How I moved from DC to Amsterdam in 10 minutes

So I was on sabbatical from my job because, let's face it - as an early 30's American woman that's the only way you can actually take a vacation that is longer than 5 days. As the plane took off I looked over Washington DC - my home of the past 11 years - and I was finally able to breathe looking ahead to a fun 9 weeks of holiday. First stop was London to visit my friend Cat who was living there for a year having moved from NYC. I got in and spent 1 1/2 days in London before we were back at Heathrow airport - which was having one of its signature passenger clogs going through customs and security - to head to Amsterdam for the weekend. We were meeting up with our friends Molly who was flying in from NYC and Christina from London. A great way to start my 9 weeks of freedom!

My sense of carefree relaxation was short lived as the giant CF in the security line almost made us miss our flight so we are running at top speed through the airport trying to put back on our various items of clothing they'd made us take off...You know in case I was smuggling a WMD in my PONYTAIL HOLDER!! We run onto the plane barley making it before they close the doors only to be received by 120 sets of angry eyeballs. Clearly we were making the plane wait. I walked down the aisle panting and dragging my slightly too big carry-on, winter coat and purse. I could feel my popularity rising as I had to move some bags to accommodate mine, but finally it was in and I took my middle seat in the back of the plane.

Middle seat...great. Sigh... Oh well it's only 45 minutes from London to Amsterdam...

I actually don't have the same level of hatred for the middle seat as most people. Sure it's cramped, you can avail yourself of neither armrest as it's usually being coopted by your seatmates and it's inevitable that your traytable is going to malfunction in some manner, but it is one seat closer to the window. Ahh the window. The best seat in the house. Not for the views, mind you, but being somewhat afraid of flying I feel strongly about monitoring the progress of the plane by looking out the window to see where we are. I seem to be operating under the dillusion if I can see that we're flying along we can't possibly crash. Of course my theory is flawed as this also would give me a ring side seat if we were to suddenly hurdle toward the earth, but...details.

So there I sit in my middle seat reading the inflight magazine since I have managed to forget to get my book out of my "slightly too large" carry on and there's not way I'm getting up as the woman next to me is looking at me like "Just try it lady."

The flight thankfully goes quickly and we touch down with a loud THUD as the pilot wishes to announce our arrival into Amsterdam by having the passengers believe our wheels have fallen off. The gentleman in the window seat and I exchange an "uhh, I guess we're here. Eeeeassy there fellah!" You know the general nervous chitchat you engage in when you think you've narrowly escaped a firey death. So we start with the "Do you live in London or Amsterdam?"

We exchange stories while taxiing to the gate - I'm from Washington DC on break from my job traveling. He's from Amsterdam.
"Oh what do you do?" he asks
"I work for an interactive marketing firm, [more detail about my job.] What do you do?"
"I work for XX company - US based company at the European headquarters in Amsterdam."

After 10 minutes of polite conversation we arrive. I'm walking with my friend Cat, whose fingers are on fire having a fight with co-workers on her crackberry, and window gentleman comes up to me.

"I don't know if you're interested, but we're looking for someone with your skills. We need someone to run the marketing department for our european headquarters. If you'd like to find out about the job send me an email or give me a call." hands me his business card. "Director of HR", it reads. Now various things run though my mind at rapid speed:

- But...it's only my SECOND day of my NINE week vacation!!!
- WOW, I wasn't really happy at my job...could it be this easy?
- uh oh, I wonder if he knows I'm American and therefore practically by definition am not versed in 3 languages like the rest of the world. Quick! Say something in French even if it's wrong!

I spent that weekend in Amsterdam with my friends barely thinking about the card in my pocket. But returning to London I decided...what the hell.

After that weekend it was 16 interviews (yes you saw right...16) and one plane trip later and I had a new job. In between anxiety attacks thinking about moving to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language and knew not a soul I packed my bags and was on a plane with a one-way ticket to Amsterdam.

And all it took was 10 minutes and the middle seat...