By the way, our layover in Amsterdam’s Schiphol (pronounced sort of like SKIP-pole) Airport is almost five hours — which would normally allow us to take the bus tour of the city which leaves for the airport. You get to see the downtown area, a windmill, a shop that produces wooden shoes and so on. You pass by the Anne Frank house, although obviously there’s not time to stop or take the tour.

Unfortunately, we arrive at 5:30 a.m., and I don’t think the bus tours start until 9. And, if security at the airport is still the same, you need to be at the gate a full hour before departure time, because there is a security checkpoint at the departure gate.

Actually, both of the last times we flew through Schiphol there was some security crisis right around the time of the trip, and so security was especially tight on our return trip to the U.S. — with gate attendants questioning us about where we’d been, with whom we were traveling and so on.

I won’t necessarily miss the bus tour myself, since I’ve taken it twice. And there’s fun stuff to do at the airport, including an exhibit hall run by Amsterdam’s famed Rijksmuseum. (There’s also a casino, although that might send the wrong message to my mission trip teammates.) But I’m sorry that Kim and Jennifer, who have the same itinerary as me, won’t get to take the tour. I’m not sure about my other teammates; some of them may have later departure times and get the chance to take the bus tour.