Heathrow

Unfortunately BA were the cheapest when I booked my flights to London for the weekend to meet S on her return from New Zealand. So I was forced to endure Terminal 5 yet again.

It started the way it always does -- with the self check-in machine throwing up an error and informing me to seek assistance. There was the usual gaggle of ground staff engrossed in a private conversation so I left them to it and headed straight for the assistance check-in counter since there was surprisingly no queue. The woman who assisted me had the patented arrogance and irritation common to most BA staff and with what appeared to be a great effort on her part I soon had my boarding pass and was heading towards the ever-popular customs.

Being a Sunday afternoon the queues were quite light however as is now required I removed my laptop from my backpack, my coat, my scarf, my belt and my shoes and placed them all in trays to be x-rayed. Somehow I still managed to set off the metal detector so I was subjected to the standard pat-down without event. I went to collect my stuff and noted the sign stating 'Do not remove trays', so I grabbed all my stuff and managed to make it to the nearby tables, which had a sign on the top which read 'Please return trays to conveyor'... sigh.

After I had re-assembled myself I headed downstairs to the 4th floor (!) for the departure gates. Fortunately the BA assistant had written down my gate number so I could go straight there to chill-out with my book. Unfortunately she had only written down the number 7, and not specified whether it was 'A', 'B', or 'C', so I wandered around until I found a comfortable couch in front of one the departure screens and passed the time reading. Once it came up I went to the gate and boarded half an hour later without any further problems. The flight was only a third full so I think that played a large part in that.

Arriving back in Amsterdam was painless as always, I was home within 40 minutes.

Credit Cards

I stopped in at Albert Heijn today to get some essentials (and non-essentials) and just as I was at the checkout counter I realised I only had 20 euros left in my wallet plus a few coins. I knew what I was buying would come to about 25 euros. Fortunately I saw the person in front of me pay using a card so I thought phew no problem I can use my credit card (I don't have a bank account here yet, still waiting on my SoFi number).

So anyway, a minute later it was my turn to pay. I offered my credit card and asked 'Can I use my credit card?' and the lady replied 'No'. I was dumbstruck for a couple of seconds while this sunk in -- before I realised I'd even asked again, 'You don't take credit cards?' to which she again replied 'No'. I recovered from my brain freeze a few seconds later and asked her to take out a couple of things I didn't really need and used my remaining cash.

But seriously, a supermarket not taking credit cards? In the capital city of a European country? Is this standard in Europe? Quite amazing to me, but I guess since New Zealand adopted EFTPOS such a long time ago (1985) it never occurred to me that other countries wouldn't have the same level of service by this time. I had thought England a little behind when I lived there but even they have found the benefits of the scheme and most shops now have the service.

Ah well, at least I now know to always have cash on me until I get my bank card.