Weekend Adventure in Amsterdam

On Christmas day, one of my sons came across a 1-day super-special airfare sale - and booked a February flight to Amsterdam. Only one piece of hand luggage was allowed... A suitcase would cost extra... (He packed a small knapsack.)

It would be a short vacation... 3 days, in fact. (Factor in the 6-hour time difference and his interrupted sleep patterns - how much touring time would he actually get?!)

A few days before leaving, he went to bed early and got up in the wee hours of the morning, trying to adapt to European time...

Then one Thursday evening in February he flew out of Montreal. By Friday morning (which comes 6 hours earlier in Europe) he was walking the streets of Amsterdam...

He had a few plans (beer tour, soccer game) but basically wanted to explore...

He sent us back a few pictures (sausage stand, corn on the cob, price of gas)...

Then, on Monday morning, he was heading back (a few chocolate treats in his bag)...

The following email from him was waiting in my inbox when I woke up:

So I get to the train station early... Supposed to leave to the airport at 8:52am... Arrive at 8:45am...

8:55am hits... No train yet...

9am... Message over loudspeaker in Dutch... I don't have any clue what he said... So I start looking for an employee... Can't find one....

9:03am... I start checking for Uber options... 40-60 Euro for the trip... Geeze... Train cost me 5 euro... Last thing I want is to pay that and then $80+ Canadian...

9:05am... I check Google maps... There is another train that is going to airport... Leaving in 2 mins... I run to that train and catch it... Sitting down... Relaxing...

9:07 am... Train isn't moving... People are running towards the train... Start piling on... Elbow to elbow standing room only...

9:10am... People still coming on... I just hope we start moving soon....

9:13am... Yes... Train is moving... 17 mins from airport according to Google...

I'll let you know if things go wrong from here.... Currently on train... Hopefully on way to airport...

If im in Rotterdam by the end of the day, I might need to find another way back ;)

Fortunately, there was also another email... telling us that he had indeed made it to the airport on time!

Ah! The adventure of traveling! I used to be almost this adaptable - back before internet, Uber, google maps and cell phones were around... But I'm not that adventuresome any more!

Year by year, organized bus tours look better and better to me!