Day 1 - Holiday with obstacles...

Day 1 (8/6/23)

The whole vacation had a bad star. 2.5 months ago, the flights we had originally booked were canceled by the airline without replacement. For cost reasons, we originally wanted to fly via Canada to Curacao with an overnight stay in Toronto, then back from Aruba then via Washington DC to Frankfurt. Nothing will come of this! There was nothing left but to rebook with another airline, which made the whole thing extra expensive due to the short time before departure! Great thing. But since we had already reserved holiday homes and would be stuck with the deposit, we invested the €1000 we would otherwise have lost in the flight and booked the Frankfurt-Amsterdam-Curacao route with KLM and the return flight from Aruba via Amsterdam to Frankfurt. At least it is now “the direct route” – without an overnight stay.

We want to think positively...

Important: to enter Curacao you need a digital immigration card . This can be applied for online from 1 week before arrival! The same goes for Aruba!

Today we finally start!!!
The taxi arrives at 9:15 and we are at Frankfurt Airport, Terminal 2 at 9:30 and go to the KLM counter. We have already checked in online, but still need to check in our luggage. There are 6 counters for the baggage drop off, there are an estimated 60-70 people in front of us, there is ONE counter open and the nice gentleman at the counter has a lot of fun with small talk and is peace itself. Boarding is supposed to be at 11:15, but at 10:45 we are still in line with about 40 people in front of us. The husband complains at the neighboring counter why no other counter is opened, otherwise we would miss our plane. Another lady from the staff then comes to the waiting passengers and wants to know who would be flying to Amsterdam with KLM at 11:45. ALL hands go up. Great...
After some discussions, two more counters actually open and we can check in our luggage. We sprint to security. Here is the same picture: 10 counters, crowds of people in 4 queues and 2(!) open belts. Incomprehensible!!! I've never experienced anything like this at any provincial airport! Here too it's time to WAIT. Boarding is at 11:15 - NOW - but we are still in line. At 11:30 we reach the gate - but no - what does it say???? Delayed???? I almost fall over. At the same time I receive a text message and email, matching the gate display, that our flight is delayed by 1 hour. Oh no!!!

“Your flight KL1766 to AMS is delayed. We apologize for this! The expected new departure time is 12:35 on 06/08. Please take a look at https://www.klm.nl “

What will happen to our connecting flight??? It's scheduled to start at 3:15 p.m. This will be very tight when our flight doesn't land until 1:45 p.m. and we still have to go through passport control...
We get something to drink and wait. At 12:15 p.m. the call for boarding follows, then we go downstairs. A bus transfer to the tarmac awaits us. Things aren't going well here either. The bus's hydraulics are causing problems, the bus rises and falls, then the rear door keeps opening. I'm falling away from the faith. That's impossible! After an endless 10 minutes we finally set off for the plane. We take row 20, a 3-seater row and the aisle seat opposite. If we fly off now, we might still have a small chance of making the connecting flight. Many passengers have connecting flights between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. It is now 12:45, flight duration 1 hour. Thats gonna be close...
We have one of the later connecting flights at 3:15 p.m., but that too will be close. All passengers are seated on the plane and we can get started - yes, that would have been nice...
The captain says he won't get a starting slot, we have to wait about 35 minutes for the next slot. Ok, that's it for the connecting flight. Another announcement follows that he would remain in contact with Amsterdam Airport as ALL 200 passengers on board had a connecting flight!!! Wow!! How does KLM want to get THAT under control? I am excited.
We take off at 1:20 p.m. 1.5 hours later than planned. It will never work to catch the connecting flight...
We land at 2:10 p.m. Before we land, a flight attendant lists about 15 flights that were "missed", including flights to Dubai, Canada and the USA. Our flight is NOT there, we should catch it. Oof!
We arrive at Gate C in Amsterdam and have to go to Gate F. Our remaining transfer time until the gate closes is 35 (!) minutes!!! After what feels like a kilometer, passport control awaits us. There are easily 100 people lined up in 5 rows. OMG! There is hardly anything going on at the automatic passport control, so we take the automatic doors. The husband passes control, the daughter, then the son - it doesn't work for him. Security informs me that the gates can only be used if I am 16 years old. Son is 15. Crap!!!! The security guard was also left cold by the fact that boarding had started on our plane three minutes ago. He sends his son and me to the endless queue 😱
We won't be through there in 30 minutes. I'm about to wave over another security guard when there's a member of staff standing behind us with a family who the man called over because his flight would start boarding at 3 p.m. and he and his family wouldn't be able to make it in time if he got here the queue remains standing. Oh, wait! I chat in between and add that we can't do that either because our plane has been boarding for 10 minutes. The lady has insight and takes us all past the queue and straight to the checkpoint. Ugh, it's 2:40 p.m. Boarding is already underway. Now just hurry to gate F8! Easier said than done, because it feels like the letter F is at the other end of the airport. We run and arrive at 2:50 p.m. drenched in sweat. We are the last ones at the gate and run straight onto the plane. We get on the plane at 3 p.m. and take off 15 minutes later. So if the suitcases got on the plane on time, then I'll be happy!
We got row 30, the row at the emergency exits. We sit in the middle row on the 4 seats in the so-called baby row . Here you can attach baby cots to the wall in front of us. We used it often with our kids back then. It has been a long time...
In contrast to the baby row of other airlines, we have a lot of legroom and no one in front of us. Perfect!
In addition to extensive on-board entertainment with films, TV series, music and games, the amenities of the KLM long-haul flight also include WiFi on board. The WiFi for using WhatsApp is free. I can even send photos. Cool! Lunch is also really delicious. The wooden cutlery takes some getting used to, but is sustainable. We have the choice between vegetarian pasta and chicken with potato gratin and broccoli. I choose the veggie pasta. There is also antipasti and I treat myself to a white wine (all inclusive 😜).
Later there is an apple-cinnamon tart as dessert. Yummy!
We land around 6:30 p.m. and to everyone's delight, our luggage also made it to Curacao 😅
Peter, the manager of Villa Clé, picks us up at the airport and takes us to the villa. It's hot here, the broth is running down my back. Incredibly humid, even though there was a good wind blowing. The villa is beautiful, the outdoor area is beautifully landscaped with a pool in the middle and plenty of seating and lounging options around the outside. I'm sweating so much...

Villa Clé is located in the “Grote Berg” district, just under 15 minutes northwest of the airport and 20-30 minutes from Willemstad. I found most of the holiday homes in “Fontein”, another 15 minutes to the northwest. A typical tourist complex, fenced and with a reception building. I'm glad we chose Grote Berg because here we live among the locals and the huge bonus is the infrastructure: supermarket and restaurants 5 minutes away. Nothing would have happened at Fontein... Plus, Groteberg is more centrally located, which we like.

We booked the villa including our own SUV, a Toyota Rush. It was the best decision because we definitely wouldn't have gotten an SUV on the island for the price.
After Peter and Anneke have shown us everything, we quickly go to the small supermarket around the corner and buy drinks. Then off to the pool, which is also +33 degrees. There's no real cooling down. We play card games until 10:30 p.m., then the internal clock says 4:30 a.m. and we go to bed, with air conditioning of course, because even at night the temperatures rarely drop below 30 degrees.