The story of my Journey to Netherlands

It started off this way – there is an important business meeting taking place where all the users of the product that we were developing would come, it would rather be a forum for all customers to meet and share their experiences, expectations and so on. This meeting is going to be held in a place called ‘Maastricht’ in Netherlands (also called Holland).

I had not taken up any official travels in the last few months, the simple reason being my little princess might miss me. However I felt I should go this time because it is only for 6 days. I started off with the travel planning – the first of it being getting the Visa ready. Netherlands is one of the Schengen states and therefore I considered that the processing of the Visa would be the same as for Germany. However I came to know that it is entirely different for Netherlands – there was a different yet big list of documents to be submitted. The processing of the visa requires an appointment date when the documents should be submitted and the passport would arrive 5-6 working days after that. This was something that I was unaware of, so I got a delayed appointment date, but finally managed to get things through. Thanks to our travel desk!
Next was the flight – by the time my Visa had arrived, all the flight rates had shot up aggressively. Also this was a different or rather unusual place to travel, which nobody had any experience so far. Maastricht lies in the southern part of Netherlands close to the border with Germany and Belgium. So there was an option to reach there from Frankfurt or Dusseldorf in Germany or from Brussels as well apart from Amsterdam.

The travel from Frankfurt to Maastricht involved 4 transfers (Frankfurt – Koln – Aachen – Heerlen – Maastricht ). Also if it was a Schengen Visa from Germany and I need to go to Netherlands, I had to halt a day in Germany before leaving to any other Schengen states.
Therefore I preferred the option to travel to Amsterdam and then to Maastricht. There was another reason for doing this way. On the way from Amsterdam to Maastricht is a place called ‘Utrecht’ – the junction for many trains in Holland – where I had a friend staying with his wife. On talking to him I came to know about this and that I could spend some time there roaming around Amsterdam as Utrecht is only 30 mins from Amsterdam airport by train. Else there was no option to go around places as I was travelling alone this time.

Thus my travel was planned and I was ready to leave. It was a flight to New Delhi and then a transfer to Amsterdam (KLM Airlines) Schiphol Airport.

On Saturday I got down at Schiphol Airport around 6 am in the morning. Once I came out of the airport there were shops where I could buy sim card. Again I had known from a friend that calling India would be cheaper with ‘Lyca’ mobile sim cards.

The train station is within the airport complex itself and the tickets can be got easily before taking the train. More details on the train travel in Netherlands can be found here.
I took the train to Utrecht as I was supposed to go with my friend to Keukonhof Tulip Gardens that day. It is the major attraction in Holland and it open during March to May every year. The tulips start blossoming during that time. To reach there take the bus 58 from the Schiphol bus stand. However since it was flower parade that day, we had to wait in the queue for long to take the bus.

Finally we took the bus 58 to Keukonhof – me, my friend, his wife, and another friend of theirs – 4 of us started off to the tulip gardens. It was nice to go for a trip in a group! However the roads leading to Keukonhof were blocked because of the important event supposed to happen that day. Therefore we were too hungry by the time we reached – and hence filled with a packet of ‘Lays’ that I had taken from India. All the way to Keukonhof was full of tulip ‘fields’. In the evening it was flower parade.

That day she made ‘Jeera rice’ with Sabji. The next day it was phulka, veg pulao and cabbage sabji – for someone in Netherlands, who is landing there with so much of anxiety (or fear), these are special welcomes I would say – and something sooo touching and soothing. It fills the heart much more than the tummy. I know I seem a little nostalgic here, but it is a fact that everyone travelling abroad, alone, should accept.

I should tell a special thanks to the friends (bhaiya and bhabhi) of Netherlands without whom my trip would have been a complete ‘purely official’ trip. They offered us a lot of ‘Athithi Satkar’ and that too in a country which is totally new to me. They turned my trip to something totally unexpected or undreamt of!

Men may come, men may go, but this trip will remain in my mind always and my new friends there would stay in my heart forever!