Lori and Troy do Europe 2025

Today we were up at 6am. It is a big travel day with lots of logistics. We first needed to locate the Uber pickup spot. Fortunately there was a door man to direct us down the street about 2 blocks. It’s funny that when we walked out the front door there were 2 cabs but Uber has to pickup 2 blocks away.

We made it to the pick up spot just as the Uber pulled up. It must have been early for him because he did not get out of the car or pop the trunk. Usually they get out and help you. I guess there is a first time for everything. I figured out how to open the trunk and loaded our luggage. It was about a 40min ride to the airport. Lori found a step by step check in procedure online on how to go through the Amsterdam (AMS) airport. It is a little different procedure when you are checking in while flying standby. Since KLM handles the Delta flights out of AMS it can be a little tricky. It is not at all like it is in the US. It is actually a much easier process in other countries. AMS is very organized when going through TSA and Passport checks. If only the US could learn something from these other countries.

We actually made it through TSA and passport checks in about 30 min and that was with some pretty large lines. We found a nice restaurant that had “made to order” omelettes, apple pie and juice drinks. It was actually really good for airport food. Since this was going to be a 9hr flight to Detroit we wanted to make sure that we had full bellies.

We checked in at the gate and hoped that we would get good seat assignments. The Delta site showed 17 open spots in Delta One (First Class with individual cubicles) we were #12 and #13 on the stand by list. This was a good sign but there are always unknowns. There could be payload optimized flights so they may not fill all the seats. There is also the chance that some last minute stand by’s may jump on the list when they see that many vacancies.

Lori went to get us some bottled waters and snacks so that we had something for the flight. I stayed near the gate in case they called us up with seat assignments. Lori returned as they started calling up zones 1 & 2. This is the front of the plane where the good seats are so it is not looking good. We sat and waited for our seat assignments as the plane seating zones were called. Normally we are not this anxious because any seat will do on a shorter flight but it is nice to get a good seat on these long ones.

I started researching which row numbers were the good seats. If we get assigned in rows 1-9 we would be Delta One. If we were in rows 20-22 then we would be Premium Select which is still really good. They started calling up standbys to the service desk for their seat assignments. We were still not sure if we wanted to decline a coach assignment and wait for the next flight. They called us up and handed us our boarding pass. We reluctantly looked and saw Priority Boarding and seats 9D and 9E. It was in the last row of Delta One and we were right next to each other. YES!! Lori has flown D1 before but this is new for me so I am geeked!!

We excitedly showed our passes and entered the plane before they could change their mind. As you enter the plane there is a flight attendant that stands guard to the D1 part of the plane. We showed our tickets and he stepped out of the way and welcomed us. We walked to our seats looking like a Cheshire Cats! There were pillows, blankets, slippers, socks, blinders and even a seat cushion to further pad the seat. There are so many things and no place to put them all. It is a good problem to have. They brought us a welcome OJ and fancy menus and said they would be back to take our orders. What a bummer, I was stuffed from the breakfast that I just ate. The attendant returned a few minutes later. I told her no thank you, I am full. She looked at me like I was crazy so I ordered the beef short ribs. I thought they were going to bring it at that moment. Amateur!

After she took everyone’s order a drink cart appeared next to me. I ordered a glass of white wine. She offered me 2 choices and let me sample it before I decided. She then handed me a bowl of warm mixed nuts. I turned on the new Superman movie and plugged in my headphones. Before I knew it she was back and topping off my drink. These were some heavy pours and we were still sitting at the gate loading passengers. It seemed like every time I turned on the movie they were back asking if I needed anything. It was teetering on annoying but the added drinks help to soothe that. The attendant on my side of the plane was very efficient. Lori’s attendant not so much. Which was pretty funny. They made the announcement that we were ready to take off. The attendant returned and moved my chair into the upright position. I don’t like bucking the rules so I told her that I didn’t even know that it was not fully upright. She responded “yea, you just found it that way”. I laughed and said yea, I did. She had a pretty funny sense of humor. She continued to keep my wine glass filled throughout the flight.

We took off and then were allowed to install our seat padding. This is a full length pad because the seats fold down into a bed and completely flat. So I guess it makes sense to have a mattress pad. The seat itself had numerous seat positions that were all electrically controlled. These included lumbar support, foot rest, knee elevation and full flat position. You didn’t even need to stand up with so many positions to choose from. Just moving the seat was exercise enough.

Next came a hot towel. I guess it is to bathe with. I tried to see what other passengers did but you can barely see the top of their heads so I was on my own. I tried to look like a veteran traveler but probably over did it when I cleaned my ear canals and blew my nose. The returned shortly and retrieved the cloths with tongs. This ritual was the beginning signal that a meal was coming. First came an appetizer. Already peeled shrimp with a small salad and roll. Then the meal came. I ordered beef short ribs and Lori had chicken. It was delicious! We had just finished that and then the desert cart arrived. 2 scoops of ice cream and your choice of chocolate or strawberry topping. There were other options but I just wanted ice cream. I was already stuffed but just kept packing it in.

The attendant arrived to pick up my clean ice cream bowl. She asked why I didn’t lick it clean and I responded because I could not fit my head in the bowl. I think she liked messing with the new guy. Each interaction caused me to pause the Superman movie. Maybe this is their way to make a movie last 8 hrs. She stopped by again and asked why my drink was empty. I said because the attendant is slacking! That was all I needed to say. She kept my glass full until I fell asleep. Lori even started asking her for coffee from my attendant. I told her that she needed to stay on her side of the plane.

After a short nap and finally finishing my show I woke up to find most of D1 asleep in their cubicles. I got up and walked around and could see that most people were sprawled out with covers deployed. I counted 7 empty D1 cubicles. I checked the price before we left and they were going for $5800 which would explain the vacancies. With about 2 hours left in the flight another hot towel was handed to us with tongs. Ok, maybe this is a wake up towel. Nope, another meal. A delicious cheese burger with all the fixings. I forced it in. Now I was uncomfortably stuffed and still had to hoof the luggage through customs in Detroit.

We landed and were some of the first off the plane. We have a connecting flight at around 4pm and it is about 12:55 now. There is another flight at 1:50 but it is highly unlikely that we can make that one with Customs ahead of us. We walked right up to the Customs agent as there was no line. He cleared us within a minute. We passed by the baggage claim because we didn’t check our luggage. We headed to the luggage check area and were stopped and randomly checked. That was a quick, unnecessary stop but we didn’t question it. Then we followed the signs to the baggage check area. The guy asked us questions like he was really interested in visiting the same countries that we visited. I think they are set up questions because he wrote down stuff and then sent us back through luggage check. I think that they thought we were hiding something because we said that we only bought a sweat shirt and a necklace. We made it past that and figured we might be able to make the earlier flight. We rounded the corner and there was another check point which just waived us through. We traveled up the escalator and saw about 20-30 TSA Agents at the top. What now? False alarm, they were just having a team meeting. I was actually surprised to see that many because of the threats of sickness over the government shut down. Finally we made it to the earlier gate and they were still boarding.

We approached the gate agent and asked if there was room and if we could move from a later flight. She had a great can-do attitude and looked for seats for us while she checked in passengers. She was able to switch our flight and ended up putting us in the front row of First Class, together. What a great way to end our trip in luxury.

We took our seats and listened to a lady and her husband clear her throat and cough the whole way to Midland. Hopefully the early flight does not end up being our demise. We avoided sickness for 2 months.

We arrived at MBS and Tina was waiting with our car. I loaded up our stuff and asked if she wanted to drive back to her house to drop her off. She said no that her friend was parked right in front of our car and that we could head right home from there. She even left us a banana as she has been reading the blog and thought we may need some fruit. She is a great friend and super funny.

We made it home in about 1.5 hrs and just brought our stuff in the house. We have had enough for today.