If It's Wed., I must be in Norway

by Jay Gee

Saturday April 21, 2001

I watched the dog frantically search his enclosure for an escape route. There was none. He was as trapped as I was. I had the misfortune to be in line at the Northwest Air counter behind a woman trying to ship her dog to Detroit. After 20 minutes they finally processed the woman and her pet.

I approached the counter with my passport and ticket in hand. The clerk typed in my information and suddenly had a shocked look on his face. "Oh no, it's not letting me put him in the system,” he said. His manager said, "Re-book him." He replied, "I can't, he's on an international."

As I explained that I had gotten to the airport on time and it wasn't my fault they took so long to process the woman with the dog, they finally got me into the system.

The trip to Detroit was uneventful. We landed on time and I made my way to the next departure gate for my flight to The Netherlands. We boarded the plane and waited for take off. As the time for departure approached the pilot came onto the intercom. He said, "I'm sorry to announce that our co-pilot spotted some leaking fluid under the landing gear. There will be a 45 minute delay as maintenance checks the source."

As we sat in the DC-10 I came to the conclusion that this was a really small aircraft to be used for a transatlantic flight. It was substantially smaller than a 747 and a lot less comfortable. As the 45 minutes ticked off, the pilot announced, "I'm sorry, but we still have not finished fixing the landing gear. It looks like we have another hour to go."

After 2 hours past our scheduled time we finally were on our way. I passed on the in-flight movies and got as much sleep as I could.

On Sunday we landed at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam. I went through passport control and customs with no problems. I made my way to the lobby and bought a train ticket for Arnhem. I went to the train station under the airport and boarded the next train toward Amsterdam. I got off at Duivendrecht station to change trains for Arnhem.

The train to Arnhem arrived and I boarded with the others. As I made my way to the 2nd class compartment I felt 2 men push me forward toward the wall as if they were in a hurry. A 3rd man in front of me then put his hand into my pocket. It was a classic pickpocket technique. After previously living in Europe for 2 years this was not exactly new to me. I looked at him and said, "No!". While I was trying to think of something more articulate to say, they ran off. I knew that violence was low in Europe, but property crime is always a problem. I verified that they hadn't taken my wallet and I took my seat. They didn't know it, but most of my important things such as my passport were in hidden pockets and my travel pouch so the loss of the wallet would have been just an annoyance.

I arrived in Arnhem in the mid-afternoon. I checked into the Hotel Haarhuis and unpacked. Arnhem is a sleepy town on the edge of the German border. It's best known from the movie "A Bridge Too Far" which was about Operation Market Garden. This was the attempt by 800 British paratroopers to hold the Rhine bridge for the allies during WW II. I walked to the small war memorial next to the Rhine bridge and watched the ships pass by.

I made my way back to the hotel and looked for a restaurant. Most places were closed on Sunday afternoon. I finally found a Japanese restaurant that was open.

On Monday and Tuesday I taught my classes and then packed up for the next leg of the trip. On Wed. I took the train back to Schiphol airport for my flight to Bergen, Norway. When I got to the airport, I checked in and made my way to the gate. Security was tight and they quizzed me about my luggage and if I had any agricultural products since Hoof and Mouth disease was so prevalent. I met up with one of the programmers who was installing the software package on this project and we boarded the plane.

Around noon we landed. Norway had recently joined the Schengen agreement and there was no passport check or customs. We went straight to the taxi stand and made our way to Agotnes.

Agotnes is a small village on an island jutting into the North Sea. It exists mostly to service the oil platforms in the area. I found it to be a rocky, barren and isolated site that I thought would be a good stand in for what Mars will look like when we start colonizing it. Vegetation was sparse to non-existent. The weather was gray and drizzly.

We went straight to the client and worked on the computers. Around 6 p.m. we decided to head into Bergen for some sightseeing since we would not have any time on Thursday or Friday due to our work schedule. Bergen was quite charming and we took a lot of pictures of the fish market area and the historic buildings. We headed back to Agotnes around 9 p.m. with several souvenirs and a lot of photos.

Agotnes is too small to have a hotel so they put us in a local truck stop. It was an Esso gas station with rooms above the gas pumps. The rooms were sparse, but comfortable. The major feature of my room was the heated bathroom floor. This was definitely a nice touch since the weather report showed more drizzle with lows in the 30's.

On Fri. we flew back to Amsterdam. The programmer went back to Arnhem and I went to a hotel near the airport. Saturday I again made my way to Schiphol airport. It was packed. This weekend was a celebration of the queen's birthday and it was far busier than normal. I waited in line for an hour to get to my plane.

We boarded a 747 which made the return trip far more comfortable. We landed in Detroit where I had a 5 hour layover. I caught up on my reading and had a long lunch. I arrived in Houston at 9:30 p.m. I was glad to be back.