12 Days in Europe - Amsterdam (day four)

In the morning I took the bus back to the airport and met up with Peter who was nice enough to let me tag along with him to do some plane spotting at Schiphol. Early on we were able to catch a plenty of departures from Polderbaan east spot. It is located half way down the runway so the birds rotated right in front of us. Once again I wished I had a better camera especially with another two dozen people around me with telescopic lenses. Plane spotting is really big there, there were a few families out with kids and lawn chairs just enjoying the weather and watching airplanes.

After the morning departure rush we decided to go to another spot at Kaagbaan to catch some arrivals but by the time we got there, they switched the runway configuration once again and there were no more birds coming that way. Disappointed, Peter took me to the Aviation Megastore model store near by. And megastore it was - pretty much an entire warehouse filled with tons of models, aviation books, magazines, pilot supplies and so on.

We cooled down at the model store and went out to the east corner of the airport to watch the arrivals but once again they switched the configuration a few minutes after we got there. The planes were still pretty high at that point so I did not get any good pictures there. Soon we were heading over to a spot right next to the taxiway that goes to Polderbaan. There we were pretty much right next to the birds so the most of my good pictures came out of there. We spent a good chunk of time there shooting everything that came in - from Fokker 50s to a number of 747s. What really got me thou was that pretty much all the pilots taxiing by had their windows open and waving to the crowds taking the pictures or just watching there. I thought that was a really nice touch.

It was time to leave afterward Peter dropped me off at the terminal and I took the bus back to my hostel. I went out and shopped for some souvenirs and then met up with Gertjan, another couchsurfer. We had a quick dinner and unfortunately I could not join them for a party afterward since I was starting to feel pretty sick. I went back to the hostel and packed up. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

amsterdam schiphol air berlin 737 800 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol air france avro 96 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol akerfly 767 rotating 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol arkefly 737 800 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)

amsterdam schiphol easyjet a320 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol great wall 747 200 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol kenyan 777 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol klm 737 400 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)

amsterdam schiphol klm 737 400 rotating 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol klm 737 800 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol klm 747 400 rotating 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol klm a330 rotating 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)

amsterdam schiphol klm fokker 50 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol klm fokker 100 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol northwest 747 200 charter from iraq 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol northwest 747 400 rotating 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)

amsterdam schiphol northwest a330 taking off 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol onurair md80 one of few at ams 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol other spotters 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)
amsterdam schiphol turkish 737 800 they made it 150x112 12 Days in Europe Amsterdam (day four)


The rest of my 12 Days in Europe posts:

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 1:53 amand is filed under Amsterdam, Amsterdam Schiphol, Couchsurfing, Holland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply