A Week In The Real World!

I left Mojacar on Monday morning for the one hour drive to Almeria airport.  I had reserved a spot in the airport car park but I needn't have worried as there was all of five cars there!

As you can see the terminal was packed.....my flight was one of three that day!

You couldn't miss the plane, it was the only one on the tarmac!

It was a quick one hour flight to Madrid, then a change of planes for a two and a half  hour flight to Amsterdam.  I still had a load of Qantas frequent flyer points so I used them up flying business class ... I felt very special as I was the only one up the pointy end there and back!

It was a massive shock to arrive at Amsterdam airport and join the hustle and bustle of the real world.

Amsterdam always has nice cabs waiting at the airport, usually Mercs and BMW's but this time I was ushered into this car that looked like a Maserati!  As soon as we left the terminal I said to the driver, "this is quietest car I have ever been in, is it a hybrid?"  "No", he answered, "it's the new all electric Tesla saloon".  Apparently his cab company recently took delivery of 100 of them.  Once we cleared the terminal onto the freeway I asked him what it went like but I should have kept my gob shut!  He hit the throttle and the next thing we were doing 180ks!  This car is sensational!   I checked the figures on the net,  0-60 MPH or 97 KPH in a fraction over 4 seconds!!  I have never been in a car like it, it goes like the clappers with no engine noise, just a bit of wind noise!  Technology has come a long way since battery powered fork lift trucks and milk floats!

I couldn't get a good shot of the dash, it is more like a Airbus A380!

I arrived at the hotel at about 19.30 to meet my old boss and another old colleague in the bar, then it was out to dinner with some suppliers from Canada until 2.30 am.  Then we were up at 6.30am on Tuesday to meet more suppliers in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. This was just the start of the first day!!

So to the show, it is the largest marine trade show in the world.

Craftsman Marine is a brand of motor that we sell in Australia ....

This is their new 210hp model ...

The chap with the beard is my old boss, the ginger chap next to him is another old work colleague from All Marine Spares ...

The show was fantastic, but oh so busy with meetings every day from first to last thing.

The reason we were there was for the show, but we also had some fun whilst there.  Well, it is Amsterdam!

We stayed in the Americain hotel, which served as the Nazi HQ in the second world war.  It's not a fact that they are too proud of though. It has the most fantastic Art Deco dining room ...

We were out every night, averaging about 4.5 hours sleep a night!!

It's a fantastic friendly city, this was my 13th visit ...

The bitterballen was always a great late night snack ...

This is one of the small halls!  The show is huge but we did manage to see all of our world wide suppliers ...

My flight home left at 07.00 so I was up at 05.00 after going to bed just before 02.00!

Man, it was good to get home ... the boys were so happy to see me!  Elaine seemed quite happy too.

I slept for a good twelve hours straight that night!

One of the reasons for going to the show was to chat to my boss about working for them again ... no probs on that front but we have decided that we may delay our return to Oz for a few months.

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We have decided to head back to Blighty for now so we will leave Mojacar for the drive back Monday or Tuesday next week.  We will look at the map tomorow and plan a route.

I will do a blog about magical Mojacar tomorrow.  Now to catch up on some more Zzzzzzzs!