This was my chance to fly with the family for the first time since my fear of flying course. My father had been ill for some time and I wanted to help out as much as I could. This was the beginning of our adventures. It’s not like anything could stop us in 2020!
Our two youngest daughters True and Rio (yes I liked Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran) are the closest sisters I have ever seen, despite a near 4-year age difference. And what’s more they both really enjoy being with us old parents of theirs. We’ve always done “Mystery Tours” – nothing really fancy a lot of the time. We just get up in the morning and jump on the car ferry (we live on the Isle of Wight) and go somewhere. It can be anything from Brooklands motor museum to the Science museum. However, I have misjudged their nerdiness at times. Like the time we took them to Myrtle Avenue near Heathrow to do plane spotting.
This was the mystery tour of a lifetime though. We told them to pack a bag for 2 nights. We wound them up on the train by whispering about having to get across London but we weren’t going that far. At Gatwick Airport I got up and said “get out”. They were so shocked and got out on the platform. Then I said “Only joking get back on the train”. I think I went too far. Look at their poor faces!
I said we were stopping for food at the airport. We went into a restaurant at the airport and the kids were so gutted. True wasn’t even talking to me. I had to tell them. We were going on a plane – their first time because as previously blogged I hadn’t been on a plane for 20 years. True was still suspicious another plane spotting incident was in the offing and didn’t believe me until we were in our seats.
It was only 35 minutes from London Gatwick to Schipol Airport and a short train ride to the Amsterdam City Centre. We stayed at the DoubleTree By Hilton which is super convenient for everywhere and overlooks the cute Chinese Restaurant in the water called the Sea Palace. It’s tucked away behind this picture of the warm welcome cookie. I’d never had a welcome cookie before. It was lovely and it’s a good job I had it because Dave is now coeliac and I’m a bit dodgy on the old gluten too!
We had an executive room with a separate bedroom for us and two converted beds for the girls in the living/dining area. There was a fantastic coffee maker, complimentary mini bar and snacks in the living room.
Because we were in a suite we also got free access to the Sky Lounge on top of the hotel which is actually a place that people pay to go to see Amsterdam. Dave was most aggrieved to have to pay 9 Euros for a pint of beer though (again before he found out he was coeliac).
Luckily he got his own back at “Happy Hour”. This Hilton had a special lounge for suite dwellers and there was free booze and food and he got his 9 euros back that way!
The kids didn’t mind what we did for an activity they were just so chuffed. We went on canal boat guided tour which I thought they’d hate but they just soaked it all up.
Eat Sleep Fly Repeat 