So, I’ve got a little to write, but not because of good things. My connection in Amsterdam was tight — 50 minutes. The travel engines have given me this connection in the past, but having been through Amsterdam airport, I was wary. I even sent an email to Delta asking if fifty minutes was really enough time, and they said, sure, that’s the minimum they need.

So I booked the flight with the fifty minute connection. Bad, bad idea.

The flight out of Portland got off late and got into Amsterdam even later — 20 minutes late. After taxiing forever, I got off my 8:30 arrival at 9:00. And — of course — my connection was on the other side of the airport.

After rushing across the airport and going through the security screening again, I arrived at the departure gate 5 minutes after they closed the doors. So, yeah.

I’ve gotten rebooked on the next flight to Kiev, but that’s not until 8:00 pm tonight; it will get into Kiev just after midnight (local time).

I’ve sent texts to my wife which hopefully made sense. I also sent a message to my developer friend in Kiev — which I hope that he will see — asking him to call my wife and explain things. But now I’m just stuck here for the next 9 hours.

As I said, major suckage…

Quick update:  I got online again — lucky for me I have both a laptop and tablet with me on this trip, because Schipol limits your wifi connections — and was able to see a message from my friend.  He got in touch with my wife, so I can sure that she knows what is going on.  (We communicate OK, but sometimes you want to be extra sure.)  My flight is just a couple hours away, so I will get to Kiev, but I really hate that I’ve lost a full day with my wife.

If any Delta people read this blog, I hope that you feel really, really bad.  (And I haven’t even mentioned the issue with the flight from Portland, other than its late departure.  So far, this has not been a great start to my vacation…)