Awful Sickness, Amsterdam Love

Last night as my sister and I were going to the Dar es Salaam airport, she began to feel nauseous. She then spent the next hour in a bathroom trying to get rid of whatever awful food poisoning she had contracted. Jenny felt, and looked awful. A Duke PhD student (she is studying the chimpanzees with Jane Goodall's team) gave us some electrolyte mix, but Jenny couldn't keep it down.

Things were not looking good, but the desire to get home (and to get Jenny into the care of our parents) compelled us to get on the flight rather than stay in Tanzania. We didn't even discuss the matter.

Jenny spent at least half of the 8-hour flight in the lavatory. There was an American doctor on board who gave periodic advice and made sure the situation wasn't dire, and the KLM staff were excellent in their attentiveness and bedside manner.

By the time we got to Amsterdam, we knew we'd be missing our connecting flights in favor of a trip to the airport infirmary. I had reservations about going to a medical facility at an airport; as a kid I got severely dehydrated at Universal Studios and sat in their infirmary for a few hours sipping Gatorade - it was a decent place, but certainly not the same as a hospital. The nurse who took care of us was a 50-something man: friendly, but not very warm either. I think this is the Dutch manner.

Since our visit to the infirmary at 7 this morning, we have returned a few times as Jenny has oscillated from feeling bad to really bad. We tried to get on a late-afternoon flight to Atlanta, but Jenny felt extremely nauseous, so we decided to spend the night in Amsterdam for her to recover.

There are two hotels in the transit area (so we don't have to go out and go through security again). We booked a couple rooms for a nap and shower this afternoon. The rooms are more like cruise ship cabins than hotel rooms. I got a small standard room, which had little more than a cubby-hole bed and a combo shower/bathroom. The small room made Jenny claustrophobic, so we got her a room with a double bed. The convenience of these hotel rooms cannot be understated. You can pay 15 euros for a shower, 42 euros for a 4-hour block, or 82 euros or 24 hours. I don't think the cubby-hole beds would be viable in the US; Americans would rather go to a holiday inn than sleep in a weird little hole. But I'm totally impressed by this type of hotel - it has given Jenny and I tremendous comfort today.

Jenny just took a small nap in the infirmary, and is feeling better (for the moment). She has regained some color, and her nausea is gone. It's the first real sleep she has had in 36 hours. She didn't sleep at all last night, and I only slept 2 hours. We booked two rooms at the airport hotel tonight. It would be nice to have more space at a real hotel, but Jenny doesn't feel well enough to venture far from the nurses here, whose competence we trust.

So, all of this brings me to some bigtime love for the Amsterdam airport. I thought Terminal 2 at SFO had the best airport facilities. I was dead wrong. This airport does everything right. The food is overwhelmingly fresh (baguette sandwiches, fruit, smoothies everywhere), unlike most airports where Quizno's sandwich is the healthiest option you can find (ie NOT healthy). There is a huge, 3-room meditation complex with one large quiet room with reclining chairs, low lighting, and a zen-like projected silent move of a drive through Amsterdam and the Dutch countryside. There is a small library. The shops are tasteful and have stuff you'd actually want to buy. There is a casino. The whole airport just makes sense, and whoever designed it had the customer in mind.

I'm reminded if Austin Powers' Goldmember villain, who says "hey everyone, I am from Holland. Isn't that WEIRD?" Yeah, this airport is weird. And awesome. And it makes me want to come back to the Netherlands and see what else this weird country has to offer. Ideally we'd be able to go into the city and explore this evening or tomorrow, but Jenny isn't in good enough shape to do so. Next time. For tonight, we may go on a duty free shopping spree. We deserve it.

So, even though Jenny and I are stuck in an airport terminal, it could be a heck of a lot worse. Imagine being stuck in the Philadelphia airport. No way.

So - my game changer of the day is the category of "awesome airports" and all of their amenities. Second game changer is KLM. I have been extremely impressed by their professionalism throughout this ordeal. I have gone to their transfer center four times today, and have been satisfied each time. KLM won themselves a customer today.

Amsterdam airport, you rock. But I am still hoping Jenny recovers quickly so we can go home soon.