There's a whole lot of things I should tell you guys, but I'll start with the basics.
Firstly, not everyone is back yet. Mrs Leong got very ill on the flight from Budapest to Amsterdam, so she didn't fly with the rest of us to Singapore. Instead, she, with Mr Leong, are still in Amsterdam, staying at the airport hotel. Let's continue to pray for Mrs Leong's quick recovery and their safe return.
Secondly, we are considered very fortunate. If you didn't know, the staff at Budapest Ferihegy Airport were on strike from 10 December 2008. Our flight from Budapest to Amsterdam was at 5:30pm, on 10 Dec 2008. Taking this flight would lead us to arrive in Amsterdam at 7:40pm, enought time to catch a 9:10pm flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. The strike led to interruptions in luggage services, catering, etc [i.e.: anything related to land support / transport]. As a result, some flights were cancelled. Fortunately, our flight was not. It was, however, delayed, to 6pm. As a result, we had to rush in Amsterdam; from getting the transfer boarding pass, to running to the gate, to passing through the customs. In the end, we made it! I really think this is a good example of how God is in control of everything, even flight plans.
Thirdly, I'm really impressed with customs in Europe. The two customs checkpoint we had to pass through in Budapest [don't ask why 2. I also wonder] seem to have a hard time telling the validity of a visa. They held Peng Cheng and I for a good 5 minutes each. By comparison, EU passports took ≤10s, and Singapore passports took ≤1min. Trust me. The first guy was placing my visa under the UV light 4 times to check for the hologram [it was visible, obviously]. The second guy [a lady, actually] had to ask her senior official if there's anything wrong [they spoke in Hungarian to each other. I couldn't understand.]
Anyway, Still on Customs official, I'm really impressed with the Amsterdam customs official [seriously]. They guy there saw my Indonesian Passport, and then asked me, "Apa Kabar?" which translates to "How are you?". Impressive. Not only that, he also greeted Peng Cheng in Chinese. Maybe it's to validate your passport is your origin or something, but nonetheless, I like this kind of guy. Very impressed.
Dear Passengers,
The strike situation at Budapest Airport is still very unpredictable and no prognosis can be set for Thursday’s traffic expectations with any certainty. Budapest Airport does everything in its power to ensure the best possible services and at least a minimum level of traffic.
Operation on Thursday, 11 December 2008 will probably be limited to Terminal 2A and 2B with passengers going through the passenger security screening at Terminal 2B.
There will be no flights and no check-in available at terminal one, even the airlines normally using T1 will be directed to T2. Due to the constrained passenger screening capacity delays in the departure traffic should be expected.
We kindly ask all passengers to go to Terminal 2 to catch their flight. Also, please contact your airline for further information and assistance.Thank you for your cooperation, patience and understanding.
Budapest Airport
And click here for more from Malev, the airline which KLM code-shared with for Budapest-Amsterdam flights. We took Flight MA668.
