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On Saturday March 5,
my wife Wilmie brought me to the train station where I took the train
to Schiphol. Because of the weather conditions with lot of snow I went
early. I had the 8:15 train. There were no delays so after having switched
trains in Breda and Dordrecht I arrived at Schiphol in time. I checked
in my suitcase at the desk of United Airlines and went trhough customs.
In the departure aria I had a coffee in one of the restaurants. Then I
went to a gift shop to buy some small souvenirs for my Mexican colleagues.
I came to the gate around 11:30 and had plenty of time to do some reading
before we had to board the plain.
The plain was a Boeing 737 with 300 seats. I had an aisle seat but when
the doors of the plain were closed the window seat left of me was still
empty, so I switched places. The flight was very quiet and pleasant. I
watched 3 movies and read my book for the most time. We had 2 meals on
the plain. When we were over the USA the sky was very clear, so you could
see the landscape very well. We flew over New York and the city was visible
from the plain. We arrived at Dullus airport in Washington 45 minutes
early. We had to go through immigration and rechecked our luggage. At
the time I came to the departure aria it was 13:30 and I had a few hours
before my next plain would take of. So I walked the airport terminal and
had a few beers in a bar. The flight to Mexico was on time and left at
15:35. I had an aisle seat again but this time I was not so lucky. A family
with a small kid were right behind me and the kid was screaming during
the whole flight. Still I managed to sleep. In fact I woke up because
we touched ground in Mexico City.
Ricardo was waiting for me at the arrivals and he had brought Lisbeet
Soto. We drove through the heavy traffic to the hotel. I invited them
in for a drink. While Ricardo was parking the car I checked at the desk
and was taken to my room. I freshened up a little and put on a new shirt.
Back in the lobby Ricardo and Lisbeet were waiting for me. We went to
one of the bars in the hotel and sat down for a drink. The bar was on
a glass terrace over a fountain. The hotel Camino
Real has the most fantastic architecture. We talked about work and
when it was about midnight I said goodbye to go to sleep. I was feeling
tired but not sleepy. I had a hard time falling asleep again and woke
up every hour. I managed to stay in bed until 5:00 and then I came out
of bed. I stowed away my luggage and took a shower. It was 6:00 when I
was finished and decided to start on my diary. Around 6:30 I went out
to walk through the hotel and find me a breakfast.
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