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Ok, let’s do this (again)!
First leg, EDI to AMS.
First leg, EDI to AMS.
I’m checked-in, which is a good start. The Swissport ground agent told me they have four staff still working, down from 700.
A few shots of a desperately sad and empty Edinburgh airport.
Hmm there are apparently 50 pax on a plane that holds 78, surprisingly full. HKG leg has 50 booked, so that’s better.
EDI, Thursday 14 May 2020.
There are only two flights leaving EDI today but at roughly the same time so there was a small queue at security. Gave me the creeps touching the trays — no hand sanitizer anywhere!
The only obvious safety measure at EDI is a basic health declaration. No temperature checks, no sanitiser, only a few staff wearing masks or gloves. Ffs.
The new walk to the departure gates at EDI.
Well this is surreal. The is a woman wearing a biohazard suit playing a piano, beautifully, in the departure gates at Edinburgh airport.
There are a few Chinese people in the full anti-COVID kit. If I have to sit next to anyone I hope it’s one of them.
Cried my eyes out at take-off. Haven’t done that in a while. Got my mask all wet :( Miss my Dad already. Seems really unfair to have seen so little of him after being in Scotland for so long.
And before I could blink, i was in Amsterdam. Capt informer is plane would be parked on the apron and pax bussed to the terminal. Not sure why, is it safer? Maybe just a logistics thing. Lots of CityHoppers parked up.
Much to my surprise nearly all of the shops are open in Schiphol — I can even buy tulips if I want to 
Took a wander around AMS since I had some time to kill. It’s not quite as quiet as MAN or EDI but maybe more striking to see such an enormous hub almost empty.
Lounge 2 at Schiphol 
Hooked onto the AMS’s excellent wifi, did some work, had some lunch, lost my pashmina, and then spent the rest of the time looking for my pashmina and BOOM it’s boarding.
I think there’s actually less then the 50 pax they mentioned at EDI. This is the rear cabin on the 787-9 Dreamliner. The nearest person to me is about eight rows away. Perfect.
The purser has informed pax that the service has been radically modified; each pax has been given a bag with three small bottles of water, a soft drink, a sandwich, few cookies and two muesli bars. Plus we’ll get one hot meal.
Pax can ask for extra snacks or drinks anytime, but there’s no alcohol on the flight (noticed a lot of airlines seemed to have adopted this policy). Strict warning not to drink your own booze either.
Dinner time! It’s not much but I’m grateful to have at least one hot meal on what’s going to be a very long journey.
