When I lived in Bermuda in the early eighties, I worked for a Dutch insurance group. After five years of employment with the company, I was summoned to the head office which was in Rotterdam.  I flew from Bermuda to New York City to connect to a KLM flight to Amsterdam. I was sitting in business class on the segment from NYC to Amsterdam and I became fairly concerned during the flight by the amount of turbulence we were experiencing.  The KLM flight attendant on duty, Roy Levy detected my anxiety and spoke in calming terms that there was nothing to really worry about.  However, before we could land in Amsterdam, we were diverted to Brussels for about an hour or more until it was safe for us to continue to Schiphol Airport.

Once we landed in Amsterdam Roy and I had made plans to meet for dinner later that evening.  We bonded immediately and to this day Roy is one of the most treasured people in my life. Since that first visit to Amsterdam, I have returned to the Netherlands at least half a dozen times. My life partner Bill’s first trip to Europe was in 1989 to Amsterdam. It will always be my favorite European city simply because of the familiarity I have with the Dutch culture thanks to my friend Roy.