Travelling to Amsterdam via Frankfurt the on to Rotterdam by car

This is a travelling day. We left the hotel by taxi at 8am so to ensure that we arrived in good time for airport security which, according to the news, was tighter than usual. We did get slightly delayed by a collision on the highway on the way out to the airport, but the taxi driver was wise and knew how to get around this without too much difficulty. 

I think we hung around Pudong for about four hours in total so we were certainly there in good time. The seats we had were near the front so we had good access to the toilets and exit doors. The most eventful aspect to the journey was that the cabin crew kept spilling things on S as they walked past. He’s coming down with a cold so he’s not feeling the best. My own comfort bag for travelling ended up in the main luggage so I had to make do with what Economy Class offers- a thin blanket, flimsy headphones and a small pillow.

We arrived in Frankfurt, and finding how to transfer was very easy. Unfortunately the plane was delayed by thunderstorms so we had an unexpected wait of a further two and a half hours. When we were finally called, my ticket as rejected.  According to the computer, I'd been bumped off the plane! (S was fine). A moment of very exhausted panic, followed by the flight attendants managing to reinstate me, and then... we climbed into a bus, which took us out to the tarmac and onto he plane. Whew! We half slept through take off and landing. Thank goodness we found Tineke waiting, so pleased to see her and visa versa. Lots of warm greetings, into her car and a drive to her lovely wee flat overlooking the Maas River. After a glass of red wine at 2am with some Russian salmon (delicious) we headed to our first horizontal sleep for more than 26 hours.