Monday, May 17, 2010

A geat vacation but with a snafu or two

We have spent the first four days in Winterswijk mostly at the range, but yesterday morning, having some time to myself, I decided to rent a bicycle at the hotel and go for a ride. Even though it had been a few years since riding a bike, I did really well, that is until I had to navigate a narrow part of the cycle track. As I was making my way along the narrow part, the tire of the bicycle clipped the side and I ended up taking a nasty fall. As I sat at the side with head between my knees to try and ease my dizziness, feelings of nausea, and determine how injured I was, a couple pulled up in their car and came to my aid. The man insisted he drive me the short distance to the hotel, while his wife rode the bicycle back. I have one scraped knee, the other bruised and very sore, ripped the skin of the knuckle of one thumb, have sore shoulders from having put my hands out to break my fall, and other bruised tender places where I obviously injured myself by partially falling on the hard metal parts of the bicycle. I have decided my bicycling days are over, I will stick to vehicles with four wheels. Mr C says I am lucky I did not break something, get a concussion etc. and of course he is right.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 11:30pm last night, and after a good night's rest, and a fabulous breakfast in the restaurant this morning, we walked a few miles doing a little sightseeing. The city sure does look different from last year, as the garbage collection people are on strike and there are piles of garbage everywhere you look.

When we arrived back at the hotel we thought a good idea to check in with the airline to confirm our booking for tomorrow. Mr C had much difficulty trying to connect via the internet, so finally managed to find a real person instead of a recording on the other end of the telephone line when he called Delta.
Sheesh!!!! another snafu to deal with. This morning's flight was cancelled due to volcanic activity in Iceland, and it may be cancelled tomorrow morning. We have to be at the airport 7am or earlier tomorrow to check in, and if our flight is cancelled, we haven't a clue what we are going to do. We are not certain if Delta will put us up in a hotel, so if they do not, we will be staying at the airport along with other stranded travellers.

I am placing in my backpack, spare clothing, toiletries, snacks and bottled water, just in case we happen to be stranded. As we have our firearms we used for the European steel Challenge match in our luggage, we cannot take any alternative flight through other countries as we do not have all the appropriate documentation those countries require to transport weapons through them, so I guess you could say we are "between a rock and a hard spot"
So my friends, please cross your fingers for us that the volcano behaves, and we can get on our flight tomorrow and don't have to stay at the airport for any extended time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm indeed pleased that you didn't hurt yourself really badly (the fall is bad enough) Come on girl, bring home a pretty souvenir from Holland instead of black and blue bruises!!!!!!!
I do hope the volcano will behave, and I wanna wish you both a safe trip home.
Take good care and enjoy it all while you're still there.
GINCO

Gail Wilson said...

Oh my Jenn, What a amazing adventure you two are having. I am sorry about your bike accident and I am thankful you are all right. It sounds like it was very painful.

And I am hoping the volcano will stay quiet so you can get back home! Staying in an airport is difinetly not classified as a vacation!! love you, Gail

Balisha said...

So glad your injuries weren't serious. I do hope you get back home tomorrow. Take care, Balisha

Phyllis said...

I hope you get home safe! I can relate to the shoulders hurting. I fell a few years ago and used my hands to try to stop the fall and my wrists and shoulders are STILL hurting!

Q said...

So happy to know you did not hurt yourself too much withthe bike accident. Hopefully you were able to get on your flight. Sending postive thoughts!
Sherry