It begins: Quite the Travel Day

Dear Readers,

Wow, we had quite the travel day!  We were all quite tired, which is why I am writing this on the "day after."  At the MSP airport, the group of 12 students and myself had fun chatting while waiting at the gate.  In particular, I was impressed with Dan's ability to drink through a straw while wearing a mask.

Amsterdam experienced icy/snowy conditions, which forced them to delay and cancel many flights in and out of AMS.  This affected almost everyone in the group!

• The "main group" traveling from MSP to AMS encountered a nearly 2-hour delay in Minneapolis, causing us to hurry through Schiphol airport since we had just under an hour to make our connection with passport control looming.  We made the connection, only to sit for 90 extra minutes waiting for a long de-icing line!  I had it rough since I used miles to upgrade myself to first class - so little leg room!
  
  
  
• Savannah had a rough day coming from Portland, as her flight to AMS was cancelled.  After some rebooking, she made it to AMS only to see her flight have a nearly 4-hour wait for de-icing.  She finally made it around 9:00 PM.
• Atlas's delay in SFO meant a missed connection in Frankfurt and changed itinerary.  He finally made it here around 10:00 PM.
• Henry had a similar experience with a large delay out of O'Hare, so he got rerouted through London and finally made it to the hotel around 12:30 AM.
• Perhaps the "worst day" award goes to Noah, who was already in Europe.  However, his 8 am flight from Milan turned into a Midnight flight and an entire day at the airport.  He shuffled into the hotel around 2:45 AM.

That being said, we missed these four lovely folks as we did our first quick jaunt around the unusually cold city.

After our walk, we had our opening dinner at Cyrano Etterem.  It was a fancy three-course meal.  I am worried the students will expect this all the time.  But I think they will settle into reality soon enough.  We really missed Savannah, Atlas, Henry, and Noah at dinner!  This is the first time in five J-Terms that I've had these kinds of travel issues.

Finally, we all went back to our rooms and nearly collapsed into bed after a very long travel day!  Here is the amazing view I have from my hotel room (thank goodness the staff here know me!).

More adventures await for Monday!  I hear it's going to snow...

Goodnight from Professor Berliner (and Uncle Jerry).