At last the first day of the holiday had arrived, but alas it was an entire day of travelling. Due to it being a weekday I had to get the train to the airport which meant first getting a taxi into Leicester. The train arrived minutes after I got there, and the journey had finally begun in earnest. The time on the train passed quickly and before I knew it I had arrived at Birmingham New Street station. The transfer to the next train was fairly easy and it was already waiting at the platform. It felt like the train was doubling back to where it had come from as we had left in the same direction. I always worry a little about whether I'll miss a connection whilst lugging a suitcase around.

At Birmingham International I met up with James and Andrew to continue the journey. James I'd been on three trips with so far, and Andrew was one of his other friends from University. From there it was a short monorail ride to the airport and we got checked in quite quickly. For the first time ever I bought something other than food from a British airport - a USB card reader for about £26. The flight was then 15 minutes late leaving yet we still managed to arrive in Schipol slightly earlier than scheduled.

In Schipol Airport we wasted quite a bit of time looking for a decent place to eat. Eventually we decided on a place that did sirloin steak for €24.95. Fortunately I was able to pay on my debit card as GBP (I'd not thought of taking Euros with me!). It was then a couple of hours wait until we were through security, and boarding the plane ready for the next leg of the journey.