Part of the mystique of a trip to Europe is that you never know who might be in the seat next to you.  We were fortunate on this flight and sat down next to a genius and his lovely wife, also presumably a genius since she was married to one.  They weren't just pulsing brains, they were polite and humorous as well. We were traveling with our 8 month old daughter, Asha.  They offered to move over a couple of seats for us immediately upon seeing that we needed to sit in the bulkhead to utilize the baby crib.  Yes, modern technology has actually afforded new parents with a life saving contraption that firmly affixes right into the wall of the bulkhead and holds a crib big enough for a one year old to take a nice, long nap in comfort.  Amen to whoever designed this revolutionary invention!

Other Passengers

The lovely man next to me was an geophysicist and a Muslim.  Of course, I had a ton of questions for him about the state of the oil production, his travels and certainly Islam.  This lovely, soft spoken man in his sixties worked for one of the major oil companies and was now retired.  I told him that I desperately wanted to know if we had really hit "peak oil" and he said we had absolutely not hit it.  We weren't even close.  We have just barely used 25% of all of the world's known oil and that is just the oil we know about!  I told him I felt like we were getting screwed, again, just like in the '70's.  He confirmed that we were and the only thing driving up the price of the oil per barrel is unfounded fear.  The real problem is the refining of the oil.  There aren't enough refineries in the world and that is driving up the price of the gas and other petroleum byproducts.  He answered each question eagerly, as though it had been his first time hearing it.

I told him of our extensive six month trip to foster business relationships in Europe and New Zealand.  He said he loved New Zealand.  He likened it to being like Canada only in the Southern Hemisphere, surrounded by water and with only about ten percent of the Canadian population.  I thought that sounded just perfect.  Having lived in California for the last 9 years I felt inclined to ask if he knew anything about the earthquakes in NZ.  He said that earthquakes do occur but they occur at such depth that most are barely felt at the surface.

We exchanged information and promised to visit him and his wife when we were in Den Hagg.  Unfortunately, we didn't make it to that city on this trip but we will soon.

Arrival In Europe

We had left Toronto at 5:30pm with it's sunny blue sky and arrived at 7:00am into a thick fog.  Our mood was jovial and undeterred by the weather or lack of sleep.  The trip was long but it was manageable.  What was almost unbearable was the time we spent in the airplane after we landed.   The airport runways are situated far from the terminal which makes for a 15 minute taxi ride across the flat farm fields and over multiple highways.

Our first impression was that we landed at a American airport.  All the signs were in English and the restaurants we passed on the way to baggage were what we would find in any typical US city.  I was a bit disappointed.  I worked through my feelings on the long walk to the baggage claim which was a good 20 minute walk from the arrival gate.

Once we got everything together we passed through the final checkpoint and we were free.  We quickly met up with friends who were waiting patiently for us.  We talked a bit right there in the terminal about fulfilling a promise from 6 years prior.  It would take the rest of the day to fully comprehend and acknowledge that a life-goal has now been achieved.

Flight Path

Our flight from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Amsterdam, Netherlands with Martinair followed this path.  During the flight we were able to see the northern lights which were absolutely beautiful.  They were not quite bright enough to capture with the camera but I will always remember them dancing through the sky.