European Business Seminar 2014: Amsterdam

It's been a monster day. Since getting up at 7 yesterday morning, we have been on the move for the past 26 hours. Our flight was to take off at 4:10 yesterday but was delayed a little due to the plane getting in late. Here was our chariot- a Boeing 747-400 by KLM.

We got in the air a little after 5, and the service was quite good. I had a window seat right near the back of the plane, with two other people (both on the trip) between me and the aisle. Through some tricky maneuvering, I was able to take off my shoes and stretch my legs all the way under the seat in front of me to make use of every last bit of legroom. The flight served a snack, then a pretty decent dinner of pepper steak, followed by a snack of yogurt and orange juice near the end of the flight. They also provided a pillow, blanket, hot towels, and headphones to every passenger, which I wasn't expecting. I had a relatively comfortable flight, all things considered, though I only managed about an hour of sleep.

Sunset over the Atlantic

Economy cabin

We arrived at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam at 7:30 am local time, which was 12:30 in the morning as far as we were concerned. We were met by our CEPA host, Simon, who took us outside to a charter bus to bring us into the city. We are staying at the Hotel de Filosoof just outside the Vondelpark. Since it was so early, we couldn't check in yet, but locked our bags in a storage room and immediately turned around to hit the city. We took the #1 tram down to Central Station, walked down to Dam Square and back, then hopped on a canal tour boat- the same one Katherine and I took on our honeymoon in 2007. It was nice and cool, which was a relief from the unusually warm weather here today (77 and sunny). Following the tour, we walked down to the Prinsengracht to tour the Anne Frank Huis, then back to the hotel to check in. I took a shower and an hour nap, now we are meeting in the lobby to go down to a group dinner. Having powered through this whole first day, hopefully jet lag won't be too bad for the rest of the trip!