October 19, 2014 Leaving Rio for Amsterdam

I woke up late.  I had washed the final load of dirties in the shower and most of it was dry. I take my one semi-wet towel (used it to shower) and headed to the pool.  It was pretty "crowded", all four chairs were occupied.  It was a pretty warm day so I found myself often taking a dip to cool off.
My flight doesnt take off until 9PM, but I have to check out of the "Hotel of no Frills/Thrills" by 1PM.  There is a KLM Lounge at the Rio Airport, so I will take solace there.  I take the hotel courtesy van over for the mile drive to the departure area. Again, I've just one large 60 lb bag to check in for the flight.  I go to the KLM counter and they said I could not check in until around 6PM, thats four hours from now.  A gate agent overheard the conversation and ask if I had a boarding pass yet.  I did not because the on-line checking process would not let me check in to get a boarding pass.  She then escorted me over to an automated ATM like check-in machine.  She must of by-passed the screen saying I had to check in at the gate, because a boarding pass slipped out of the bottom of the machine.  She personally checked me in at her counter.  After the baggage was checked in, she escorted me to the Customs Check-in, by passed the hundreds of people in line, to a booth that said "officio".  She showed by passport and check-in documents to a custom official who ask me where I've been while in Brazil, stamped my passport and I was on my way.  But wait, have to get through security check-in, again with hundreds of people in line.  She promptly took me to the front of the line and got me through security in nothing flat.  She showed her credentials to the security person and I thought we would be saying our good byes. Nope, she escorted me to the KLM Lounge and passed me over to one of the ladies at the KLM Lounge desk. She then checked my flight.  She said she would come and get me when the flight was ready to board in about 5 hours.  She showed me the kitchen, food counter, wine and alcohol self serve bar, restrooms and a shower room.  If I used the shower all I had to do is tell her and she would get towels and accessories for me.  WOW, that's twice I've experienced good customer service just in the last three days. I guess they thought I was Steven Spielberg or Jerry Garcia, the way I'm starting to look without a recent haircut.
While in the Lounge I met a couple of Irishmen that seem to have an objective of getting totally wasted before they boarded. I did manage to catch a short nap and did take a shower about an hour before boarding. At 8PM, the young lady came and got me and escorted me down to the boarding area, where people were already boarding.  She asked for my boarding pass/passport and zoomed me past people in line.  They were probably wondering who I was that could get cuts in line.  I was wondering as well, who the airline thought I was.  I was handed off to a wonderfully attractive blond with long braids named Greta.  She escorted me to my seat ask if I wanted champagne, and I didn't refuse.  She went over the evening menu with me and asked for my selections.  "anything you need Mr. Stephenson and I will help". No I wasn't thinking that you dirty minded people.... :).
There was a rainstorm that hit the airport just as the boarding gate was closed and we stayed on the tarmac to wait out the rain storm for about an hour before we were able to take off.
The flight was to be about 11 hours.  We would take off to the northeast and fly over the rest of Brazil, including the Amazon River, for about 2 hours, before heading out over the Atlantic Ocean.