jwhite9185

Yes, it is.

A trip report with a difference! Lets face it, on a 45 minute Eurohop in economy on British Airways these days, there's not too much to report on. So here, I'll be focusing on the timings of everything to show what can be achieved in an afternoon.

The pictures can be viewed here: https://www.inflightwithjames.com/po...s-it-possible/

Although they're more decorative than functional on this occasion.

I often get looked at as if I’m mad when I say I’m popping over to Europe for an afternoon. Most people seem to think it’s just not possible. Well, it is!

Let me explain.

I generally try to arrive at the airport around two hours prior to departure. Today’s flight will be departing from London at 13:05, so I aimed to arrive at the T5 car park at around 11:00.

Within 15 minutes I was in the BA Galleries First lounge enjoying breakfast. Whilst I’m able to enjoy the First Wing, cutting down the time it takes to clear security greatly, the two hour rule still works even when I don’t have any access to fast track security.

I decided to get my fill of food in the lounge this morning - as my time in Amsterdam would be a little limited, I didn’t want to spend time eating while I was there.

I stuck around in the lounge until the gate was announced, around 50 minutes prior to departure.

With around 30 minutes to go before departure, boarding began.

Boarding was completed in around 20 minutes, meaning we were ready to go with 10 minutes to spare. We were given a flight time of 45 minutes by the captain. Although being Heathrow, the taxi time was expected to be around 25 minutes. We pushed back around seven minutes ahead of schedule.

At 13:20, we lifted off, meaning we would be touching down in Amsterdam at 15:05 local. This would be a good 20 minutes ahead of schedule although knowing Schiphol, that 20 minutes could easily be eaten up taxiing. On this occasion we were in luck however, and we managed to pull off the runway and more or less straight on to stand. This resulted in us arriving on to stand a good 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Any advantage I did have however was lost by not only the fact that BA uses the furthest gates on the D pier at Amsterdam, but also that passport control was absolutely chaos when I arrived.

By 15:45 I was at the airport train station, and within a few minutes I was on a train heading for Amsterdam Centraal.

15 minutes later, by 16:05 local, I was at the central station. Using my two hour rule, this would leave me just over three hours to explore the city.

As the afternoon went on, the BA app showed a 30 minute delay to my flight home, meaning I’d get an extra 30 minutes in the city.

Despite this, I still found myself back at the central station at around 19:00. As the train was not only a few minutes late, but also a stopping service I arrived at Schiphol station at 19:35.

I made my way through an empty security and was in the lounge by 20:00.

As the earlier delay appeared to have come forward a little, I made my down to the gate at just after 21:00 - as I knew from experience it was a long walk from the lounge.

I made it to the gate at 21:10. Despite the lounge staff calling for boarding just as I was leaving, this wasn’t the case when I reached the gate.

Boarding was called, but then we were held on the jet bridge for a good ten minutes.

By 21:25 I was on board, and the doors closed at 21:40.

During the captains welcome speech, he mentioned a flight time of 45 minutes - however we would be departing from the Polderbaan. For those unfamiliar with Schiphol, this is the newest runway which is a LONG way from the rest of the airport. It usually takes a good twenty minutes or so to reach it from the main terminal area.

We pushed back at 21:50, which was 25 minutes behind schedule.

Sure enough, a 20 minute taxi over to the Polderbaan. We departed at 22:10.

After a quiet flight, we landed 45 minutes later, as promised. As is nearly always the case at this time of night, we ended up parking on one to Terminal 5’s satellites at 21:55. As we were “double parked” as such, a bus journey over to the main terminal followed.

As I was one of the last to board the bus, this way was probably quicker than taking the transit over to the main terminal area.

By 22:15, I was waiting for a shuttle back to the car park. As I was using the business parking, the wait was only a few minutes and I was back at my car just before 22:30.

And that was my afternoon in Amsterdam. Granted, it's probably not possible to do this in every city. Amsterdam itself isn't that big, so fairly easy to see most of it. It wasn't a particular rush either. The only public transport I used was the train from the airport to the city. If there's further areas you want to see, then there are trams and buses to speed things up a little.

rosensfole

My.... I was tired out just reading that

Nice report though! I have sometimes thought about doing something like this myself; Amsterdam is a good choice and possibly Paris could be done, although security lines there in 2E can be horrendous at the weekend.

jwhite9185

Funnily enough, Paris was the other destination I was considering. The 40 minute or so train ride to the city vs. 15 or so in Amsterdam made the decision for me though.

HLT1904

This is an awesome trip report although most people would think you were crazy. Life is about experiences and this is a way to have an experience. Thanks for sharing.

skywardhunter

Nice but what did you get up to for just 3hrs? Just a visit to the coffee shops?

I've got a 6hr AMS afternoon in a few weeks, arriving by train from Germany at 1pm and departing onward to AMS at 19.30, so not too dissimilar, I enjoy quick city visits and AMS is a city where it can definitely be done through the combination of convenient luggage storage at Central, walkable city + good public transport and easy access to the airport via train

jwhite9185

Yeah, I definitely got a few comments on returning to work. I've done shorter trips though.

Well, I could have but instead I went for a wander. Luckily the weather cooperated!