The Day That Went Missing…

April 10th –

 

After what was actually a super restful night (bed at 2:00 am and up by 6:30 am so I’m not sure that truly counts as ‘night’) we got up and gathered the last of our things, took out the garbage, said goodbye to Atlas and the kittens and headed off to the airport after picking up our siblings who would be taking our truck back from the city, post airport drop off.

The Saskatoon airport was very quiet, even for there 😉
So I didn’t feel SO awkward posing for Mike to take this photo 🤪✈️👍🏻

 

We were in no rush so we also stopped to take time and play on the color wall art instalment thingy 😉💎🌈

 

 

We flew the short flight to Calgary and had around an hour and a half there until we boarded for our eight and a half hour flight to Amsterdam.

We were slightly morose after learning that the Calgary airports chic-fil-a, was permanently closed down?!
So many layovers will never be the same 😭🍗💔

 

So we instead filled ourselves with some honey chipotle crispers from a Chilis restaurant and they were actually very good ☺️

We walked around in our remaining time, trying to prolong the leg stretching time we had left 🤪

We managed to doze off and on during the first hour of the Amsterdam flight but from then on out, for me, it was awake time.

Dinner came and that is always fun to me… I think maybe because everything comes in separate containers and it’s all so organized, making my ‘food can’t touch and must be eaten one genre at a time’ personality trait, rejoice 😉🙈
Also, KLM does focus on the little details.

(The Clamato/bloody marry was disgusting though… I think they just used tomato juice with lemon and that is NOT the same as I don’t like textured drinks :P)

A napkin held golden plastic cutlery, a fresh little roll is served as an extra side, the coffee cups are designed with darling little Dutch illustrations… I’m telling you, it’s the little things that become oh so interesting when you have 9 hours to stare at the same space 🤪

My Mom (and group of encouraging supporters)will be so proud… not only did I hydrate with H20… I also got up to use the bathroom AND stood awhile just to stretch.
It’s like I became a totally new person 😂

We made it to Amsterdam airport and it was for sure a little odd to get there and not be greeted by family or continue on by train to get to family… but to instead find a place to wait out the 2 and a half hour layover.
I was deposited at a couch with our luggage so I could lay down and Mike left the airport to search out dutch snacks or a grocery store because he couldn’t wait ten more days for some Dutch treats 🤪

As I lay, I spotted this MASSIVE fiddle leaf tree… I didn’t think they could even get that big and I even had Michiel go touch it’s leaves to authenticate it’s realness 🤪👍🏻

 

He had returned with a loaf of bread, chocolate bars, chocolates, croissants, chocolate cracker things and chicken sushi 😂

We boarded our plane to Johannesburg and I took a sleeping pill, praying it would work because most times in the past, it had not.
It worked 😅🙌🏻
It also helped immensely that we had an empty seat in between us!!
Two airplane seats and a husbands lap for a pillow, is just enough room for me to lay with my feet up.
An extra seat also meant an extra pillow and blanket so you could say I was pretty pleased with the situation 😜

Talking in a way that may show my age or lack of health or perhaps it’s simply seen as a taboo subject, I bring you, compression socks 🤓
I got a pair of prettily coloured compression socks off of amazon, after suffering swollen and achy legs during many of our more recent flights and even road trips.
Not only did my legs not ache whatsoever, they aided greatly in the comfort/warmth department 👍🏻

I slept probably a good four hours solid and then dozed in spurts between eating and landing for the other five 😏☕️✈️🍦

We were picked up by a shuttle car and taken to the Aero Tropolis Guest Lodge, the same place we had previously stayed at during our trip 2 years ago. We were given the same room as well and after eating our chicken sushi (which still sounds like the oddest and whitest thing to buy in the way of sushi 🤪) we went to bed, unsure of how we would (or would not) sleep…

 

 

April 12th –

 

We slept. Not that that’s really super interesting information for you all 🤪
But we did and it was grand and we awoke, got some breakfast, prepared ourselves and packed up to await pick up from some friends whom we’d been spending the weekend with ☺️

 

 

We visited at their home for a while and then we went out for lunch to the Irene Farm.

I ate chicken, zucchini and feta ‘lollipops’ with sweet potato fries and a basil apricot sauce.
They were good ☺️

Then a craft store was explored.
It was like a Michael’s of sorts but cheaper & had more available for creating party favours etc. It would be a very handy place to have if you had a specific project in mind to create 👌🏻
There was even one lady there who heard us talking and asked if it was my first time to the store and then went on to say it was just like ‘Michaelas’ a place she’d been in the states 😉

Then we headed back to our hosts home where we visited until enjoying a very tasty homemade supper that evening.
Our lovely host actually make what Mike had said was his favourite meal, during his trip there in 2013!
She puts my hosting skills to shame and I knew we’d be spoiled royally by the time we left 🤭😉💕

We ate ‘Milk tart’ and ice cream for dessert as that’s a very South African thing & good one at that! 💁🏻‍♀️
Almost like a pudding pie of sorts but tastier… not that I’ve ever eaten such a thing as a ‘pudding pie’ but texture wise I feel that is all I can compare it to for you all 😜

 

Upon entering our room, there were towels laid out with personalized goodies atop them. Flowers and water on the nightstand, along with a personalized magazine selection per person as well… art and home decor for me and home renovation for Mike… best B & B experience yet 😉💕

We went to bed fairly early, not having felt too to tired throughout the day but being very ready for bedtime once it came ☺️
Due to flying etc. it really felt like April 11th never even occurred for us, as we woke up to travel on the 10th and the only time we slept in a bed and awoke was on the 12th 🤪