Chapter 17

The following morning, we woke up at seven. We had gone to bed at eleven the previous evening. Despite the short night, I felt refreshed. Up until now, I hadn’t realized how tired I had been. I had slept soundly through the night and it felt like I had more energy than usual.

Miraculously, for the first time in her life, even Sophie slept through the night. As a result, neither Ilse nor I had to get up to feed her or change her diaper until she started crying a few minutes ago. I for one was very grateful to get my first good night’s rest in two months.

While we were on our honeymoon, my parents would care for the cat. Typically, our cat would continue to jump on and off my bed until I locked her out of my bedroom, at which point she would meow and scratch the door for forgiveness, begging me to let her back in. She usually kept the scratching up until I was foolish enough to relent and let her in. However, once I did that, the entire ritual repeated itself – sigh.

Luckily, I didn’t have those problems this morning. The best part was, it’d be my parents who had to deal with her antics and whining for food during the coming two weeks. These days, Naomi usually took care of that little chore early in the morning, much to our cat’s delight. I think our cat was going to miss Naomi’s attention during our honeymoon.

I took a quick shower and prepared breakfast for us all while my lovely wife enjoyed a good soak in the Jacuzzi. After all the hard work she had done the past weeks, she deserved at least that much.

Once we were dressed, had eaten breakfast, and cleaned the dishes, I went through my checklist one final time. I saw that we had taken care of everything, including packing all the bags in the trunk. Now, it was time to start our honeymoon for real.

After yesterday’s activities, our children were still sleepy. I had brought a comfortable blanket and pillows with me so that they could sleep in the car. Sophie was quietly dozing in her own seat. She loved to ride in the car with us. I think the low hum of the engine had a soothing effect on her.

Ilse was still unaware of the change of plans, and didn’t know that we’d be flying to Curacao, instead of taking the ferry to Texel. Luckily, Schiphol Airport was on a direct route to the island, which would make it easier for me to keep the change of plans a surprise until we arrived in Amsterdam.

This would be Ilse’s first time flying and I bet that it would be a big surprise for her. I had shown her the confirmations of our hotel reservation at Texel. As far as she knew, we’d be going there. Knowing Ilse, it was probably better this way too since it wouldn’t give her time to be nervous about the flight, or let her worry about everything that could go wrong. Afterward, she’d probably thank me that I had kept this information from her. During the last several weeks, Ilse had a lot of stress preparing for the wedding. She didn’t need to worry about flying on top of everything else.

I had flown several times already, but it was still exciting when an airplane took off. It was a bit like a roller coaster ride. Well, except for the looping that was. Thank goodness, they leave that part out!

Once you were in the air and above the clouds, it quickly grew boring since you couldn’t see anything but clouds. The takeoff and landing were spectacular though.

Ilse was still sleepy and like our children, she soon dozed off, leaving me as the only one awake, while I drove to our destination.

The trip took a good two hours, but since it was vacation time, there wasn’t as much traffic as on a normal weekday. Continuing our luck, we didn’t encounter one of the infamous traffic jams. When I parked the car at the airport, I announced our arrival.

Ilse was the first to wake up. When she looked around, and saw the huge parking garage, she was somewhat confused, while our children ignored my announcement and continued to sleep.

“Tom, where are we? This doesn’t look like a ferry,” she asked, the wonder clear in her voice.

“Honey, I’m afraid there has been a slight change of plans,” I replied, unable to suppress my smug grin.

“What’s going on, Tom? What-, where are we?” Ilse asked.

Her voice trailed off when she saw two stewardesses walk by.

“Are we at an airport?” Ilse asked next, without waiting for an answer on her first question.

I could detect a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

“Yup, I’m afraid I canceled our trip to Texel. Gramps had a better idea and I had to agree with him,” I told her, waving the airplane tickets in front of her nose.

Ilse snatched them out of my hand and looked them over carefully. The first thing she noticed was that they were first class tickets. The second thing was that the destination stated on the tickets was Hato International Airport, Willemstad, the capital city of Curacao.

“We’re going to Curacao?” She exclaimed with a tone of disbelief.

This seemed to get the attention of our children as well. All three woke up at the same time, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

“Yes, sweetheart, we’re going to a tropical island, instead of the not so tropical island I had planned,” I replied, grinning at her.

Ilse looked dazed at the tickets for another minute, her finger carefully tracing the paper, as if she couldn’t believe it. When she finally pulled herself out of her daze, she bent over and gave me a heated French kiss. This was much to the delight of Bram and Naomi I might add, who were hooting and making fun of us.

When I explained to them that they’d be flying in an airplane within three hours, they became silent though. Hah, they didn’t expect that!

During the next two-and-half hours, we went through all the checks that you have to go through at an airport while also doing tourist things. I took my family plane spotting at the plaza. They were all amazed by the sizes of the airplanes and the airport. Schiphol Airport is one of the biggest and busiest airports of Europe and as such, there were quite a few sights to see. Since we had some time to kill anyway, I also showed them the various shops and the station where the trains arrived.

Half an hour before departure, I made sure everybody had a bathroom break. After that, we went through Customs, and had our passports checked. Once we made it through there, the Security people made a final check to determine if we were smuggling any goods, or were in possession of any dangerous weapons. When I asked them if a dirty diaper counted as a dangerous weapon, the Customs Officer said that it did, but also stated, or better said, begged, that we didn’t turn it in. He had only just started his shift and wasn’t looking forward to the smell of Sophie’s diaper, whenever he opened the container with confiscated goods.

Another Customs Officer, who was about to end his shift, grinned at that statement. He said that he wasn’t too sure if his colleague was following protocol. It appeared that the odor could endanger the flight crew if they became nauseous. It earned him a very dirty look.

Having cleared that final station, we sat down in the black synthetic seats, which were actually quite comfortable. Gramps had arranged priority boarding for us. When the gate opened, we were the first in line and could board the plane before all the other travelers. If you ever traveled by plane, you know how relaxed it is to receive priority boarding.

When you have to walk with the big crowd, there is always a bit of pushing and shoving going on. It wasn’t that people weren’t polite, but they mostly wanted to get to their seats as fast as possible. When you travel with a two-months-old baby and two young children, you didn’t want to be stuck between the mobs.

When we finally boarded the plane, many of the people who had been waiting longer than we had, were too happy. The stewardess was friendly and guided us to our seats in the large Boeing 747. So far, I had always flown economy class. I have to admit that I had sometimes been jealous when I saw the lucky bastards that could afford a first class ticket, wishing that I sat there instead. Economy class is okay for short flights, but when you’re crossing half the globe, you’ll definitely want to fly first class.

The seats were spacious and I had enough room to stretch my long legs. Bram, Naomi, and Ilse all had a window seat when the plane took off. There weren’t many other travelers in the first class section, while the economy class was packed. The stewardesses had told us to sit anywhere we wanted and we made good use of that offer. During the flight, Bram and Naomi sat in the seats in front of us, while I sat next to Ilse. Sophie sat in a special baby seat for most of the journey, unless Ilse breastfed her or when she wanted to play.

The flight itself was relaxed and when I asked if our children could get a look in the cockpit, the stewardess introduced us to the Captain. Bram and Naomi even had a chance to sit in his chair for a minute. With the airplane flying on the autopilot, we were in no danger of them crashing the plane. Additionally, the stewardesses also had several special treats in store for us. Since we were just married, they gave us a small party. The other first class travelers were good sports and congratulated us too.

The movies they showed were a lot of fun, although we had already seen the animations in the cinema. Still, it was fun to see the antics of the animated actors on the screen again. Each seat had its personal entertainment system and it allowed us to watch any movie we wanted.

I slept about half the flight, as the hum of the airplane engines had a soothing effect on me. I was still tired from our wedding party. Not to mention, I didn’t get to sleep on the drive to the airport as the rest of my family had. It didn’t take long before I was dreaming of swimming with the dolphins, scuba diving, and making love to my lovely wife.

When we arrived at Hato International Airport, we were the last to leave the plane. I opted to let all those eager economy travelers go first since they had to catch their connecting flights or a bus to Willemstad. In addition, doing so eliminated the possibility of those passengers overrunning the children and us. On top of that, the ground crew had to take the baggage off the airplane first anyway. Our suitcases wouldn’t be on the conveyer belts for at least another ten minutes.

After all the other passengers departed the airplane, we thanked each of the stewardesses for their generous hospitality and went on our way. As I had suspected, the bags hadn’t arrived yet and it took another two minutes before the first ones appeared. It didn’t take long before I got all of our suitcases, and after we passed through Customs, a dark-skinned man dressed in neat white summer clothes approached us, holding up a sign with our family name, which he asked me to confirm. It turned out that he was waiting for us and would drive us to the hotel. After he took the backpack Ilse was carrying, and one of the suitcases I was holding, we went on our way.

He took the long, scenic route and we all marveled at the beauty of the island. It was breathtaking. We enjoyed a drink in the limousine, and had a small snack as well, while we admired the view outside.

When we arrived at the hotel, I checked us in. A bellhop took our baggage and showed us to our rooms. When I wanted to offer him a tip, he refused and said that it had all already been taking care of. Gramps, you’re such a sly old fox.

We had arrived at lunchtime and my mouth watered from the delicious scents that came from somewhere in the room. Following my nose, I discovered a fully decked table on the balcony. Unpacking our bags could wait until later. First, I seated my children and Ilse, so we could eat our lunch while we enjoyed the panoramic view. Sitting on the balcony on the tenth floor of a five-star hotel with nothing but clear blue skies above you was amazing. There was a soft ocean breeze, so we could smell the salt in the air. The panoramic view allowed us to see for kilometers in the distance. We faced the beach and ocean on the north and the east and part of the boulevard on the west.

It was by far the most spectacular lunch I ever had. I would make sure to give grandpa a phone call tonight, to thank him for all of his arrangements. Due to the time difference, I didn’t want to call right away. I was afraid I’d wake the good man up from his sleep. Not to mention, we had many other things on our minds. After we finished our lunch, the first thing we did was to explore our rooms.

The honeymoon suite looked simply impressive. It contained separate rooms, including a living room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and even a small kitchen. In the bedroom was a huge four-poster bed, a large fridge with refreshments, and beautiful art on the walls. The living room had more art on the walls, a comfortable couch, several comfortable chairs, all sorts of home entertainment equipment, a library filled with books from local writers and the history of the island, a computer with Internet access, a large dining table, and large scenic windows that offered a view of the ocean.

The bathroom was perhaps even more impressive. They had made the floor and walls completely out of marble. The bathroom included a huge shower, which offered enough room for four adults, and a Jacuzzi, large enough to hold a family twice our size!

Ilse especially swooned over that Jacuzzi. I could tell we were going to have a lot of fun in there. I smiled as I thought of how we’d be getting clean while doing the dirty.

I figured we’d also have family baths there. I could already picture telling our children bedtime stories while we were in the Jacuzzi and then tuck them into bed afterward. After that, Ilse and I could either return to the Jacuzzi or go to bed.

The adjoining suite was perhaps even more impressive. It wasn’t the size of the honeymoon suite, but I guessed it got close to that. I was afraid that Bram and Naomi might get lost in there. It had its own living room, also filled with all sorts of home entertainment equipment, two adjoining bedrooms, both with a large king sized bed, and a spacious bathroom. Gramps didn’t skimp on anything. I bet that two weeks in this hotel would probably cost grandpa more than our entire wedding and all it had included.

We hadn’t even seen all the facilities of the hotel yet. I knew there was a health spa, several indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a tennis court, a gym, a sauna, and probably several other activities that I didn’t have any idea about. The nice part was that we could make use of it all to our heart’s content. If we wanted, we could probably spend two weeks in the hotel and not be bored for a single moment.

After we explored our children’s suite, Naomi walked up to me and asked, “Daddy, can I sleep in Bram’s bed tonight? Teddy and I are scared.”

I could understand where she was coming from. Their suite was easily three times the size of the space they had available in the attic. If their suite impressed me, then I could only imagine how intimidating it had to be for her.

“Of course you can, sweetheart. Bram you don’t mind sharing your bed with your sister, do you?” I asked, looking Bram in the eyes.

He seemed to be relieved when I asked him that question. I guess he must have felt just as intimidated, but he had wanted to appear brave and not admit his fears.

“McQueen and I will protect you, Sis, just as in Dad’s stories!” He remarked with a proud voice.

I ruffled his hair and gave my kids a hug.

“You know that I love both of you, right? If you feel scared at any moment in the night, you can always come to Mommy and me and sleep in our bed for the night,” I reassured my children, they hugged me just a little tighter in return.