scardycat

Does anyone have any helpful hints since the flight will be so long. Window seat better or aisle seat? Anything that is helpful I would love to hear.

Also anyway to calm my nerves. I am looking forward to seeing my husband when I get there, but the longest I have been on a plane was 3 hours. I am hoping that they will play some good movies.

I am a mother of 2 and have never been out of the US, I know this will be a wonderful adventure to add to the scrapbook. What shall I do while there? Husband is working in Eindhoven and our hotel is there. I leave on April 1, next Sunday.

Hope you guys can help me.........

hopscotch

You don't say where you are coming from, how long you will be there, whether or not you are bringing the kids, how old they are, or anything about your lifestyle. Give us a clue and you'll get plenty of suggestions. Right out of the box I would say take a train over to Antwerp.

Tulips

Hi scardycat; Eindhoven is perfectly pleasant, but not very exciting or beautiful. There's an art museum (Van Abbe). Lots of cafes, restaurants. I used to go there a lot when I was younger.
More info here; http://www.eindhoven.nl/web/show/id=357430
There are excellent train connections from Eindhoven. www.ns.nl (click at the top for English). Can't remember exactly, but think Amsterdam would be an hour, direct train. Utrecht is easy to get to as well, and a lovely city (like a smaller Amsterdam, with canals).

Tulips

Antwerp is a possibility too, but it would require one or two changes of train.

PatrickLondon

Eindhoven to Amsterdam is about an hour and twenty minutes, and that's the one to do for sightseeing.

http://www.channels.nl/
http://www.holland.com/amsterdam/gb

Eindhoven to Utrecht is less than an hour by train. It's quite an attractive university town: the thing I often recommend - if you've a mind to it - is the museum of mechanical musical instruments, which I found much more fun that it might sound. The tour takes you round all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds and ends up beside a dance-floor and some huge organs playing booge-woogie music:

http://www.museumspeelklok.nl/speelklok/uk/

artstuff

You could go south to Maastricht, which is an interesting old town to explore, going back to the Roman times. Two of the churches in town are worth visiting - the Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek and St. Servaasbasiliek, which has a Treasury with an extensive collection of reliquaries, shrines and other liturgical objects.

I also agree with PatrickLondon about Utrecht and the National Museum Speelklok. The old center section of Utrecht is a great place to stroll along the canals, which are at basement level, not street level like in Amsterdam. There are several places where you can walk down steps and follow a foot trail along the canal to the next set of steps. Just yesterday a friend of mine who travelled to Utrecht with us reminded me of these neat stone carvings that we discovered along the canal walls.

If you're not claustrophopic, you can climb the 465 steps to the top of the Domtoren for a wonderful view over the city and the region. Otherwise, just climb up part way to the Bishop's Chamber (I think that's what it was called), which is an easy walk up steps.

How long will you be there? I can suggest many other places to explore, but you really should find some time to spend in Amsterdam.

If you are flying from the east coast of the US in the afternoon/evening, you will be arriving in the Netherlands early in the morning. What you want to do is try to sleep on the plane so when you arrive in the morning you will have had at least a little rest. Then we usually sightsee a bit until around noon when we can check into our hotel room. We take a nap, shower, then get up and enjoy the evening strolling around and having a nice meal. By the time it's 11:00 pm we're ready for bed, and usually wake the next morning somewhat over jet lag.

Enjoy your first travel (of many, I hope) to Europe. It's a wonderful place to explore. Peace, Robyn >-

hetismij

As to seating, The window seat is more comfortable if you want to sleep, and you get a view of the bulb fields as you come in to Schiphol with a bit of luck (depends on the weather of course). BUT you do need to disturb your fellow passengers to go to the bathroom or go for a walk about. And if they are sleeping you may be tapped for some time. The aisle seat is better of course from that point of view, but it is harder to sleep, and you are the one getting disturbed by you neighbour getting up, and by others walking past you. Don't go for a middle seat if you can help it. Try checking in online so you can choose your seat.
Relax and enjoy your trip. Take a book to read, a book of word puzzles, or similar - something to occupy your mind in case the movies are no good.
Otherwise everyone has given you good tips on what to see. I hope your husband has some free time to take you out and about some more, and see some of the smaller places too.

Tulips

And I just wanted to add, if it's your first trip outside the US, The Netherlands is an easy place to visit; everyone speaks English, transportation is reliable, easy to get around, and people are very friendly (but I'm Dutch, so maybe I'm biased!)

How are you getting to Eindhoven from the airport?

artstuff

No, you're not biased, Tulips, you're correct. The Netherlands is a wonderful country to visit, particularly to navigate through, transportation and language wise.

We have many memorable interactions with local Dutch folk who were more than willing to share information and history about their town or neighborhood. Robyn >-

Kate_W

For the plane, wear lightweight comfortable layers (e.g. a twinset, or tshirt plus fleece jacket), trousers with a bit of stretch in them (but not too much or you'll end up feeling like a sausage by the end of the trip). Your feet will swell a little on the flight, so now is not the time for tight or high-heeled shoes.

Another clothing suggestion - long overnight flights are not a good time to wear light-coloured, easily wrinkled clothes. Too many opportunities for spills. I tend to wear khakis, greys, blacks, oatmeal, browns, etc - colours that stains blend into and that already look like they're covered in fuzz.

Do not waste space by bringing your own pillow on the plane. I'm always amazed to see passengers (most often, teenaged girls and young women), wandering through airports wearing what appear to be pajamas and carrying giant pillows with them. The headrests on newer planes often have adjustable wings that you can angle so that your head doesn't rock from side to side.

I usually travel with a pair of earplugs. Usually, I don't need them (I have been known to fall asleep standing up in rush hour), but every once in a while you get stuck near someone loud, or with a piercing voice, or a shrieking child. Better to be prepared.

For some people it doesn't work, but I take melatonin when I fly to help me sleep and to help adjust to the time change. (Melatonin is the substance your body produces naturally at night. It makes you sleepy.) You can buy melatonin in the health food/vitamin section of a drug store. Just be sure to try it at home before taking it on the plane, so that you know how your system reacts to it. I usually don't bother taking any on the days before the flight, but take two pills either when I board the plane (if I'm going to skip dinner) or when dinner is served (melatonin takes about 45-60 minutes to take effect). Then, once I arrive in Europe, I usually take one pill when I go to bed for 2 to 3 days (including the day I arrive, especially if I feel like having a nap). It doesn't knock me out, but it makes it easier to sleep.

I assume you're familiar with the new travel security restrictions (especially those relating to liquids) with respect to what you can, and can't carry on a plane? Make sure you empty out your purse and carry-on bag and reload it with only the items you're allowed to carry on.

Make two copies of your eticket, two copies of your passport, and two copies of your credit card numbers. (By the way, before you leave, pare down your wallet, too - you don't need to take all of your credit cards and bank cards with you.) Leave one set of copies with someone you trust, and take one set with you in your carry-on, separate from the original documents themselves. You might also want to write down the telephone numbers for the credit cards and bank cards you're carrying (make sure you write down telephone numbers that can be dialled from abroad - not the 1-800 numbers).

suze

I always book an aisle seat. It feels less claustrophophic to me, and you can get up (restroom) easily.

It depends on what airline you are flying. All have movies, some have small individual screens you watch on the back of the seat in front of you.

Wear comfortable clothes, and shoes you can easily slip on and off. Bring a book or magazine.

I would take one day and go into Amsterdam. Get a guidebook and read the highlights. It's an easy city to see some of the highlights on-foot. Or you might be more comfortable booking a 1/2 day organized tour?