summer, I was outside in my short sleeves in the first week of april… After dinner with a friend I went to bed, had a dreadful nights sleep  but got up a lot later than I would have had to if I were leaving from home.

I proceeded to the KL Royalwing check in desk and was checked in within a minute, my bags received priority tags and I got instructions to the Royalwing lounge. I passed the long lines at security using my “Privium” card which involves an iris scan and a dedicated security line, the system is still in its trials and I was the only one using it 

The Royalwing lounge is a nice open lounge; it has a decent beverage and snack selection and a pretty nice view of the tarmac and airport ops. After catching up on some email I proceeded to the gate as I was warned that the security lines would be quite long (All AMS flights to the USA involve a short security interview). I decided that the business class security entrance was also suitable for me with my royal wing card even though it did not specifically state it, after several questions that should make me feel safe I was through and waited for boarding. For those who missed my post in the BA board, this was going to be my first flight in coach for years, just as I was going to get on board my name was called and without any explanation I received a new boarding card for J, I was the only one called forward so it’s needless to say I felt quite content with that 

The J cabin on NW is quite large, seat pitch is reasonable but the seats themselves are pretty bad, the bottom of the seat is too long and when you sit down your feet don’t touch the floor, controls are all non electronic and the panel for the IFE is in the side of the seat so being a large guy like I am it’s quite annoying trying to change channels. I received an amenity kit, menu and headphone pack. After about an hour dinner service started, it started with a salad and Spanish tapa’s selection followed by a choice of lamb, fish or Indonesian rice dish. Despite my upgrade the FA came over to me first to ask for my dinner choice, she worked down a list of pax seemingly on airline status. The Indonesian dish was probably the worst food I had ever received on board a flight, the rice and sauce were dried up and the meatballs certainly didn’t contain much meat… As the other pax around me who had ordered the same were also experiencing the same I think it was obvious someone had left the oven on too long.

After dinner I tried to sleep but woke up after a little more than an hour and watched movies for the rest of the flight.

We arrived at SEA 30 minutes early, after clearing immigration I collected my bags, passed through customs and had to give my bags back again for them to transfer them to the other satellite terminal. Before getting on the train I had to pass through a security point. In the other satellite I had to wait for 35 minutes for my bags, the entire process made a pretty inefficient impression and all seemed so needless to me, at this point even priority tags don’t work…

At the airport Missydarlin picked me up and took me to the Westin. The Westin is a nice hotel, it’s bigger than most hotels in Europe and check in was very efficient, and even though I was on a priceline stay I received a nice room with a view on the 27th floor.

After some unpacking, Missydarlin and I headed to dinner at El Gaucho’s where we met with Ldsant. Dinner was wonderful, despite me being quite tired. Anyone in or going to SEA must go there, the service was absolutely perfect and it’s needless to say so was the food. After our lovely dinner we took a cab to Kells where the first fellow FT members we bumped into were Rudi and Marc. Other FT members slowly came flowing in, as did the Guinness. Check the photo’s to see what a great time we had! After Rudi had taken Marc, Punki, Hunki etc.. away from us we were left with about 6 of us and continued to drink the night (morning to me) away bribing the waitress with the chocolate Rudi left us… The time at Kells was great although I think it wasn’t just the nice company that kept me awake but also the Irish whisky 

Saturday started about 10 hours too early for me with a call from ldsant who had offered to drive me to the FT breakfast at the airport where we would wave goodbye to Rudi and Marc. Breakfast was at 13 coins, seemingly the only decent place open for breakfast in the airport area, we had a private dining room and when we arrived we were welcomed by a large group of sleepy Flyertalkers… Breakfast was fun (check Chex’s photo’s) and consisted of a choice of eggs, eggs or eggs. I had the eggs. Rudi had the excellent idea of waking up with a breakfast sidecar, needless to day that to me it was just what the doctor ordered, I slowly started waking up right away!

When I got back at the Westin my plans to have a quick nap eventually turned into a 1 hour sleep waking up with a dreadful headache, after getting room service to deliver some Advil I started my shopping trip with Missydarlin. I got to see the best Seattle has to offer varying from Pike Place market to Nordstroms (Punki’s favourite ). After hauling bags of goodies around town all day and popping over to the hotel to drop some stuff off we got a call from Punki who had planned another little do over at Kells, too hard to resist of course! It was now when even the Guinness couldn’t stop me from almost falling over, after 2 pints I was excused and popped back to the hotel to sleep a little more…. That “little more” turned into a 3 hour sleep 

I ended the day with an amazing dinner and drinks at the Cheesecake factory, consisting of mini-burgers, meatloaf and some wicked Mojito’s…. I was too stuffed to have any of their cheesecake so I took a box of mini cheesecake truffles back home with me. After that I called Markbach at 4 am in the morning (his time had already moved forward)

When the alarm rang in the morning (after losing an hour somewhere in the middle of it..) I felt like a hippo had been sitting on me all night… It took me over 30 minutes to wake up and start packing in time to grab some breakfast in Roy’s restaurant downstairs (Belgian waffles and warm maple syrup )

After a smooth ride to the airport I checked in at the first available NW desk (thank goodness for Royalwing!) the other lines for the NW desks were pretty long, at check in I was informed it was going to be my lucky security day, I was asked whether my bag was locked and if it was ok to X-ray them. The agent made a note on my BP and pointed me downstairs to the train for the other terminal.

The security line downstairs was easy and I was in and out in 2 minutes, after taking the train to the other satellite I proceeded to the NW worldclub where I finally ended my internet free period by using the Wayport wireless service available in the terminal. When I finished downloading my 490 emails (yuck) and picked out the most important ones I went to the gate. I had a slight discussion with one of the agents whether or not my royalwing entitled me to pre-board like the other plat elites etc.. and was sent to the security check due to my pre-selection (overweight, red-head Scotsmen were seemingly being profiled today). The security check was efficient and was performed by 4 people on me, 2 checked my bag, one checked my shoes and one frisked me. I then thanked them for their professional attitude and they looked pleasantly surprised.

After my BP was scanned it was clear that today was not going to be my lucky upgrade day… I sat in a decent seat in the back with loads of leg space, 10 minutes before take off I took 2 “simply sleep” tablets and closed my eyes, when I woke up we were just 3 hours away from AMS, coach or not, I slept better than I did in the past week. The FA asked if she could get me anything, when I declined she was lovely and said that “as a mother she thought it would be best if I at least had a yoghurt!”. NW FA’s are charming, professional and very experienced; they made my flight quite nice. I slept for the rest of the flight and only woke when we hit the ground. The FA was in her jump seat opposite me and complimented me on sleeping so long, if only she knew

At AMS I once more got to use my Privium card to skip the huge lines at customs, I just love the looks I get from other when I pass through so quickly! The NW priority tags worked well as my bag was the first to appear on the band, I was off the plane and out of the terminal within 10 minutes. On the train I logged in and picked up some email and had a chat with Markbach, he was quick to post to Tarom.net that I had survived and had actually had a good time in coach..

I spent almost all Monday sleeping (again) only waking up to have a planned conference call.

I had an amazing weekend, SEA is a wonderful city and those who live there are quite lucky! Thanks to Missydarlin for the guided tour, ldsant for joining at dinner and to all the other Flyertalkers who participated in the do’s and mini-do’s.

What had I learned from this weekend?:

• Sleep more before traveling
• Stay longer, Sea is too nice to do in a full day
• The best Mojito’s are at the Cheesecake factory
• Coach is not as bad as I thought

Related links:

El Gaucho

Chex's Breakfast shots

The Cheesecake factory




[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-09-2002).]

Shhh... that's our secret!

ScottC... I'm very upset that your upgrade on the return didn't clear!

El Gaucho's has been rated a better restaurant over the Met Grill by at least two magazines (Playboy and Men's Life) but I have never been there.

At first, I don't understand why you had to check bags for a two day stay, but then I realized you may have needed to add some articles to your Timberland collection!

Thanks for the report, the part about the Privium card is quite intriguing.

btw- did MissyD take you to the troll?

What hippo??

Chex-

He didnt get to see the troll, as its not found in a major retail outlet

Blair-

Not THAT Hippo..she went home with me Friday night. She says to say hello and please send more choccy

Edited for UBB illiteracy

[This message has been edited by missydarlin (edited 04-09-2002).]

El Gaucho is definately considered to be the best steak place to "see and be seen", and to pick up women (hence the Playboy and Mens Journal accolades). But personally I prefer the quality of the steak at the Met and Daniel's Broiler to be superior. Our filets at El Gaucho were kind of tough (even after we sent them back) - of course, by that point we were pretty trashed on Opus One.

ScottC's presence in the Emerald City definitely was one of the highlights of the weekend for me! El Gaucho was absolutely lovely. And TravelWeary really hit the nail on the head with eggs, eggs, eggs at 13 Coins. Good thing they also had sidecars for people who don't like well done eggs