We got up at an ungodly hour today and finalized the packing and personal hygiene measures n order to greet our AirportLiner driver outside the door of our apartment building promptly at 3:40. We got to Munich airport pretty smoothly despite dense fog and Autobahn closures due to accidents. Boarded, and then slept our way to Amsterdam.
How many of you go through Asterdam fairly regularly? That place seems to be a disaster whenever you have to transfer from B terminal to D, E, F, G, or H — incurring a passport check by Dutch immigration — which is like every dang time. In reality, the lines weren’t that terribly long to wait through. We didn’t shuffle toward the desk for more than 10 minutes. But it sure was chaotic and stress-inducing to have all those lines open and be so far back from their points of orign as to not be sure whether you were in the EU Passports or All Passports line.
Getting to downtown Edinburgh via the public airport shuttle bus was very easy — even fun. We rode a double-decker with friendly and welcoming periodic announcements from the bus driver.
We checked in at our rental apartment and set out to explore on foot. First stop: Waterstone’s book store, to snag a travel guide.
Then, to Marks & Spencer Simply Food for lunch fixins. They have a lot of neat stuff there! Parsnip chips and blueberry/pomegranate water, but what really caught my eye were these:
Scotch Eggs. I had been curious about them for over a year, ever since watching Keith indulge in one for snack The Office. Verdict: not bad, but cetainly not good for you. Had to try them just once.
While out stretching our legs after all the travel today, I snapped these:
I never heard of a Scotch Egg until my sister sent me this link a few days ago! – http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/post/234175163/the-scotch-megaegg-20-hard-boiled-eggs-wrapped-in
CN: Well, that would not be why I’m fat. :-P That looks monstrous! The two that I ate were plenty to last me a long time. Although mine contained no bacon!
Adam: don’t you think the “one line, many desks” approach I’ve seen in places like Dulles is more calming and reassuring for the traveler? I bet Temple Grandin would think so.
Yeli: thanks for the tip — we’ll try to check it out. Might have to use the enormous bus system here to get there.
Strange — I love Amsterdam and the Schengen to Non-Schengen transfer (or as you put it, going from B to the D/E/F/G/H concourses) is, in my experience, always always incredibly fast, especially after taking the first flight of the day into Amsterdam (which I assume you were on, judging from your departure from home time). I’ve lost count of the number of times when I’ve gotten to the desks and there were immigration officials with nobody in front of them.
That said, earlier this year I had my first epic line experience at the Schengen to Non-Schengen immigration desks–it took me at least 30 minutes to go the distance, and I too was worried about the EU/All Passports line situation and i chose the longest line at the time purely because it was all the way to the left and I could see that the line furthest left would accept me.
Going the other direction–entering the Schengen Zone, on the other hand, has always had enormous lines, no mater what time of day I’ve gone through. I have to confess I find it amusing to watch the people who are puzzled that they are going through immigration in Amsterdam as they are on their way to Germany or France and then wonder if there is a way to by-pass the immigration counters.
Overall, though, I find Amsterdam a heck of a lot easier for this kind of transfer than CDG and much more user friendly than FRA–although I would consider making connections there; I pay extra to avoid LHR. (I actually have connected at MUC–very nice airport to connect at.)
I meant to tell you this before you left but please make a point to go the Sheep’s Heid. Best local tip we got. They even have a wonderful pig roast on Sunday afternoons if you can find a table!
http://www.bestpubs.co.uk/layout0.asp?pub=106138