April 4th, 2014

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Friday April 4. Back home?

Friday, April 4th, 2014

I write home with a question mark because there appears to be some confusion on this in me. But, for sure, I am very happy to be greeted by two of my daughters, grandchildren and friends. As of January 9th I was an “illegal” in the Schengen countries since my 90 day plus a 30 day extension had expired and several versions of the penalties of my transgression were going through my mind: being led away in handcuffs at passport control, missing my flight, having to pay a hefty fine, etc. But when I had gone through security and mingled with the duty free shoppers I realized that there was no pass control at all at the Schiphol airport. But when I transferred to my connecting flight in Reykjavik, Iceland there was pass control. The police officer checked every 30 pages of my passport and I had visions of doing time in an Iceland jail. What if they’d find out that I knew how to knit? Instead of having to feed an old useless illegal they could make me knit these Iceland $500 sweaters I saw in the duty free shop. The officer questioned where I had been all the time since my last entry and I answered in my best Dutch accented English that I had visited family in Holland. Good thing the knitting never came up, then she solved our problem by saying: “Oh, then you must have used your Dutch passport…” I nodded, she stamped me out.

After I recover from jet lag and have my new Dutch cell phone number I’ll write more.