Sunday, October 20, 2019

Mosaic Monday #50: A Whirlwind

Fluffy rabbits at Amsterdam
airport
Dateline: October 16.  Durham Tees Valley Airport. Waiting for our flight to Hamburg*.

A little dizzy.  That's the best description of my feeling at the moment.  Maybe it's the strong coffee I'm imbibing, but I think it has more to do with four countries and four airports in as many days.  I haven't completely adjusted to the time zone and the new rhythm of the days.  Trust me, I am not complaining - we've had a smooth journey so far.

On October 13, the full moon cast the only light at the early hour of 6 a.m., as we navigated the silver thread of road in our neighborhood. The Toyota GPS predicted a travel time to Calgary of 6 hours and 37 minutes.  Well, that was a concerning moment - we had planned on five and a half hours.

I will cut to the chase and tell you that we made good time, even with two comfort stops.  At that hour, we were the only car crossing into Canada, and we passed through quickly despite a slightly grumpy Canadian border agent (I suppose I would also be annoyed to get out of my chair at 7 a.m.)

The drive from the border to Calgary traverses the Rocky Mountain range, and with the early snowfall in British Columbia and Alberta, the scenery was stunning.  Every few miles, we would say "We need to come back here."

Near Fernie, we saw 60 elk in a field along the Elk River.  Amazing.  A bit further on, Crowsnest Pass wowed us with alpine lakes lapping closely on either side of the highway.

As we descended toward Calgary, the scenery transformed to prairie and soon enough we had parked the car at the Hilton Garden Inn.  (Through friends, we learned of way.com, which offers discount parking at hotels - what a novel idea.  We will be staying at the Hilton upon our return to Calgary.  And in case you're wondering why we would fly from Calgary, it's simple - tickets were half what we would have paid flying from Montana!)

In no time we had checked in with KLM and were enjoying a late lunch at Vin Restaurant.  (We also watched the Cleveland Browns play the Seattle Seahawks - not so enjoyable with a loss, 32 to 28.)  So glad the Coconut Curry Soup was outstanding!

Our flight to Amsterdam was slightly over 8 hours, which "flew" by quickly, courtesy of a couple of movies (I watched "Rocketman" and "The Mule"), a meal and some napping.  

We occupied the four-hour layover with walking (who wants to sit after 8 hours in a narrow airplane seat?) and window shopping.   This was not our first time to Schiphol Airport; despite its size, I love it.   You can stroll for miles, it offers a plethora of unique shops, and you can still locate a corner or two with peaceful serenity. 

Cheese, anyone?
Left: Tulips, Middle: Robot welcomes you to the store
Upper right: HUGE amaryllis bulb; Lower right: Dutch blue pottery

I slept through much of the hour-long flight to Newcastle, but awoke in time to see the green patchwork of fields rising to meet us.   Was it tears suddenly blurring the view?  No, I'm sure it was just some wispy clouds! 
  *We were with my in-laws for a day and a half and now we are in Hamburg.  More to come from the UK and Germany!


Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.
 

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Click here to enter

38 comments:

  1. ...sounds like you are having a fabulous trip, keep it up! Thanks Angie for hosting.

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  2. I'm warn out just reading this post! Air travel can be exhausting! I'll have my turn the end of the month when we fly to Ireland! Wishing you well!

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  3. Great to hear you the are travelling ok, wonderful photos.

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  4. I'm glad your travels are going well! Have a wonderful time and stay safe. 😊 Kit

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  5. You sure get to see so many wonderful places and beautiful things!

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  6. Angie, it sounds like a lovely start to your “vacation from your vacation” )).....that was very interesting about the flight from Calgary being so much cheaper! I know you are enjoying your time and I’m grateful that you made the effort to put up this link party. Thank you and keep on having a great time.

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  7. Oh wow, it sounds as if you are going to have the best time, Angie. Not only did you save a lot of money on your flight from Canada but you were able to enjoy all that stunning scenery. I look forward to seeing all the fabulous photos I know you will take when you next post. Have the best time!

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  8. Many Canadians come south of the border to Bellingham and Seattle to catch flights because the cost is less than up in Vancouver. Probably Montana doesn't have as many direct long distance flights making it more expensive than Calgary. Sounds like you are enjoying your trip so far. - Margy

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  9. What a wonderful trip. Hurry hurry--rush rush--enjoy enjoy
    MB

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  10. That is a lot of driving, flying and airport sitting. At least you were occupied window shopping in your four hour layover, and had movies to watch during the flight. Why is it though that I never fall asleep watching a movie on a plane, but fall asleep easily in my chair at home? I love your pic of the mountains. Happy travels and have a great week. And thanks again for the link up.

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  11. I flew also with KLM via Schiphol to Florence recently. You had long flights! Enjoy your vacation to the fullest - and Oktoberfest in Hamburg!

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  12. Welcome in Germany... next you like to visit Augsburg?! Maybe I could show you some interesting places.

    Have a good week.

    Happy MosaicMonday

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  13. Hello, what a wonderful trip! The first travel day can seem so long. I would like to visit Calgary and Amsterdam. Safe travels and enjoy your trip! I am looking forward to more of your trip photos. Thanks for hosting. Enjoy your day, have a happy new week!

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  14. Sounds like you're having a wonderful time already, Angie! Enjoy...

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  15. I'm looking forward to more of your travel photos, Angie!

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  16. What a lovely trip. I love seeing our region from the air!

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  17. Hi Angie - Happy Travels, I get it that slightly discombobulated feeling ( I learnt that from an American lady at Detroit Airport!) it's a great word for that jet lag feeling!
    looking forward to hearing all about it!
    Wren x

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  18. aside from an 8 hour flight, that sounds so interesting. I used to live in Edmonton and we went to bamff and Lake Louise frequently. The columbia icefields are incredible. Your meal looked good on the plane.

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  20. We like to walk at airports too. It feels so good to stretch those legs. and get more steps.

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  21. I'm always learning new things from you. That's interesting about parking at the Hilton via way.com, hmm. Flying from Calgary for half the cost sounds great, too. I've been in that airport that's more like a city twice (coming and going) It really was interesting to see all the amazing things it has to offer. Happy travels to you!

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  22. I have a friend who does the hotel stay/parking thing. Airport parking is expensive.

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  23. Lovely photos of your very busy travels ~

    Happy Day To You,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  24. Some brilliant photographs there, and Calgary, so good.

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  25. How exciting to be on a wonderful trip! Enjoy your time there and stay safe! Hugs, Diane

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  26. I guess it's too late to ask for one of those pink bunnies! heehee! Have FUN!

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  27. Enjoy your travels! Love the stunning scenery!

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  28. That's quite a journey you are undertaking Angie. The road trip to Calgary would be enough to tire me, without then getting on a plane. Guess you're still in Germany but soon to Blighty. Enjoy.

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  29. Traveling from the west of North America to Europe takes such a long time, doesn't it? That's interesting about flying via Calgary because of cheaper fares; sometimes people drive to Seattle from BC to find the same. So strange, either way.
    I hope you're enjoying Germany these days. Autumn must be settling in there as well.

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  30. Great photos of your journey. The road to Calgary looks absolutely beautiful. Enjoy your trip!

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  31. Happy travels.
    Safe travels.

    I enjoyed your photographs … enjoy the remainder of your trip.

    All the best Jan

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  32. It sounds so fun and interesting, what a great trip, so far!!


    My Corner of the World

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  33. Four countries in four days is just a tad too much. And four airports is even worse!

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  35. What a great trip! My head is spinning as well :-)
    Amalia
    xo

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  36. That was a quick visit with the in-laws. If the trip has gone smoothly then you are very lucky. Air travel never seems to go to plan these days.

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  37. I missed again last week--too much good and bad happening here--long story. I never traveled far to catch a flight but now I think I will look into alternative airports when there is so much savings! Glad you arrived safely--enjoy your travel!

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