12 Days, 2 Carry-Ons, 1 Couple in Benelux + Germany: Trip Report
 

The folks in the Netherlands and Belgium forums were such a great help that I wanted to repay their kindness with a trip report. Hopefully my trip report can help others that are in the planning stages.

I am swamped with work (still playing catch-up from vacation) so I will probably post a day at a time. This will give me a chance to be a little more detailed.

I'd like to start with a little background on who we are and what kind of trip we planned. This way you'll know whether or not to keep reading!

This trip was planned for myself and my husband (DH). I am 33 and a professional (PhD level researcher) and DH is 44 and more of a blue collar kind of guy. I have previously been to Europe (London x2; Stockholm) but DH had not.

I love art and culture. I love to randomly wander in neighborhoods and pop into neighborhood restaurants. I could spend hours staring at paintings and love a good book. DH affectionately refers to me as a "nerd" or a "geek." I am not an outdoorsy kind of person....nature really does nothing for me. I don't drink or smoke. My idea of a souvenir usually involves food.

DH loves to laze around and watch TV. His idea of a perfect vacation is renting a houseboat or taking the RV into the mountains. Walking is not his idea of a good time. He drinks and smokes and couldn't care less about souvenirs.

I had been wanting to visit Europe again and I figured the only way I could convince DH was if I picked a city he would be interested in. When I asked him, his first response was "Amsterdam." This is likely due to the marijuana culture. If he had his way our vacation would have been spent only in Amsterdam.

Now, I want to travel the world, so I figured I would add some countries to the trip. This way DH would still get time in Amsterdam and I'd get to see more of Europe.

We started planning the trip in March/April 2010. My work schedule is very flexible but not so much with DH. So I wanted to plan a trip around Labor Day so that he would miss one less day of work. We were originally think to leave the week before Labor Day, but prices were $300pp higher leaving 8/31 versus 9/1. Therefore it was decided we would leave 9/1 and return 9/11.

I began my research by borrowing guidebooks from the library. I had no idea which countries to add. I started reading and decided on adding Belgium. Then I noticed this little country called Luxembourg and thought "Who knows when I'll ever be in this area again, why not squeeze in this little country?" So I added more guidebooks. I relied on Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Rick Steves, and Thomas Cook. I ended up sticking with Fodors & Rick Steves.

Anyhow, with more research we realized we needed more time and so I added an extra day. Air tickets were purchased approximately 8 weeks out. I tracked fares on Kayak and snagged a great deal on Delta. For hotels I decided to use Priceline and purchased about 6 weeks out. I was able to snag some GREAT deals in Amsterdam, Brussels, Brugges, and Brussels airport.

To get around between countries I decided on using trains. I did a LOT of research about rail passes and decided that it would be financially advantageous to buy a Benelux rail pass (saved us about $20pp plus a lot of time).

I relied a lot on these forums to plan my itinerary. Everything was finalized about 4 weeks prior and I spent those last weeks tying up loose ends and creating my "travel book." This was basically a document that detailed each day's itinerary (open/closing time, train schedules, prices, etc.).

The focus of our trip was:
1. Museums: We went to a LOT of museums, and I went far out of my way to see art (note: My art interests are predominantly expressionism and impressionism).
2. Smoke shops for husband in Amsterdam
3. Churches
4. Cultural sites

We did NOT:
1. Drink any beer or wine
2. Eat at any fancy restaurants

There is the background. I hope that you'll stick around to read about my great trip!!!!

Looking forward to hearing about your impressions of some of my favorite countries,and hope you enjoyed them!

I want to hear about your Priceline deals!

And I'd like to hear the details of what you took / left behind that enabled you to travel with just carry-ons!
I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences, Di

Looking forward to your trip report!

Looking forward to your report Twiggers :)

looking forward to it

Welcome home, twiggers. Hope you had a great time. Can't wait to read your trip report.

Robyn :)>-

I too am eagerly awaiting your report :) I hope that, with our help, your husband has caught the travel bug and you will be traveling the world very soon.

No beer, no wine, no fancy restaurants ----- awwwwwwwwh -----

Thanks all!

To answer a couple questions:

Priceline hotelsL I have booked via Priceline in the US, and was pretty familiar with their system. So I figured why not in Europe too? I did a lot of research using betterbidding.com. I decided that I would only take 4* hotels because DH was insistent on having air conditioning (which he later realized was useless) and I wanted to make sure we had elevators, etc.

We stayed 5 nights in Amsterdam. We ended up getting the 4* NH Carlton for $95/night. The regular rack rate was about 130 euros. So we had a small savings. I think our rate was higher than normal because we stayed for 5 nights.

In Brugges we stayed one night. We got the 4* NH Brugge for $75/night. Fabulous deal!

In Brussels we stayed at the Renaissance Brussels. It was a 4* business hotel and we paid $60/night.

In Luxembourg City we couldn't get Priceline :-(

Since we were flying back from Brussels we spent our last night at an airport hotel. We ended up at the Sheraton Airport (perfect location) which was a 4* and we paid $65/night.

I put detailed reviews of the hotels on Tripadvisor, so I probably won't spend a ton of time on those reviews, but I'll give some general impressions during my trip report.

Carry-on:

Ahhhh...this we chose to do because I did not want to be lugging around a big suitcase on the train. And it was worth it!!!! It was so easy!!!

In my suitcase I had:

3 pairs of pants
4 tops
5 socks
5 undies
1 thin cardigan
1 bra
1 pair of running shoes (yes, I ran while on vacation)
running clothes
I had a bathroom bag with the usual things (tampons, brush, tweezers, razor, medicine, cotton pads, deoderant, floss, toothbrush)
sunglasses
My 3 oz ziploc bag had 2 bottles of conditioner, face cleanser, face toner, face moisturizer, Tide packets, chapstick, toothpaste)
clothes line

In my travel purse I had:
guidebook
pens
notebook
train tickets
daily itinerary
kleenex (yes, I caught a slight cold)
candies
credit card
small amount of cash for each day

I wore a money belt with passports, remaining credit cards and cash.

I wore on the plane:
jacket (all weather jacket)
pants
shoes
socks
bra
top
underwear

Travel pillow clipped to the outside of suitcase.

I came back with a lot more :-)

I was very fine traveling so light, which is amazing for me. I did laundry in hotel sinks. One big load about 3 days in that took a while to dry (mostly DH's clothing - oh, and he pretty much had the same as me, minus the running gear). I then did a couple mini washes (running gear, etc.) two more times.

I wore my pants twice, socks/underwear once, tops once before washing. I am a big clean freak, but it actually wasn't too hard to wear pants twice. I don't think I could do tops twice...which was why I brought more of them.

Since it was September my clothing was pretty light. I made sure to stick with somewhat neutral pants and then the tops would go with anything. Navy, black, and grey were my pant choices. Nothing light colored in case of stains.

There is really a lot you can live without when traveling! Anything you forget or need can easily be bought, and becomes a souvenir.

What I left behind:
Special eye moisturizer
Special facial scrub (that I only use 2-3x week)
Electric toothbrush (I did miss it, but skipped it because of the weight)
Books (I really didn't have time to read anyways)
Laptop (I thought this would be tough, but I used iphone wifi when hotels had free wifi)
Extra shoes (never had a need for them. Extra shoes is really just vanity)
New clothing for each day (this would have been nice. Or at least not being so cheap and springing for hotel cleaning or finding a laudromat)

Really....I was just as comfortable traveling as I am at home.

General preparations:

Cash: I took $200 US. This was a just-in-case and also to pay for return cab fare when we got home. Never had a use for it. We took our debit cards, Visa, MC, and Amex. Used the debit card when we arrived in Amsterdam. Right in the arrivals hall. Withdrew 500 euros without a problem. Stuck 400 in my money belt and walked next door to the currency exchange and got him to give me smaller bills. Yes, the ATM gave only 50 euro notes. About halfway through the trip we withdrew another 500.

I used my Amex card for larger purchases (e.g., expensive dinner, museum passes). Never had a problem using it!

Each day I would put about 100 euros in my travel purse and keep the rest in my money belt. If I needed cash I would step into a restroom.

Safety: I was probably a bit paranoid, but I decided to use a money belt. I bought it from Rick Steves. It was VERY lightweight and fit fine under my pants facing forward. I did feel a little safer after seeing someone robbed in Amsterdam (more later). No regrets and I will ALWAYS do this in the future.

Train travel: I relied heavily on bahn.de to determine my train costs and schedules. I bought the Benelux rail pass which allowed for 5 days of unlimited travel. Since we would be traveling more than that I needed to determine which days to use the passes. I wrote this down on my itinerary for reference. Worked flawlessly!

In general we really enjoyed train travel. It was comfortable and generally easy to navigate (a couple exceptions will be discussed later). It was nice to stare out the windows and see the countryside passing by. We also had some fun on one journey solving crossword puzzles with some guys from the Netherlands.

More tomorrow!!! I'll answer more questions and talk about the travel to Europe and our first day....involves some train mishaps and a grouchy jet lagged DH :-)

Day 1:

This is travel + arrival day. Not the best part of the vacation! We flew Delta (best price) from MIA -> DTW with a 3 hour layover and then DTW -> AMS. We flew economy and since the configuration was 2-3-2 on the long-haul portion we took both of the '2' seats about midway back. I purposely took seats a little further back to guarantee that we wouldn't have problems with our carry-ons (i.e., being forced to check).

The first segment was pretty uneventful. On time and half empty. Layover in Detroit was find. Quick bite to eat at Chili's (bleh). Boarded on time and we actually left on time!!!

Now, this was DH's first time flying long haul. He's not a small guy...tall, broad shoulders (which is why we went for the '2' seats portion). The poor guy couldn't sit still. He was up and down the whole flight. This meant that I didn't get to sleep either :-( He complained most of the flight and said he would never go to Europe again. I had tried to prepare him! Mostly, I think he was overly cranky because we had been up since 5:30 AM and he just couldn't sleep.

Arrival in Amsterdam:

Arrived on time. I think our flight arrived at the last gate! We had a good hike to get to passport control. It was a nightmare! Everyone was bunched up, no clear lines, etc. Finally, after about 10 minutes they opened up another non-EU line. We got through no problem.

Now, DH is grumpy and needs a smoke. I need to find a place to buy my GVB tram passes, since I know we'll need them when we get off the train. I needed a 5 day pass and so I went to the AKO store (as advised on here). Well, apparently they don't sell passes. Go back to DH to tell him and he's really grumpy now. Just wants to take a cab to the hotel. I wasn't paying upwards of 40 euros though. Off I go back to information and they tell me just to stand in the VVV line. Oy vey! What a line-up. That thing did NOT move for 30 minutes. Some woman just kept hogging up one of the tellers. People clapped when she finally left.
Finally my turn! Well, the VVV doesn't sell 5 day tram passes ARG! I took the 4 day pass, just to get out of there (it's already been nearly an hour since we landed). I'm just so tired! I also bought train tickets to Centraal Station.

I go back and grab hubby (he went to smoke) and we proceed down to the tracks. They told us platform 3. So we're standing there, and I see all the other tourists from the VVV line. We wait and wait (it seems forever since we're both cranky and tired). I hear a train that says "Central Station". I can't see anything else on the train, and we happened to be in a spot where you can't see the monitors. So we got on the train. Yea....20 minutes later the conductor comes by. We weren't on the right train!!!!!! I can see that DH is fuming now. WTG twiggers....DH's first exposure to Europe and I screw up the train.
Conductor directed us to the correct train and off we went to the correct Centraal Station. Got off and DH again wants to take a taxi. The trams were right there and I had the numbers written down in my itinerary, so we just hopped on. I asked the driver to notify me for the "Flower Market" stop. He did. Got off and had no clue where hotel was. Asked someone and they pointed! Our hotel (NH Carlton) was right there!

Check-in at hotel went smoothly and we went upstairs to drop off bags. So very tired. I had all these things on my itinerary for this day. Yea, that wasn't happening!! DH wanted to hit a coffeeshop, and goodness knows he needed it to calm down. Found one right across the street that did the job. He wasn't very impressed with the quality (Roker II), but about an hour later he changed his mind.

Decided that I wanted to get my Museum Card today, if nothing else. So we wandered over to the History Museum. No problem getting the cards, and then we wandered back to hotel. Grabbed a couple of hours of sleep.

Woke up around dinner time and decided to wander and find food. Found a small place across from the Flower Market. Had some yummy apple pancakes :-)

I haven't seen very much of Amsterdam yet, but I like it. I love all the water and the architecture! I can't wait to explore the city more. A little disappointed that I really didn't "see" anything on my itinerary, but it will all work out!

So very tired.....tomorrow will be a big day! Need sleep!

Great report so far. It's difficult with a reluctant traveller - so much pressure to make sure things go well. I am not surprised you didn't see much on your first day - even if we do end up sightseeing on our arrival day, I never remember much anyway. Now we just plan to wander around and eat, stay up until evening, then sleep and hope we wake up reasonably adjusted to local time.

November: I agree, it was difficult at times...but even worse when tired and punch drunk. We are just incompatible travelers I guess. Which is OK....we try to plan something he really wants and then something I really want. After traveling back during the day when awake, we really wished there were day flights to Europe (leaving in the AM and arriving late evening)...you could arrive tired and just go straight to sleep.

I think I missed something... you say your husband smokes and drinks yet you say there was no wine or beer drinking on the trip. Did you make him go on the wagon?

I am not a big drinker but I can't imagine being in Holland, Germany and Belgium and not sampling some beers....

It's always interesting to find out what really unfolded from a poster like twiggers who planned her/his trip in part at least on Fodor's.

Twiggers..we have taken day time flights several times from the East Coast,US to London Heathrow and love them. Solves jet lag problems.If London isn't our destination, we stay overnight at the airport and continue with another flight in the morning to our destination.

Paris: Yes, hubby smokes. When we drinks it is only one type of whiskey. He doesn't really like beer and we're not bar type of people.

PalenQ: I know it sounds lame, but the trip report is kind of my way of giving back to everyone who helped!

Happy: Ohhhh...that is good to know! I think that may help DH with the jet lag/tiredness problems. The flight back was definitely better. He was up a bit, but not near as grumpy.

Excellent job using Priceline! You got some great prices.

We do the same as HappyTrvlr. We take an 8 or 9 am flight from New York/Newark to London. When we arrive at 8 or 9 pm, there is time for a late dinner and then off to bed. Even though it is early back home, we are tired from rising at 4-5 am and spending the day traveling, so we get right on London time. We also sometimes overnight at the airport and continue on the next day. Priceline is great for airport hotels at LHR!