{"id":1688,"date":"2014-07-05T19:06:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T12:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2014-07-05T19:06:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-05T12:06:30","slug":"a-really-great-flight-really-7414","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=1688","title":{"rendered":"A really great flight? Really! 7\/4\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both of us wake up well before the 4:30 am alarms go off. We scurry around and get out to the taxis at 5:45 as planned. The first driver looks at us and shakes us off. The second driver barely looks up. The third driver finds out where we\u2019re headed, then makes us an offer, 100rmb. It usually costs around 80, but we could very easily end up in two taxis (or no taxi) with as much luggage as we have, so I quickly accept. I almost offered more money. I was so relieved.<\/p>\n

The line at check-in is long, but moves quickly. We\u2019re flying LOT (Polish Airlines). I noticed on their website there was an upgrade to Economy Premium, but it had to be requested at the check-in counter, so I made the request. It costs about $200 extra per seat, but we escape the extra luggage charge because of the upgrade. The flight is almost 10 hours, and the extra legroom is so nice.<\/p>\n

On board, it\u2019s not what we expected. We\u2019ve flown United Airlines Premium Economy previously, and the 5 added inches of legroom made a long trip manageable. The LOT Premium Economy is much different. If I couldn\u2019t see the huge seats in the section in front of us, I\u2019d swear we were in 1st<\/sup> Class. We have big wide seats, two across instead of three. As we sit down they start bringing juice (champagne if we wanted it). We get a personal packet containing socks, toothbrush and paste, and a sleep blindfold. There\u2019s a big pillow and blanket. The seat itself is a recliner with an adjustable footrest. When the first meal is served we get a menu with several selections. It\u2019s served on plates, not out of aluminum containers. There\u2019s cheesecake and coffee at the end. Yes, I\u2019m a \u201chick from the sticks.\u201d This vacation is starting off great!<\/p>\n

We arrive at Warsaw\u2019s \u201cFrederic Chopin\u201d Airport, for a 4-hour layover. The flight to Amsterdam is almost two hours, and we\u2019re back in the \u201ccheap seats\u201d on this one. At the airport, we catch a \u201cshared shuttle\u201d to the hotel. We\u2019re at the Renaissance in the middle of Amsterdam, one block from the Central Train Station. It\u2019s a crazy ride to get there, crossing bridges and driving down narrow canal roads. Amsterdam is just as we had imagined it. When we finally get into our room, it\u2019s been almost 24 hours since we woke up in Beijing. A bed never felt so good.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3051\"<\/a>

Amsterdam Airport<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both of us wake up well before the 4:30 am alarms go off. We scurry around and get out to the taxis at 5:45 as planned. The first driver looks at us and shakes us off. The second driver barely … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}