Grounded

The alarm shouted at me very early and I managed to get up. I bought my train ticket to Gatwick yesterday and checked-in online so I wouldn't have to worry about travel delays. As I tucked into breakfast, I thought I might send an email before I left. It was lucky that I opened up my messages because in my inbox was an email from British Airways saying my flight had been cancelled! They didn't give a reason or any alternative flight. This, of course, caused panic and disbelief. I thought it might be one of those prank emails, but when I checked the flight details, I found that my flight had indeed been cancelled. I called the number on the email, but customer services are open only Monday to Friday. Gah! I was due to meet Mum at Schipol Airport at 2pm so I had a limited time to find a new flight. It's just as well I live in London and could reach other airports in a couple of hours. Luckily, I managed to buy a new BA flight from Heathrow that got me into Schipol a little bit after Mum.

Once at Heathrow, I treated myself to a large Wagamama breakfast, tried to calm down and tracked down a nice BA customer services lady who was a little horrified that I'd paid for another flight. I pointed out that I didn't have much of a choice at 6.30am. She assured me that I'd be refunded and took my details.

At Schipol, Mum found me no problem. The airport bus took us direct to our apartment, which I'd found through airbnb. The owner of the flat, Nathalie, was there to greet us and we felt instantly at home. Her home is gorgeous!

Later on, we visited the local supermarket and purchased lots of interesting foreign items to scoff. We had a little panic back at the flat when we couldn't work the key. I rang Nathalie, who was en route to her parents' home in the country (we were staying in her home so she had to move out for a few days). While she tried to figure out why we couldn't get in, Mum suddenly stumbled through the open door - she'd managed to open the lock through a combination of turning, pulling and pushing for five minutes or so. Throughout our stay, I never once managed to open the door. I'm so useless with keys (but at least I know who I inherit that particular gene from - thanks, Mum!)

For dinner, we headed to a vegetarian restaurant that our guide recommended - The Flying Saucer. It didn't look very inviting from the outside, but inside it was brightly coloured and cosy, with a cat on one of the tables. This was an instant like for me. The food was gorgeous and the plates absolutely massive. A feast!

The blip was taken on the way to the restaurant - it seems herons perch on top of vehicles here.