All because of an airfare sale….

There we were -minding our own business with no travel plans until later this Fall- when the fateful Email arrived.  “DELTA FLASH SALE!”  Delta + sale for me is like a sailor running to jump overboard when he hears the siren’s call.  Overboard I went.  Never mind that even with a fare sale, we’d end up wrecking our travel budget for the year.  

The fun news is that for an astronomical number of frequent flier miles (normally hoarded so carefully that it would make King Midas seem like a spendthrift) plus $175 each, we were able to fly over on Delta One -an experience rarer for us than the odds of winning the lottery.  (Delta One is where the seats lay down flat and passengers get to order their meal for the flight -among other things.) Our return to reality would happen on the way back.  We’d be sitting in Main Cabin as usual.  That was the plan unntil I found out that for a reasonable extra fee, we could upgrade to regular 1st Class on the way back.  Who could resist?  (Probably a lot of people…but not me!). 

The not-fun news is that the rest of the trip turned out to be beyond aggravating to plan out.  The planning melt-down is a very long story, which I will spare you.  I did almost give up and cancel the flights. Suffice it to say that the trip we are doing is probably our 4th or 5th choice.  We had decided that we really wanted to do another bike + barge trip but it was nearly impossible to find something that fit our dates, was in our price range, and was actually available.  When I checked on this trip, which is supposed to leave from Amsterdam, I found out that for “this” week only, it has to leave from Utrecht instead.  Only the week we want -of course.  That changes the final day of riding and we may have to leave the barge a day early to make it back to Frankfurt in time for our return flight.  

OFF WE GO

We’ve taken the long flight to Europe enough times to have come up with our ways to stay comfortable and at least get some sleep on the way over, but Delta One is a completely different experience.  It was a different world up there.  I wish we could do it more often!!  It will be tough to go back to Main Cabin next time.  

There were only two seats in our row. We each had an aisle seat.

Above, I have my leg fully stretched out while sitting up.  When the seat goes all the way flat, there’s room for your feet below the TV screen.  (I had other things in there when I took the picture).  The TV screen pops out of the console so it can be positioned at a good angle for watching the entertainment.

Once in Frankfurt, our next step was to find the train station, which is conveniently located right at the airport.  We had about an hour or so before our train was departing.  We located the entrance for the track that our train was departing from and went down the escalator to wait on the platform.  We were sitting on a bench facing track #7 with a small partition right behind us (for an ad, I think).  The platform was only for tracks #6 or #7.  Mike was watching the information screen like a hawk, so I pulled out my Kindle and started reading.  He noticed that there were some delays for other trains arriving/departing on the same track, but ours was still on the list, but a few minutes behind schedule.  When it was getting close to the time for our train arriving, I closed my Kindle to put it away and glanced up at the screen to see how much longer…and noticed that it was now listed as departing from #6.  WHAT?  “Mike!” I said, surprised “Did they change the track?” -just as he was noticing it too.  We jumped up like our pants were on fire and peeked around the partition and our train was sitting there behind us on track #6 with about ONE MINUTE left before it departed…. YIKES!  We hopped onto the train through the first open door we saw and it was only moments later that the train started rolling.  Turns out we’d boarded the first car (#30) and our seats were in the last car (#39), but we were on!  WHEW!

I’d taken the above picture in the train station lobby before we took the escalator down to the #6/#7 platform.  Little did I know that it would be the perfect artistic expression for our alarm at almost missing our train!

Four hours later (three hours of which were taken up by us dragging our bags to car #39), we stepped off the train in Utrecht, Netherlands.  I’d booked a Hampton Inn that is actually located inside a mall across the street from the station.  I’d received an E-mail from Hilton explaining how to find the hotel from the station.  That mostly went well -except the directions were based on walking into the mall on the ground level.  We walked into the mall one level up.  In spite of that, we managed to get to the Hampton Inn entry door without too much confusion.  The real confusion ensued as we tried to figure out how to actually get into the hotel!

As you can see from the pictures – it was a plain sliding glass door with an empty elevator lobby.  No signs,  The first thing we did was walk up to the doors -which didn’t automatically open.  We thought that it might be a side entry of sorts that needed a room key to open the door.  OK… what next? 

We checked the instructions I was sent, scoped out where we might have gone wrong…. Then some guests walked out so we went into the elevator area while the door was open.  There was a sign next to the elevators listing the floor guide.  Reception was on #3.  OK, we hit the elevator call button.  When the elevator came, we noticed the key security box mounted inside.  If you haven’t stayed at a hotel with these, what happens is that to get the elevator to go where you want it to go, you have to hold your room key to the security box to confirm you’re a guest before hitting the floor button or the elevator won’t move.  Well, we didn’t have a key…so now what? 

Back out into the mall to confer on what to do next.  All alternate ideas exhausted, and feeling like we were the most inept, clueless travelers EVER…we decided that this entry HAD to be the hotel entry, so back in (through doors that now DID open when we walked up to them -go figure!), called the elevator, got on and hit floor #3 with fingers crossed -and Eureka!  We finally arrived at registration.  When we  commented to the receptionist about our confusion downstairs, she said.. “Well, there ARE signs.”  Hmmm…I don’ think so!  

We are big fans of the Amazing Race and we’ve seen shows where a team will just be so oblivious to the clue they’re looking for…walking back and forth…right by it and not seeing it.  I will have new sympathy for future teams in that predicament.  🤣

By the time we managed to check in and get to our room, we’d been traveling for nearly 24 hours with very little sleep to show for it.  Mike had started noticing a cold coming on just before we left home -and he wasn’t feeling the best -so our only goal by then was to find some dinner then get some sleep.  There were several convenient restaurant options in the mall.  We ended up eating at a burger/sandwich type place only steps away from the hotel.  Then it was time to settle down and try to get some sleep.

Categories: Part 1: Netherlands Bike & Barge 2025