It all started when Himself was invited to Beijing, no actually, it started with the announcement of a conference in China summer of 2012. Of course, I got on board immediately, as China is high on my list of loved places. We had discussed taking Thing One and Thing Two along because we could show them Beijing on one end of the visit and Shanghai on the other and perhaps Xi'an in between. When this invitation came, I suggested that we tack this other invitational "sabbatical" on to the end of that conference/ family visit, send the kids back to University, and stay on for whatever The Great Minds wanted him. Well, the great Minds wanted the meeting to happen well before next summer' s end so here we are. And I get TWO trips to China!
It has been a frenetic few weeks leading up to this visit. We have been burning the candle at both ends to clear our desks and leave tidy piles behind. A few nerve raveling bumps, as usual, but finally we kissed our teary eyed Sweetpea goodbye at the bus, loaded up our carefully measured and weighed baggage, and promptly found ourselves in the molasses slow evening rush towards the Amersfoort train station. We missed our train. Thirty minutes later we did the luggage into the train rhumba and off we went to Schiphol.
On of the nice things about Schiphol is that we are KLM elite flyers so we get the red carpet. One of the worst things about Schiphol is their cavalier and nearly always unsatisfactory assistance valet service. So, while checking in is efficient and often lineless, the wheelchair folks let us down badly, This time was the worst.
I have been told by a valet that the philosophy of the assistance service is to do the least they can for their customers "so they don't take advantage." Isn't that just stunning? Imagine coming to the Netherlands for the first time, with a handicap, and being treated so shabbily. What a first impression. I am ashamed. So, even knowing their track record, this episode was prize winning in its awesome consumer unfriendlyness. This time we were walked from the cheerless and uncomfortable assistance waiting area through Immigration, which is not that far, and since we go through the fast lane I don't have to endlessly stand, a main concern for me. So far so good. We got on the go cart went to security where it took forever and a day because Andries the Anarchist set off all the alarms. Well, yes, by the time he carries all the equipment and wires and electronics and stuff it does look worrying to security- and then he had a USB stick in his shirt pocket which made us even longer there.
By now our go-cart driver decided that she needed to go to another gate for a pickup because our delay might make her pickup think she wasn't coming.She did apologize saying that the scheduler had her booked very closely. So there we were whizzing right by our gate on the way to go get someone else. She parked and went off to collect the customer. We waited. and waited. Suddenly all in a rush our valet runs by at speed because she needs a wheelchair. She disappears. We waited. and waited. and then waited. Our girl rushes by with wheelchair, followed by another go-cart and driver WHICH IS EMPTY , AND PARKS AT THE GATE. Our frazzled valet vanishes with wheelchair. We wait five solid minutes. We can see our gate and our plane leaves in 20 minutes.
We finally decide enough is enough and waddle the way back to our to our gate. Luckily, the shuttle to Paris is not a big long lines kind of departure. So the standing was do-able. Luckily, I thought to inquire while on the way to CDG, a confusing a HUGE airport, if a wheelchair would be awaiting. Mind you, we had reserved one for all legs of the journey AND had email confirmation with us. The oh so French staff were so apologetic. Schiphol had assured them there were no wheelchair folks. Ah HA. But yes, they arranged, it was there, and Madame and her trusty valet were off through the cavernous Paris CDG terminal. So solicitous, so polite, and even apologetic when they had to switch valets- which valet wheeled me right to the plane entry with a smile and a steady elbow.
Schiphol is such that I don't remember a valet coming out to the baggage terminal-- but every where else this is normal. Beijing was no different. We again were in the express lane, no standing, and he even helped Andries with the baggage! Immigation went smoothly. Then we were met by two welcoming University students who were to take us to the University hotel by taxi. The valet actually stood there until the taxi was loaded and I didn't have to stand in line at all. Now THAT is a real blessing to me. and is the way handicapped folks should be treated.
I so appreciated that I am not wheelchair bound. When I must use one, I am often struck by the way the rest of the world treats the differently abled. Huh, and we call ourselves civilized. But we are safely in Beijing, and the saga begins....
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