Leiden
Yes, Day 6 and I was still in the Netherlands – but on track to travel this evening! I had my usual Hampton breakfast before showering, packing and checking out. I had planned a little excursion to an old Netherlands favourite, the small (and yes, perfectly formed) university city of Leiden, in South Holland. Having always thought of this destination as somewhere to visit from The Hague, I was intrigued to find that it lay a mere 17 minutes from Hoofddorp by direct train, this link being offered four times an hour in the main part of the day.
Leiden is home to the oldest university in the Netherlands and was also the birthplace of celebrated artist Rembrandt van Rijn. As is often the case with university cities, it is a vibrant combination of history and youth. I had visited on two previous occasions: once in 2014 as a side trip from The Hague, and again in 2016 as part of travelling to the famous spring bulb fields at Keukenhof. Once again, I enjoyed just walking the narrow streets, often lining equally narrow canals. When the time came, I had an al fresco club sandwich lunch, fervently hoping that this experience would end differently from Saturday’s burger.
Rather later, back at the hotel, I picked up my stored luggage and headed for Schiphol, where check-in was an absolute breeze.
Featured Flight: AY1306 (AMS-HEL)
| FLIGHT DATA for AY1306 |  |
| Date: 31 May 2022 | Aircraft: Airbus A350-900 |
| From: Amsterdam (AMS) | To: Helsinki (HEL) |
| Scheduled departure: 1850 (CET) | Actual departure: 1850 |
| Scheduled arrival: 2210 (EEST) | Actual arrival: 2203 |
| Cabin: Business Class | Seat: 2L |
This experience ought to have started in an airport lounge, but didn’t. The Aspire lounge used by Finnair at Amsterdam had closed at 4pm today for refurbishment work. Apparently, Finnair check-in staff hadn’t been informed of this. There had been an equipment change from Airbus A330 to A350, a winning move as far as I was concerned, as it also meant changing from seats in a ‘staggered’ configuration to those laid out in a ‘reverse herringbone’ pattern. Once on board, I enjoyed re-familiarising myself with Finnair’s cool, Nordic colour palette. In fact, I loved being on board at all, after Saturday night’s shenanigans!
As I settled in, I noticed that a bottle of water had already been placed in my seat area. ‘Boarding complete’ was announced at 1841. We pushed back at exactly the scheduled time, and it was a fairly short taxi to the runway for a 1903 take-off. This gave an excellent view of Amsterdam’s well known Polderbaan runway sitting in splendid isolation from the main part of the airport. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo. in the time-honoured fashion, cabin service began with a round of (very!) hot towels. With recent pandemic restrictions and general cost-cutting, I had almost forgotten what a treat these simple, cheap items can be.
My meal of duck salad and rye bread was soon served, accompanied by ice water and champagne. Afterwards, I enjoyed a chocolate wafer biscuit with coffee and a new Finnish malt rye whisky. (They even used the Scottish spelling, bless them!) I liked this a lot.
Our route progressed across Denmark and then Sweden. We entered the latter’s airspace close to Helsingborg on a course that would see us leaving the country well to the south of Stockholm. At this point, one of the flight attendants informed me, on seeing that I had enjoyed the Finnish whisky, that they also had on board the same brand of gin. I soon found myself with a Kyrö G&T staring me in the face! This was good, but it didn’t bowl me over the way the single malt had. Wow, I had no idea that this flight would turn into a spirits tasting session … hic!
As the sector drew towards its end, I reflected that overall, despite the trials and tribulations of trying to communicate with the airline over the previous few days, this was a reminder that Finnair is truly a class act in the skies. We touched down at Helsinki (in fairly heavy rain) at 2156 local time, allowing an ahead-of-schedule arrival at 2203.
Onwards to Bangkok …
I had an easy and civilised passage through Helsinki Airport, which included the important step of collecting my Schengen Zone exit stamp. I relaxed in the excellent Finnair lounge for a while, but consumed neither food nor drink as I was still completely satisfied on both counts from my inbound flight.
AY143, my flight to Bangkok, was also operated by an Airbus A350-900 and was scheduled to depart at 0045 the following day, Wednesday 1 June. This time I was in 1A. It soon became apparent that our flight was going to be affected by a huge diversion, due to current events in Europe: we would begin by flying down through Poland, then east over Romania to the Black Sea. I was a little surprised that a flight departing in the “wee, small hours” began with a full meal service. I ate both small starters and the tasty trout main course, but that was it. The service was once again excellent.
I have to say that I was somewhat dismayed by many of my fellow-passengers, who were overwhelmingly middle-aged males who had ‘let themselves go’. Too many additionally had annoying personal habits, especially in a time of pandemic. One incessantly ‘drew up’ the contents of his runny nose, another coughed and barked non-stop, while an exceptionally large passenger close to me caused everything to shake when he so much as moved, which was most of the time. Overall, the contrast with my Amsterdam-Helsinki sector could not have been greater, and I stress that this wasn’t the airline’s fault; it was the prevailing type of customer on this route.
… and finally to Phuket
At Bangkok, I concentrated on getting through Immigration and finding my connection to Phuket on Thai Smile WE211. This was an offshoot of Thai Airways, and was not quite a typical low-cost carrier. I had booked Smile Plus and was in a less-than-half-full cabin with a curtain and physically blocked middle seats. It was really quite pleasant, apart from the new Thai Government ban on in-flight meals. Instead, this was delivered ‘to go’ upon arrival.
Bruce had arranged for a hotel car to meet me and take me to the Hilton Arcadia at Karon Beach. I finally met up with my friend over a late-night drink, and very soon thereafter I was enjoying a long and restful night’s sleep.