All Aboard

Shot while waiting for Bus Route 202 to the airport.  These vintage public transport vehicles are still being used, this time for a small fee not included with the usual travel card.  They're not as slow as one might think, but they follow no set schedule and leave only if anyone is curious enough and has the time to try them out.  We usually see a red bus, occasionally a green one, so this is the first blue artefact we've spotted.

Had already started packing the previous evening, and checked in online.  When we got up this morning, not much left to do.  Out an hour before check-out, then breakfast at the 'risotto restaurant' (simple eggs with toast + coffee/tea), then to the bus stop where we'd just missed the bus, but no rush, we were well on time.

At the airport, we loitered at the café, then checked at the counter for proper boarding passes (no check-in luggage is a relief), then more loitering near the various shops while we waited for our gate announcement.  Boarding was more or less on time, the flight to Rome was uneventful.  Dinner at an Italian restaurant at Fiumicino Airport while waiting for the gate assignment for ROM/AMS.  Went to the gate counter again for proper boarding passes (I am not fond of airline apps!).  Getting sleepier and sleepier.  Take-off on time.  Offered a refund as we didn't get the Exit row seats we reserved when they changed to a smaller aircraft.  Finally touchdown at Schiphol, the bus to the long-term parking facility and, wonder of wonders, found our car within two minutes!  We do not have Alzheimer's yet.  Then the drive home, during which AW fretted constantly about speed limits while I was driving completely within the rules.  Clearly, he was tired as well.

Arrived a little past midnight, as I had predicted, and yet, curiously enough, it took another 1.5 hours before we went to bed.  Apparently, a kind of cooling down phase was necessary, energy-wise, and perhaps after the 37-degree heat in Malta compared to the 22-degree situation in the evening here.  There'd been a storm with high-velocity winds the day before and even one death -- a woman in our neighbourhood who was unfortunately in her car when a tree toppled on it.  No such incident in our street, and with that comforting thought, we finally fell asleep.

Thankful for buses and planes that departed on time, for the fabulous holiday we'd just had, for a neat house that greeted our homecoming, and, most important, for finally sleeping in our own beds again.  Did you miss us, House?  We're glad you stayed okay while we were away!