TRAVEL: Amsterdam, Leiden, Groningen - Murphy's Law confirmed!

Some people enjoy spending their weekends at home, relaxing and rejuvenating themselves for another week at work. I am not some people, and my idea of a perfect weekend is getting as far away from home as possible. This time, it was to the Netherlands, a country I’d visited briefly a few years ago and been impressed by its excellent rail network, interesting cities, and beautiful canals.

This trip was slightly different in that it had something of a purpose, whereas most of my trips are just adventures and opportunities to discover new places and cultures. This time, however, we were in search of the Netherlands most habitable places as my parents are due to be moving there at some point soon. Lucky for us, it’s just a quick plane ride from London City airport to Schipol.

I like Schipol, because to me it seems like a gateway to the rest of the world, and as we walked through the airport I caught myself glimpsing at the screens and browsing destinations. If this weren’t my final destination, where could I go? Cartagena, New York, Cape Town? No doubt future trips will have me passing through this airport time and time again.

We picked up our hire car from the little Avis booth in the carpark and set off on our way. Our first quasi-destination was Haarlem, a delightful town criss-crossed, of course, by a variety of canals. The houses here were beautiful, with large windows interestingly with no net curtains, with made for pleasant entertainment as you could see the Christmas trees in peoples living rooms. Rumour has it such large open windows date back to Calvinist thought, with the opinion that people should be able to see into your house to ensure no wrong-doing is taking place!

We continued on to the wonderfully named Zandvoort, purely to admire the coast and watch the waves roll in along the shore. Waves however means wind, and we were soon forced back into the car to avoid the biting breeze. We moved on through Aerdenhoot which looked to be like the Hamptons of the Netherlands with huge houses and lovely tree-lined avenues – somewhere I’m sure we’d be more than happy to move too, but perhaps quite a way out of our budget!

Lunch was taken slightly further down the coast in Noordwijk, the seafront of which was filled with fancy riverside restaurants and hotels with hundreds of rooms facing out to sea. I can imagine that in the height of summer, this place is absolutely packed. We opted to head into the centre of the village, a pedestrianised road lined with small shops and Christmas lights hanging overhead. Far and away the busiest eatery was de Smakmaaker, so of course this is where we chose to have lunch. Hey, if the locals like it, it must be good! Whilst the parents decided on apfelstrudel, I went for an Oudekasse baguette – literally translating to Old Cheese. Pretty good I must say.

Without a doubt, the most helpful tool we used in the restaurant and throughout the whole trip was the Google Translate app. Whilst the waiting staff often speak good English, the menus were almost always in Dutch. However, this handy app allows you to simply point your phone camera at the writing for an instantaneous translation. Very clever, and very helpful!

Hunger satiated, we stood for a minute on the beach with the driving wind beating out faces, just to say we had; before winding our way away from the coast to the outskirts of Amsterdam. Here, the streets became a bit narrower and the houses taller and thinner each fighting for a space overlooking the canals. And the bikes – oh my goodness, the bikes. If there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing I’d bet that’s followed closely by the Netherlands. Everyone has a bike. They’re everywhere, you simply can’t avert your eyes away from them, be they being ridden on the excellent bike lanes that span all the roads, leant up against the sides of houses, or in hordes chained up whilst their owners are at work. I’m astounded (and happy) with the dedication Dutch people have to their cycling – if only other countries would follow suit.

As the light began to fade, we made haste for our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Amsterdam South. I quite like chain hotels like this – always clean and you know exactly what to expect when you walk in – a perfectly fine hotel with everything you need. Once checked in, we bundled up and headed out into the Arctic chill for a twenty minute walk to dinner. Surprisingly, the restaurant was nestled in the middle of an office estate, pretty far from anything similar around. Nonetheless, Kronenburg had good reviews on TripAdvisor so was worth a try.

The menu was quite pricey with the waitress advising us that each item was ‘somewhere between a starter and a main’ and we should therefore order two per person. However, judging by the price and what I deemed to be ‘main course price’ I decided to just have the Flammkuchen, a very thin pizza like dish topped with aubergine, cheese, cashews and olives – and yes, it was more than enough for me! Very nice too, and something I knew I’d struggle to find back home.

The next morning I peeled back the curtains to reveal a white blanket of snow – fairly thin at this point but with more due to arrive later in the day. We headed down for breakfast, a sensible cold buffet with, importantly, Dutch delicacies. As well as the usual cold meats, cheeses, and pastries, we also had the chance to try hagelslag – chocolate sprinkles which you eat with buttered bread. I am a big fan of sweet breakfasts and this was no exception.

Keen to get a move on before the snow began to settle, we hopped in the car and headed closer to Amsterdam. Without heading directly into the centre, we scooted around the outskirts in towns like Oud Zuid, with pleasant apartments overlooking the canals rolling through the city. Having got as close to Amsterdam as we were going to get this time, we turned the car around and headed for Leiden as the snow got heavier.

Just over an hour later we arrived at the van der Valk hotel, a very pleasant hotel with a gorgeous lobby decked with Christmas trees and a roaring fire. Whilst our intent to avoid the snowy roads had meant we had arrived close to 11am and thus far too early to check in, we were able to drop our bags and chose to brave the wintery weather outside.

By this point, the snow had done a fairly good job of settling and was still driving into our faces so we made sure to cover up as best we could. Not having expected such weather, I’d only brought jeans which swiftly got soaked but nonetheless, I was enjoying the Winter Wonderland as it’s not often we get that kind of weather!

After a longer than expected walk we arrived in the centre of Leiden which looked very pretty blanketed in snow with quaint bridges stretching over the canal every so often. Our destination was Bakker van Maaren, a bakery with some of the most delicious cakes I’ve ever tried. We sampled the cheesecake, carrot cake and apple cake and each was as delicious as the next. Plus, every coffee came with a mini brownie, which was equally as yummy. Probably the best cakes I’ve ever had! On our way out, I spotted that they sold homemade chocolate, so of course had to invest in three bars – stroopwaffel; caramel; and pistachio, coconut and pineapple, all of which I’m very excited to eat!

With the driving snow having died down a bit, we were able to admire the village more on our way back, and it really did look like it should inhabit the inside of a snowglobe. Gorgeous. However, a member of our party had painful new walking boots on so walking back wasn’t an option, and we decided instead to try to catch the bus. I say ‘try’ because it wasn’t particularly successful… From the centre, we caught a bus a few stops to the central station, where we expected another bus which would take us straight to the hotel to arrive imminently. Instead, the automated system counted down the minutes until its arrival, announced the bus was here (with no stop number of course) and then promptly disappeared completely. This happened to three buses we were waiting for, and led to us waiting outside the station for close to an hour. Bearing in mind it was very very cold and I’m sure you can understand this wasn’t particularly pleasant!

An hour after we would have arrived back at the hotel if we’d have walked, an elusive bus finally arrived, and I attempted to warm my frozen fingers up by sitting on my hands. It was nice to get back to the hotel and jump straight into a (much needed) boiling shower. Once warmed up, we headed for dinner in the hotel restaurant, predominantly because the snow and cold stopped us from going out to eat! But the food itself was very pleasant – I had a veggie burger, whilst my parents tried the trio of game and pork shoulder. Perhaps the best part was the numerous sides we were served – fries, roast potatoes and red cabbage, with seconds if you wanted. Delicious, especially with homemade mayonnaise – the true way to eat fries in the Netherlands.

A pleasant sleep was abruptly ruined with the worst news a traveller can receive: our flight was cancelled. As a result, a stressful breakfast was followed with frenzied calls to Flybe to see what our options were. Whilst no flights were available from Schipol, they offered to book us on a flight leaving from Groningen, about two and a half hours North, to Southend. We’ll take it, we said, and jumped into the car to begin our journey, extinguishing all plans we had for the day in the hope we’d still make it home that evening.

Whilst not an ideal situation, I enjoyed driving across the country and admire its flat landscape which meant you could see for miles in every direction. We were able to drop the car off at an Avis petrol station in Groningen, and then took the worlds most expensive taxi (in my opinion) to the airport. It was completely deserted at this point – I considered filming an episode of Cribs in jest because who would be there to stop me? Upon realising that no one was going to show up for a few more hours, we made our way to the airports sole restaurant for a bite to eat. I of course had fries with mayonnaise, and watched as the snow continued to fall.

Half a book read and a full movie watched later, we headed to check in, made our way through security and sat waiting for our plane. I have a handy app called Flightradar24 (a must for any traveller) which lets you follow flights, so we watched the plane take off from Southend and make its way over to Groningen. As it reached the airport, it began circling…and circling…and circling…before diverting away to Munich due to the heavy snow. The knowledge that it had been so near yet so far was heartbreaking, as was the realisation that we weren’t going to make it home that evening.

As soon as the announcement came that the flight was cancelled, we made our way back through security and to the service desk where they processed all the passengers from the cancelled flight. Whilst first in the queue, we then had to wait two hours whilst the other passengers were processed before being told we would be put up in a hotel for the night and booked onto the flight the following day. Taxis would be arriving shortly, we were told. However, the weather meant that there were only two taxis in action in the whole of Groningen, and we were near to last on the list to be collected so it was another uncomfortable wait until it arrived.

Tired and cold, we made it to the Hampshire Plaza hotel and headed straight for the restaurant – maybe fries for lunch hadn’t been the best decision on my part, but another veggie burger (the only vegetarian thing on offer) made up for it, and very yummy it was at that.

With a day in Groningen ahead of us, we allowed ourselves a lie-in before grabbing some breakfast (hagelslag for me of course) and deciding we might as well make the most of our time here. Figuring out the bus schedule, we hopped on the number 5 into town and spent a pleasant few hours there. First, we explored the centre of the university town, before doing a loop of the canal, with central Groningen being pretty much an island surrounded by water. This was a good way to circumnavigate the city, and I enjoyed walking past the houseboats that sat on the water covered in a thick layer of snow.

Feeling like we’d ‘done’ Groningen, we stopped for a pick-me-up at PS koffie with cakes all round – spekulaas cake for me, banana bread and carrot cake, and a slice of Dutch delicacy seven-layer cake to go in case we got peckish at the airport. All too soon we were watching the clock to make sure we were back in time for our taxi pickup, and fully aware of the issues with the buses earlier in the weekend, gave ourselves plenty of time.

Our journey ended worse that it had begun, as whilst the flight did land and take off on this day, arrival at Southend revealed that all trains to London had been cancelled. This led to a rail replacement bus which stopped at every stop on the line and was significantly slower, so certainly not ideal. Ever the optimist though, I took the opportunity to admire Christmas lights on peoples houses, whenever the heavy condensation would allow me too. Finally, arriving in London, we were not pleased to find that our usual train home was not running so we had to take a much longer route, but eventually we made it.

I’ll be honest, whilst things certainly didn’t go as planned, I had a really fun weekend. I am glad to have seen a city (Groningen) that I probably otherwise would never have visited, and whilst the snow did change our plans, they didn’t make them bad (with the exception of the most part of two days being spent in an airport). Ever trip is an adventure and this one was no different.

Tips for trips: Whilst I don’t feel like I can give you tips for Amsterdam or the Netherlands at this point, I think I can for dealing with when things don’t go to plan. My main advice is to take everything as it comes, and try to enjoy it when life doesn’t go your way. I think everything happens for a reason, and in this case I had great fun in spite of our travel disasters. Of course, I don’t know what the trip would have been like if it had gone to plan, but who’s to say that I’d have got to taste the best cakes in the world? Or ever visit Groningen? Or admire Christmas lights across Essex and London? Silver linings all round!