David's Blog: It was like time never passed

When it was still 2009 friends of mine from Tennessee, whom I worked with at Walt Disney World and became great friends, announced that they would spend some of their vacation time after Christmas in Europe. They would also spend a couple of days in Paris, a great prospect as that fabulous city is only 5-6 hours away.

Unfortunately the whole puzzle didn't add up. After not having seen them for almost 3 years you'd think that it would be about time and with such close proximity it had to work somehow. Even meeting at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which is only 25 minutes away from my parents place, on their transfer didn't seem like an option because some crazy person tried to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day, security got too tight in order for them to leave the sterile zone.

January 4^th I spent in absolute laziness, I wore my pajamas all day long. I had checked their flight on the website of the airport, which was completely redesigned. Didn't notice anything too weird and no bells started to ring when the same flight number was also listed with destination "Amsterdam". Technical error, right? I mean...it was a new website after all.

At 19:12 I get a text message: "We are delayed in amsterdam and awaiting more info. We'll call with more details soon." Again I am thinking that there must be a technical error, I mean after all their flight had departed at 14:00. I noticed a slight delay and I was guessing the message was delayed as well. Somehow it is just one of those things I'd expect to happen with a US phone in Europe or a European phone in the US.

I patiently waited for the call and decided to check out other sources to discover if the message was delayed or the plane. Thankfully in Europe we still have the bright source of information called Teletext (or Ceefax in the UK), which mentioned that the flight would be postponed until the next day. Could this be a belated Christmas miracle ;) ?

At 19:34 the phone rang, my friend said that they were going to be in a hotel at the airport. Perfect! I rushed on some clothes, suddenly my pajama-day was no longer! All the sudden excitement had to be tempered though because the weather outside was awful and I still had to drive. I made my way to their hotel through the snow and fog, and parked my car by the hotel.

Dusty was waiting for me by the hotel entrance, after greeting each other we went up where Becca was waiting for us. As part of a Disney magical moment it felt like the 3 years had never passed. It seemed like we saw each other last yesterday. Sometimes it is good to feel like nothing changed, and this was one of those moments. Everything felt so normal, incredible! Glad to report I wasn't the only one feeling like that.

Since there was only little time to spare, we made a brief visit to Amsterdam after their dinner at the hotel. We just spent some time around Dam and Damplein (Dam Square). I had them try some Bitterballen and a Kroket. I also dragged them through a small part of the red light district, and they almost got hit by a bicycle to make the Amsterdam experience complete. Altogether a really fun couple of hours.

I dropped them off at their hotel again, it must have been around or after midnight. Just as they waved me good-bye by my hotel room in Orlando 3 years earlier, I waved them good-bye at theirs in Amsterdam. It was weird, the roles were reversed but it seemed like something had come full circle. At the same time it made me wonder: "will this be another 3 years before we see each other next?" I guess it is just one of those moments only time will tell. One thing I am confident of is this: it will be like time never passed.