Back home again

It has been now a couple days since I am back on Dutch ground again,
but still my NZ experience can't find a close in my mind. Although I
am back at work again, and sleeping in my own bed again, it feels
strange to be here. Ah well, that will pass probably.

My trip back home didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, as the staff
of Malaysian Air at first didn't recognize my bike as being some
sporting equipment, and almost had to pay quite a fee for at least
25kg excess bagage. But after some arguing and phoning, and mentioning
that I wouldn't pay for that other than the fee I also paid at
Schiphol (€80) the staff admitted. Apparently KLM has better
regulations and offers for bikes than MH, but I did book my flight at
KLM so they should honour my arrangements.

Once my luggage was checked in it was time for customs, and of course
I got picked out for an extra check with a hand scanner.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur was fairly smooth, but once in KL the
trouble began. As I had about three hours of transfer time I decided
to get a cup of decent coffee first at Starbucks. Once I left their
comfortable chairs I had a look at the monitors, and it read that my
next flight was delayed up to 3 am (should have left 11:40pm). So
headed to O'Brians for some food ;). They do serve good sandwhiches.
As time went on and the airport nearly closed, and I had seen almost
every bit of the transfer area I headed to the gate.
After a few hours we learned from someone in charge that a bird had
entered the engine at take-off in Jakarta, and the mechanics were
checking it for damage. Though this took a few hours longer than the
guy told us, and food and drinks were not allowed past the security
check. After some questioning from several passengers drinks and
muffins were arranged from the airplane, but only after a long time.
In the end we left KL a out 5:30am for Schiphol, where we landed
around 11:20am.

Won't be flying for a while, had my fair share of flying for now. Next
holiday will be somewhat closer to home ;-).

A next project to keep me occupied will be running a half marathon in
Hengelo in about a month. Should be fun!

Kia ora! And goodbye! Keep watching my other blog, I'll be changing
it... Cya!