United States > To the airport

The last day has arrived. Today we fly back home. The flights are in the afternoon. However, we are not flying from the same airport. Angela flies from Newark, while I fly from LaGuardia. This is because I flew from Osaka three weeks ago, and it was cheaper to book flights with the same airline. We take it easy. We have arranged to stay in our room until one o’clock, which is very convenient. We go to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. Afterwards, I repack my bag—removing all liquids from my carry-on and keeping valuables, as much as possible, in the main luggage. The travel bag has suffered quite a bit during the trip. One side is already torn, and one wheel is broken. Hopefully, the bag arrives at Schiphol without much further damage. Exactly at one o’clock, we check out. Angela drives the rental car to Newark, which means passing through Manhattan again. Hopefully, the city is much quieter on a Sunday. I take a taxi to LaGuardia Airport. Because the taxi ride to LaGuardia is shorter and my flight leaves about half an hour later, I arrive at the airport well in advance.

United States - Small boat approaching the island

Fortunately, I can already check in my luggage. The desk attendant tells me she will put me on an earlier flight as a standby. It’s always better to fly to Toronto sooner—you never know about delays or weather conditions. If a seat becomes available, I will be called. That seems fine to me. Since the customs procedures, just like on the outbound trip, take place in Canada, I am at the gate more than three hours before departure. I sit down and wait patiently. All previous flights from Toronto arrive delayed. This also applies to the flight I am on the standby list for. I get a seat on flight AC719. However, the aircraft departs at the same time as my original flight. I don’t see a plane for that flight yet when I board, so I suspect it is also delayed. At 5:45 p.m., I take off for Toronto—a flight of just over an hour. My connecting flight to Amsterdam is delayed by more than an hour. I strike up a conversation with a Canadian couple visiting the Netherlands for a week. I give them some tips for Amsterdam and the surrounding area. Around 10:30 p.m., I take off for the final leg of the journey.