By going to bed before 8, I was really hoping to get a solid 6-8 hours of sleep. Considering I hadn’t slept much since Thursday night, I figured this shouldn’t be a problem. Was I ever wrong. I probably woke up 3 or 4 times throughout the night, and finally got out of bed around 3am. I was tempted to check out the terminal, to see if anyone was around and if anything was open but decided to pack up, eat ‘breakfast’, check email and start my blog on Amsterdam. After about two hours, I finally ventured out. Terminal 2, where Yotel is located, was pretty empty. I saw a couple travellers and mainly airport staff. All the shops and restaurants were still closed and so was the immigration counter in the terminal so I had to walk down to Terminal 1 to get back out to the luggage storage. When I exited the arrival gate at Terminal 1, I found this machine that creates different signs/banners that you can hold up as people come out. Pretty cool.
Once I found my way back to luggage storage, which was outside the arrival gate of Terminal 2, I collected my bag and went upstairs to check it in at the KLM counter. Most of the major airlines nowadays have self check-in kiosks but you still have an agent check in your luggage. Well, not at KLM. Not only is it self check-in for your boarding pass, you also check-in your luggage yourself. The self check-in luggage section looked like something from the future. Another reason KLM is a cool airline.
I ended up doing a lot of walking Sunday morning. Since Terminal 2 closed, I walked down to Terminal 1 to exit. Apparently Terminal 2 doesn't open till 6, including the passport/immigration window, so I had to walk back down to Terminal 1 to get back to my Yotel. With the lack of sleep and all the early morning walking, I went back to my room and lied down for 30 minutes before checking out.
At 7am, Terminal 2 was finally alive with travellers and all the restaurants/stores were open again. Feeling hungry and craving some fresh vegetables, I found a place in Terminal 1 that had a salad bar. Unfortunately it's not like the salad bars we have in the States. Europeans and even South Africans seem to prefer their vegetables cooked, stir fried, marinated, pickled, and/or creamed - everything but fresh. The only things fresh were the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. It was still good to eat a bowl of veggies and a glass of carrot orange juice.
I finished off my second breakfast with a gingerbread latte from Starbucks before heading to my gate and the 11-hour flight to Cape Town.
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