It's Monday morning bright and early - 6:20am - at the KLM lounge at Schiphol: soft eclectic mix of music accompany the early (mostly tired nonetheless) business executives; delightful clinking of glasses and frothing of milk from the coffee machines at the food service area. And what truly draws the line between relaxing and relaxing: no smartypants monkeying around (yes, he's almost like Tom Cruise on Oprah's couch), only to outdo himself later by catching bubbles with his mouth, reporting his every achievement to the mother, who probably thinks her son is the world's most adorable kid, never mind that he's disturbing everyone else around.
Smartypants aside, nor are there young, eager, first-time Asian parents who attend to their baby's cooing. (Seriously!) I'm not racist but I think it is just the Asian parenting style. Young mummy kept shushing the little one so that baby will sleep and not make noise. But she didn't realize she was the cause of annoyance because whenever she does her larger-than-life spin of "sshhh, ssshhhh, sssshhhh...... ssh, ssshhhhh.......", she could put the entire section of passengers to sleep. Just that we're all adults, hullo... One word to her: SHHHHHHHH.
Smartypants aside, nor are there young, eager, first-time Asian parents who attend to their baby's cooing. (Seriously!) I'm not racist but I think it is just the Asian parenting style. Young mummy kept shushing the little one so that baby will sleep and not make noise. But she didn't realize she was the cause of annoyance because whenever she does her larger-than-life spin of "sshhh, ssshhhh, sssshhhh...... ssh, ssshhhhh.......", she could put the entire section of passengers to sleep. Just that we're all adults, hullo... One word to her: SHHHHHHHH.
Sorry for getting off-topic but I really have no love for parents who are oblivious to the public nuisance that is their brood. They should emulate the Japanese parents, really. Or perhaps, somebody should write an English book on Japanese Parenting & Civility for most of us. I am confident the world would be a better place to live in.
So ANYway, we're now waiting for our connecting flight to Lyon departing at 9:40am. You'll never believe how many times I've looked at my watch. You see, we nearly missed our flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur a week ago. We took the evening flight from Lyon to Amsterdam, did a little window-shopping before heading to the outbound lounge until boarding time for the KL flight.
My habit is to take it slow and easy in the lounge washroom. Until I heard my name being called through the P.A. system. JL should know better that I take more than 15 minutes in there, no? Sheeeesh. Luckily I was just about done but when I stepped out of the ladies, the husband was already there holding both our hand-carry luggage, calling me by name (weird!) that we've gotta run!! I looked at my watch - 8:35pm.
"It's okay what... calm down, we have time," I said to him.
"What do you mean we have time?? Our flight is 8:55pm! And we gotta get to the gate!!"
Honestly, I don't think much when in "slow and easy" mode but I followed him nonetheless since he was so insistent and about to go crazy. We dashed to the gate. It's just us two for the security check. It was only at this point in time that I found enlightenment. Merde! We're thisclose to missing our milestone flight!!!
In my book, milestone flights are those that change our life forever: leaving Singapore for France to get married; leaving Singapore never knowing if we'd ever return as residents; leaving a stable life for the US not knowing how it will all pan out; and now, leaving for Kuala Lumpur to look for our next home before JL starts his first day at work.
The last time - actually that was the first time - we almost missed a milestone flight was when we were leaving Singapore for our wedding in France. When we arrived at the check-in counter at Changi, it was already boarding time. That evening, despite having my brother G and his wife E with us, no one was alarmed by my schedule of heading to the airport at 9:40pm for our 11:10pm flight. It was only later that E said she felt strange about the timing but thought we lived five minutes from the airport.
Hence the new practice of time-checking. I wonder what's the next milestone flight which we are going to "nearly miss".
So ANYway, we're now waiting for our connecting flight to Lyon departing at 9:40am. You'll never believe how many times I've looked at my watch. You see, we nearly missed our flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur a week ago. We took the evening flight from Lyon to Amsterdam, did a little window-shopping before heading to the outbound lounge until boarding time for the KL flight.
My habit is to take it slow and easy in the lounge washroom. Until I heard my name being called through the P.A. system. JL should know better that I take more than 15 minutes in there, no? Sheeeesh. Luckily I was just about done but when I stepped out of the ladies, the husband was already there holding both our hand-carry luggage, calling me by name (weird!) that we've gotta run!! I looked at my watch - 8:35pm.
"It's okay what... calm down, we have time," I said to him.
"What do you mean we have time?? Our flight is 8:55pm! And we gotta get to the gate!!"
Honestly, I don't think much when in "slow and easy" mode but I followed him nonetheless since he was so insistent and about to go crazy. We dashed to the gate. It's just us two for the security check. It was only at this point in time that I found enlightenment. Merde! We're thisclose to missing our milestone flight!!!
In my book, milestone flights are those that change our life forever: leaving Singapore for France to get married; leaving Singapore never knowing if we'd ever return as residents; leaving a stable life for the US not knowing how it will all pan out; and now, leaving for Kuala Lumpur to look for our next home before JL starts his first day at work.
The last time - actually that was the first time - we almost missed a milestone flight was when we were leaving Singapore for our wedding in France. When we arrived at the check-in counter at Changi, it was already boarding time. That evening, despite having my brother G and his wife E with us, no one was alarmed by my schedule of heading to the airport at 9:40pm for our 11:10pm flight. It was only later that E said she felt strange about the timing but thought we lived five minutes from the airport.
Hence the new practice of time-checking. I wonder what's the next milestone flight which we are going to "nearly miss".
