Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (Almost!) This one is also still under construction, I'm still experiencing Blogger issues

With successful meetings in Brussels completed, I head for the third leg of my trip: Newcastle, England. Why on earth would I expect this trip to be uneventful?

I get to the airport at a quarter to 6AM; to catch what I thought was going to be a 7:05AM flight. It ends up being a 6:00AM taxi ride. My KLM flight to Amsterdam (should be Amsterdamn!) was cancelled. Why am I not surprised, after all the last time I flew with them my flight to Frankfurt was cancelled. That’s a 2 out of 3 record for them with me; I don’t think they’re getting another chance!

Anyway, where was I Oh yeah, so myself and one other lucky KLM customer hop into a cab that the airline so conveniently provided and two hours later we’re at the Amsterdam airport! My flight from there to Newcastle starts to board in half an hour, oh yeah this is looking good now! I’m second in line and the person in front of me is leaving, boarding pass in hand. I approach and place my first bag to check on the treadmill, hand my ticket to the attendant; she looks at me and says (in a thick Dutch accent) exactly what I was hoping (NOT!): “I’m sorry sir, but my boarding pass machine has just stopped working, it will just be a minute for someone to come to fix”. I very politely point out that my flight will be boarding in 20 minutes now. She very politely responds as nearly anyone else would have, however she says it in a much lower voice than I was thinking: “Shit!” “Oh I’m sorry sir, let me see what I can do” She climbs over the tread mill to her colleague’s computer and they both work together to get me on my way.

So here I am again, 24 gates away from my flight, and I haven’t even cleared customs yet! With now 10 minutes to go I get through customs and rush to my gate. Thankfully, this time, the flight is delayed by the fog and rain. We begin to board about 20 minutes later than we were supposed to, but at least I wasn’t the one holding everyone up!

We take off, and the flight is amazingly uneventful Thank goodness! I arrive in Newcastle and the driver I had arranged to pick me up is patiently waiting. He is a talkative fellow, which to me is very welcome, because even though it is the Queen’s English, it’s English all the same! Now don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in relearning my ancestral languages, (und Ich kann Deutsche und Flemmish besser verstehen dan sprechen). It's just that it takes so much concentration that it honestly wears you out after a few days. He mistakenly asks how my flight was, and I oblige by telling him the story I’ve just told you above. By now we’re both laughing as we pull up to the hotel. “Here we are sir”, he states, “The weather is particularly nice today, so hopefully your stay here will be better than the trip”.

With those words he just double jinxed me. A simple phrase of good wishes and I’m doomed! It’s now 10:00AM on Saturday, the hotel is completely booked, checkout isn’t until noon, and my room will not be ready until 3:00PM. Damn, the bar doesn’t open for another hour, so I make a more logical decision; I have the concierge check my bags and I sit down for a traditional English breakfast!

Oh it doesn’t end there, but thank goodness it doesn’t get any worse!

I take my time eating, and if you’ve ever sat down to eat with me you know that I am slow anyway, but what else am I going to do for at least another hour anyway! I finish and decide to take advantage of the nice weather; after all it’s supposed to start raining again tomorrow. I take a walk down along the Tyne River. The sun is out, so is the wind, but I still enjoy a nice leisurely 45 minute walk.

I get back to the hotel and have now earned a taste of a good English ale and or lager! As I sit and type this story for you to read I am sun burned (my hat was in my baggage, which I checked with the concierge), and wind burned, but man does this Castlemaine XXXX (off the tap, of course) taste good!

Only two more hours to go before I can get into my room, hmm what ever shall I do? Hey, I know maybe I'll go down to Loyd's Pub where I can get a cask aged, hand drawn "Geordie's Pride" (produced by Mordue Brewery), for a mere 1.55 English Pounds per pint. (that's about $3.10 American, and don't forget it's an English pint which is 20 US ounces!). It's a wonderful example of everything that an English Bitter style ale should be! Besides the walk would do me some good! ;-)

Cheers mate!