We both woke up yesterday clearly sick with the cold I had worried about the previous day. Decided that a day in bed was the answer. Seemed to help. Checked in for our flights and upgraded our seats to front of the bus premium economy to optimize our luggage chances and minimize the transfer time.
I went out at three to collect Cath’s jeans from the menders: good job. Nice work.
We got up to go to pack for the early start the next day before heading out to dinner. Crashed hard again on our return, but both slept fitfully: probably nerves about the travel.
The taxi driver that we had booked was waiting for us in the hotel lobby when we went down to check out. He was early, but friendly and keen. Made it to the airport in plenty of time so we stopped for airport coffee and a burger: both dreadful.
Our flight to Göteborg was on KLM and had a stop at Amsterdam-Schiphol. It was late. Posted a fifteen minute delay when we got to the gate, it was eventually about forty minutes late at takeoff. Since we only had thirty five minutes for our transfer we were a bit worried. We were told that the pilot would receive a fax fifteen minutes from landing that would explain or fate.
The fax said that only one connecting flight would be missed: not ours. Our connecting flight would be held for our “quick transfer”. We would have to hurry from arrival gate C11 to departure gate C23. Didn’t seem too bad.
Schiphol was having none of that though: some time after announcing a delay to disembarcation because of a problem with the air bridge, the air bridge was declared broken. We were informed that they were summoning a ladder to get us off from the back of the aeroplane. So much for those extra-cost front seats! By the time we made it to the terminal and asked directions to the departure gate I received a text to say that our connecting flight had taken off anyway, and we’d missed it.
They’ve got us booked on another flight at five past three (about two hours from now) and they shouted us food and drink vouchers to the grand value of seven euro each. Enough for a beer and a wine, but not actual food. Birra Moretti is hitting the spot here in the D-gates cafe.
So we should make it to Göteborg today. Hope our luggage does too.
More news as it happens.
P.S. We did make it, but only just.
When we knew that we would not be getting in to Göteborg at the expected two-ish, but the rather later five-ish, we decided to book a taxi transfer to the hotel, rather than figure out the bus options and mechanisms. Much faster and easier, but also a good bit more expensive. Even though relatively small, Göteborg has significant peak-hour traffic hold-ups…
We got to the hotel and checked in by about half past six, which didn’t really leave much time to rest before our 7:30 dinner reservation, and we still had to figure out the public transport ticketing systems and routes to get to that.
The obvious way to make public transport here work is to install the app, and tell it to charge the credit card on a trip-by-trip basis. Or perhaps by-day basis once we’re up to proper sight-seeing. With the app you buy a single trip ticket which is good for as much travel in the zone as you like, for the next 90 minutes. It took us fifteen minutes to get from the hotel to the restaurant, give a few minutes walk at the end, and we got there exactly on time. Augmented the three-course set menu with some oysters for starter, and had a lovely meal: tartar with marrow, halibut with artichoke and lingenberry desert. (The oysters were served with a light apple-and-dill vinaigrette the likes of which I’ve not encountered before, but which worked very well.)
It’s significantly colder here in Göteborg than it was in Berlin (especially the warm last few days) and we were cold by the time we got back to the hotel. Crashed without blogging. No photos taken yesterday, either.
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