20070206 AMS -> SFO

depart 08:00 Afoort Kwekersweg by bus
depart 08:15 Amersfoort Station with a quarter of an hour delay to Amsterdam-Schiphol

Flight KL 605 AMS -> SFO
depart 11:10 from Amsterdam
travel time:
arrival 13:30 local time SFO
SFO is 9 hrs. later than AMS!
----------
remark:
at KLM incheck we discover that we both are allowed to take 2 pieces of luggages of max. 23 kg. each. So 46 kg. per person! And apart from that we may take our cabine baggage!
but: domestic flights in NZ have a maximum of 20 kg. pp!
----------
There's a lot of clouds above Schiphol. We can't even see the Dutch coastline.
On our way we only see the mountains and gletschers of Iceland and of Greenland. Later we see parts of Canada. All covered with snow. We get good sights of the Rocky Mountains. When we get close to San Francisco the weather gets better. We get a really clear look at Point Reyes!

During the flight we read:
- Mayes, Kathleen - Jet lag de baas (Houten, 1992) (db - quite instructive on how to overcome a jet lag)
- Louis Paul Boon - Mijn kleine oorlog (Amsterdam, 1947 / 4de dr. 1968) (db - a really splendid little book in which L.P. Boon gives his very personal impressions on life of common people in and shortly after WW2)
- Peter Matthiessen - De sneeuwluipaard (wv - she seems to be really fond of that book!)

We watch 2 movies:
- The guardian (with Kevin Costner and Father ... of Carnivale!) - in honour of the brave men and women of the US Coast Guard. Typical American sentimentality, but it did get us.
- Scoop (from and with Woody Allen) - about a girl that “infiltrates” in English aristocratic family. With the typical Allen-style jokes. “I used to be a Hebrew, but now I'm a Narcissist.”

last preparations

Planning NZ-trip wv/db feb – april 2007

db, 2007-01-14

2007-02-06 Tue depart Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) 11:10am

flight nr. KL605 arrive San Francisco (SFO) 01:30pm

rent a car via Fox: Toyota Prius http://www.foxrentacar.com/ ca. $284

2007-02-06 Tue stay at Hostelling International (HI) Point Montara

(close to airport) http://www.norcalhostels.org/montara/index.html

1 night

2007-02-07 Wed transfer to HI Point Reyes (a little bit north of SFO)

http://www.norcalhostels.org/reyes/index.html (much info and links)

2 nights

2007-02-09 Fri transfer to ...........

2007-02-10 Sat back to Montara

whale watching from Half Moon Bay

http://www.oceanic-society.org/pages/wwb.html

2007-02-11 Sun depart SFO 07:00pm

flight nr. NZ7

2007-02-13 Tue arrival AKL (Auckland) 05:15am

transfer AKL – Gisborne: AKL depart 07:15am

flight nr.

Gisborne arrival 08:15am

Air New Zealand (http://www.eu.airnewzealand.com/)

2007-02-13 AKL – Gisborne

Booked via Flight Centre NZ (http://www.flightcentre.co.nz)

NZ$ 416 (uit het hoofd)

passenger names: Dirk Bos & Willemijntje Verburg