Day 49 – Mon 28 Jul 14, Haarlem to Schipol to Dubai

Forecast: rain!

Hmmm... We were planning to ride to the airport to make the trip complete.  However, the weather had other plans.  It was particularly nasty weather and continued through breakfast and after.  So, after breakfast we walked briskly across the square to the train station to buy our tickets.  We also had to buy tickets for the bikes and they were more expensive than tickets for humans?!!

When we got back to our room we received a message from Wendy’s mum saying that Joe (our neighbour) was unable to pick us up from the airport.  Well, that put us in a spin for a bit and then we realised there were a number of people that could possibly help.  We gave mum the Wheeler's numbers and eventually got a message back to say they could pick us up and were happy to do it.  Greg had also emailed Grahame so we got the "yes" from two sources.

Upon arriving at the airport (Schipol), we found a nice quiet spot still in the station to clean the bikes which we did meticulously.  We then went upstairs to the airport but then had to go back downstairs within the airport to get the bike boxes.  This is also where you can store your luggage in lockers of various sizes for varying lengths of time. They also have packing benches, one of which we used to pack the bikes and sort the luggage into carry-on and cargo luggage.  The whole process of cleaning and packing took about 3 hours, with the most difficult part being getting from where we packed the bikes to the check-in counter.  Try wheeling a trolley that has a mind if its own anyway, with a long box placed on the trolley sideways (so the bike is upright) through hordes of people all frantically trying to get to their check-in counter, with luggage as well.  It doesn't work, at all.  So, you changed the boxes to short side down so it blocks your view of where you're trying to go!  Wendy gave up trying to miss people in the end; most of them were traveling in the opposite direction and she figured if they couldn't see her coming, then they were rather silly and deserved to be run over! We finally made it to counter 29 and were directed around the line of people to the far counter because the boxes couldn't fit down the narrow queuing lanes.   Each bike and pannier set weighed in at 29kg.  It was then through immigration and because Qantas doesn't fly into Amsterdam anymore, no Qantas club and no access to the Emirates Lounge either.  There was a Maccas though so we joined another queue and had a leisurely lunch before heading off to find the boarding gate to wait some more.  I love being a lifetime Silver frequent flyer as with Emirates you get priority boarding and a special seating area (together with the really important people in first and business classes).

Wendy watched 3 movies, whilst Greg slept and watched a few doccos. 

We landed in Dubai just after midnight and the temperature was still 32 deg C! Lucky the airport has a good air con system.  We discovered a second Emirates lounge to the one we were in on the way over and decided to try it.  Wendy did not think it was as big or salubrious as the A lounge, but it has showers, toilets, and wall to wall food and drink, so we were quite comfortable, thank you very much.  We had to be; we had a 10 hour wait!!

Our bus to Budai
Finally on our way home - yay!
Waiting for the train, pouring rain outside
Making the bike box by numbers
Wndy's bike almost ready to go
Both bikes and luggage ready to be checked in
Train tickets for us and our bikes

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