The Rambler wasn’t sure she would ever venture abroad alone without the comforting presence of the senior Rambler…but it has been over a year…
Ata the nd of August, I found myself at the Hartsfield International Terminal waiting to board a Delta flight to Amsterdam. This has been a summer of extreme heat in Europe and low water issues on the Rhine, but the cruise I booked was called “Dutch Delights,” and our boat would cruise entirely in the Netherlands. The Rambler was aware that this was a country with plenty of water, but she didn’t realize just how much. The Netherlands, she learned, has many large lakes besides rivers and canals, and at times it would look like our ship was on an ocean cruise rather than on a river.
Hartsfield was as busy as ever the week before the Labor Day Holiday weekend, but there did seem to be less staff available. This had been a concen as I use wheelchair transport in any airport. My balance is not good and there is always the fear that someone who is walking along staring at at their phone will plow into me. Fortunately the wheelchair service was operating well and check-in went smoothly.
Up until a few years ago, the Rambler would never have considered using a wheelchiar but the senior Rambler needed one. Then we found out that wheelchair bound passengers get priority throuh security. I felt a twinge of sympathy as my transport attendent cut blithely through the line of waiting passengers. Before long I was being frisked after my full body scan. Security will scan you if you have serious metal in your body, and I have about 5 pounds on each side after a double hip replacement. I doesn’t matter if you are an 86 year old grandmother. Just be sure to wear decent shoes so you won’t trip in the scanner. Actually they are usually but not always, apologetic as they pat me down.
After security and a tram ride, I arrived at the Delta gate early but not surprisingly, there were already a few people waiting. It was odd to sit there by myself for the first time in my new life as a single traveller. Truly I was feeling somewhat uptight as I am a nervous flyer but i was even more concerned that I would miss connecting with the Uniworld Rep at Schiphol. Having been there before, I knew it was a very large airport and I had heard that they were having labor issues.
When it was time to board, there were no wheelchair transport people availble to push my chair down the jetway and the Delta staff at check in were reluctant to do it. Guess the Rambler didn’t look particularly feeble so they kept asking me if I could get myself down the jetway because if I didn’t I would be the last person to board. Since our plane was a big Airbus 350 with a full load of passengers, this choice was not appealing. I did decide to get down the jetway myself and fortunately my Delta Premium comfort seat was close to the door so I thankfully almost fell into my seat.
Thankfully, our flight was uneventful except for a crying toddler who made her presence known through much of the flight. As the mother of seven, I am able to tune this out as it would be concerning only if it was my child crying. Not likely since my baby will be 52. LOL However I did have a good deal of sympathy for her parents.
Unfortunately the food on our Delta flight hadn’t improved in the last 3 years. In fact, now the Premium Comfort folks got the same food as the coach passengers and it wasn’t very exciting. On the Delta website, they intimate that the people in Premium Comfort get different food than coach but in reality, they don’t. The Rambler can testify to this, after 3 flights in Premium Comfort. Oh well, it keeps you from overindulgence.
Our flight landed 45 minutes early at Schiphol and perhaps this is why there was no transportation waiting for me. The KLM gate attendent told me that they would be coming and I should sit on the bench by the wall and wait. There were already two people sitting onthe bench waiting, from an earlier flight, not a good sign. So we waited and waited. We were about to ask the gate attendent for help when we realized that she had already left.
At this point, I was glad our flight landed early as I didn’t know how long the Uniworld Reps would wait for arriving passengers. I started to get uptight again. Somehow my anxiety level increases when I am traveling alone. The couple who were waiting with me were equally uptight. They were anxious to meet up with a friends they were to cruise with, who had taken a different flight to Amsterdam. Their meeting point was the exit, a long way from where we were at the moment.
Schiphol is an extremely large and busy airport. Before Covid, it was easy to find one of the transport carts or wheelchair pushers who ferried passengers with mobility issues from the gate to the exit and vice versa. Obviously much had changed since my last visit in 2019. I learned later that that airport management had fired most of the transport staff after COVID took hold, and were just now rehiring them.
From our vantage point, I saw a passenger transport cart in the distance and got up to try to flag it down. I managed to catch the attention of the driver and she assured me that another cart would be with us shortly. I just hoped that her idea of shortly was faster than that of the gate attendant. Finally, after thirty minutes or more, the long awaited cart showed up and we were our way. A few years ago, I would have hiked it but no more. So many people are looking at their phones as they walk along that older people with balance issues have a 50/50 chance of getting knocked down.
Our driver was both cheerful and efficient. She one one of the transport folks who had just been rehred and she admitted that after a while it was a strugle to make ends meet. It took a while to get near the exit, as we had to work our way though ever increasing crowds of travellers. I was starting to worryagain as I didn’t see any Uniworld signs waving around. Yes, I knew I probably could get to the boat by uber or taxi but finding the Uniworld rep was very much preferable. Finally I spotted one of the ubiquitous Viking signs and I asked the Viking rep if she knew where I could find the Uniworld folks. Her response was “at the meeting point.” This meant absolutely nothing to me. Of course, you would meet someone at a meeting point. Fortunately the transport guide said she knew where it was, and so she did. Before long, I spotted a Uniworld sign and not one, but two Uniworld reps.
Of course, I was the last traveler to arrive but the reps and two couples from the States who had been on earlier flights were patiently waiting for me. I was cheerfully welcomed and almost magically my guide produced a wheelchair for me. Things were looking up; maybe attempting to travel on my own wasn’t such a bad idea. Guess I was going to find out!