Hello blog village, on a Friday instead of a Thursday. We had a busy day of travel yesterday, and I knew I wouldn’t want to sequester myself in our hotel room once we got here, so I’m trying to dash off a quick one on Friday morning while Barbara is on a conference call. It’s 10:20 as I’m starting this and we have tickets for the 11:30 tram within the north leg of the Gateway Arch, to go to the top. So, time is of the essence!

Greetings and salutations, blog faithful. I’m going to start this Thursday Blog Day with the first part of the headline, and then transition into other thoughts, memories, and questions. So, sure, it might ramble a little but we all have our First Class Rambling Licenses so we can handle it.

I’m relatively sure I have a new favorite city in the world. And, I can’t believe I waited until just before my 62nd birthday to visit it. Amsterdam was everything I’d hoped for, while still being so much more. I’m looking forward to the day we can return and spend more than 48 manic hours soaking in the history, meeting the wonderful people, and marveling at the beauty and culture of the place. Should you visit Amsterdam? Yes, you should. And don’t wait as long as I did.

Here is the challenge before me, and it’s one I look forward to taking on. At around 7:30 tonight, I’ll be all snug in seat 5A on a big Delta A-330 getting ready for an 8-hour and 20-minute overnight flight. If we’re on time, we will land in Amsterdam just before 11:00 on Friday morning, local time. The challenge is my history of being unable to sleep on a plane when I really need to. It goes back a long way, and was also a problem in college and the minor leagues when it came to bus rides. Put me on a 2-hour morning flight and I can be snoozing before we push back. Put me on a red-eye, where sleep is kinda sorta really (like REALLY) important, and I’m generally hopeless.