Netherlands' countryside visit and back to Prague

For the weekend I am going to visit Fanny - a friend I met during her exchange in Prague. Her parents have a farm, so I am excited to see everyhing and mainly a bit differnet country side.

Peat moor near Deurne, source: my picture

On Friday it was raining in Maastricht and I worried a bit about the weather for the weekend. On Friday afternoon it got better, for a dinner I met my Czech friends again and after having a dinner together I went to meet Mathilde for salsa evening. Well, I forgot everything but basic steps, but I was just looking forward to the atmosphere. Luckily I also met another friend I met during my stay in Maastricht, who is from Lithuania. Awesome evening with friends.

On the next day when I woke up, it was raining again, but at the time I get on the train the sun was shining and I left Maastricht again – this time to Deurne. After about an hour and a half and one change of the train in Eindhoven I arrived to Deurne. Fanny came to pick me up and drive to her parent's place – a farm.

Back to Maastricht for Thesis Defense

After a few months I am coming back to Maastricht to defend my master thesis and finish my Infonomics master studies.

Rotterdam, source: my picture

My defence is scheduled to take place on Thursday January 31, 2013. Wizzair no longer flies from Prague do Eindhoven, thus I had to book the flight with Transavia to Rotterdam and take train from Rotterdam to Maastricht. The whole journey is longer and more expensive, but at least there is some cheap flight from Prague to the Netherlands. I could fly with Wizzair from Brno, but I had an exam on Monday so I preferred the Tuesday's flight from Transavia.

It's around zero in Prague and it's raining. The board at the airport reports that in Rooterdam it's warmer. Flight is on time and the plane is not full at all. Soon after the take off I and falling asleep and when I wake up, I can see the sun and dense white clouds under us. How beautiful compared to the grey and depressing weather on the ground.

The Hague, Scheveningen, Rotterdam

A friend of mine came to visit me to the Netherlands for four days and as she was never in this country I planned a lot of trips for this weekend. As this would be my last chance to travel before I leave Maastricht for some time, I also wanted to visit some cities I have never been to.

Me at the sea, source: my picture

Kate flew with Wizzair from Prague, so I was supposed to wait at her at the train station in Eindhoven at 8 a.m. Well, I set up only one alarm clock and switch it off subconsciously, so I woke up at half past 7 and realized that I had fallen asleep. I managed to catch a train from Maastricht at 8, so I got to Eindhoven just one hour later than planned. Kate was waiting for me already. We bought some breakfast at a nearby supermarket and then got on the train and spent slept for a while. Were we arrived at 11 a.m. to The Hague and our trip was about to begin.

The Hague

When we got off the train, it was slightly raining but stopped after a few minutes and slowly the sun was coming out of the clouds. According to the weather forecast it was supposed to be partly clouded that day. Better than any day in the last 2 weeks in Maastricht. I had only a vague idea what is worth seeing in the city, so we just walked there and there. The city was busy only in the shopping areas, but otherwise it was quiet which was a bit unexpected. The atmosphere there was nice and newly built up houses were not disturbing the old ones, like the city kept its look. Even newly built up skyscrapers near the train station are nicely composed into the overall view. We wanted to see the sea which meant walking about 3kms to Scheveningen. I should have printed this map for tourists, it would be very helpful, but my map in GPS was enough.

Scheveningen – Panorama, source: my picture

Maastricht – Eindhoven – Prague – Náchod and back

I have a week free from university, so I decided to go home and visit my family and friends. Let's fly to the Czech Republic from Eindhoven, but this time not to Brno but to Prague. As the route is almost routine, I had more time to look around and observe the world around me.

Welcome in Eindhoven, source: my picture

At School of Business and Economics is the exam week followed by the resit week and I didn't have to repeat any exam from previous period, therefore I had a free week. In my case not exactly, because I still needed to solve a take home exam with due date on Friday July 15, but there was no need to be in Maastricht for that. Since I want to stay in Maastricht in July, going home for a week seemed like a good idea. I prefer flying with Wizzair, as Eindhoven in close, it's fast and it's cheaper than going by bus. Even if you book the bus ticket more than a month before, one way bus ticket cost me the same as return with a plane. Crazy. The only problem is the departure time for flights to Brno (8.30 a.m.), but that is not the case of flights to Prague. Plane takes off at 12 and there is enough time to get to Eindhoven from Maastricht with a train. Great.

Going home for Easter and my first couchsurfing experience

I got a bit of free time after my exams and it is good to go home from time to time. Unfortunately I had only one weekend for this short visit, but even in a short time a lot could be done - especially when it's Ester.

Couchsurfing logo, Source: www.couchsurfing.org

This time I do not want to write separate articles about trip there and back, as I already described flying to Brno and travelling with the Eurolines, so I will only focus on what was new. I should start with how I planned the trip. Flying is the cheapest and faster way how to get to Maastricht and back, but I was going back with the bus. Why? Well, the same reason why I stayed only one weekend in the Czech Republic. Change of plans – I needed to be at the university on Tuesday, April 10 at 9 o'clock as I had some duties scheduled. Before I knew this, I had a plane ticket booked from Brno to Eindhoven on Friday March 13. This would mean one whole week for meeting friends and arranging some administrative stuff. As university changed my time schedule, I needed to adapt and therefore the bus back. I wanted to seize Monday at least, as it was Ester, so I rejected taking plane in the morning and in the afternoon, as getting to the airport also take some time. Bus goes at 17 and at 23 o’clock. The second one would allow me to enjoy the Monday, but it arrives to Eindhoven at 12 o'clock which would be too late. Actually, looking at the whole picture, there are a lot of possibilities, how to get from the Netherlands to the Czech Republic. Nice Now you know what I had to go through while planning my stay home.

Visit of Eindhoven on the way back to Maastricht

Detailed description of my flight from Brno to Eindhoven and than my own special Eindhoven city tour and shops sightseeing before taking the train to reach my destination of Maastricht.

I went to Brno on Thursday to make sure I get on the airport on Friday on time and also to visit a friend of mine. We didn't plan to do sightseeing of the city, as I already know it a bit, but just to have a chilled and relaxed day. Actually, for me it was also better to arrive a day earlier to Brno so I had enough time to get to the airport and not miss the plane due to some travel complications.

Brno Airport

Sleeping girl at the airport, source: my picture

I was a bit worried, that they will cancel my plane as not many people want to travel on Friday the 13th. But for me were most of those Fridays in the past just normal days. Ok, I missed the first tram, but I got at the Airport one hour and 40 minutes before my flight was scheduled I took some photos after crossing a very icy road and then entered the airport. Hm, not many people there, but at the security check funny thing happened. A blond girl, young (about 20 years old I guess) was travelling obviously for the first time only with the hand luggage as I do not have any other explanation. She had in her bag several big bottles of cosmetics like liquid soap, hair spray etc. and the small ones not in a plastic bag. I know that this security rule is a bit strange, but anyway it's a rule. She was very surprised, that the security guy threw her stuff away and put small bottles into separated plastic bag. And of course, a bit latter when I was sitting in the departure hall, she came in and phoned some friend describing him, what such a terrible thing happened to her and she could not understand why. Nice distraction of the day

Second trip back home – Christmas and holidays

As most of the students from Maastricht University, I went home for Christmas leaving Maastricht empty. I used four different means of transport including a rented car. I got home fast and and in a comfortable way.

Goodbye rented car, source: my picture

My plane to Brno was scheduled to leave Eindhoven at 8 a.m., in order to check the luggage, we had to be at the airport at 6 a.m. For this purpose we rented a car from Sixt.nl, so we didn't have to spent the night somewhere in Eindhoven. At this moment, it's convenient to mention the point, that Airport in Eindhoven is closed from 22 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. According to Google Maps, Airport is located about 90 km from Maastricht, so we decided to leave before 5 a. m., in order to be sure that we have some extra time in case something happens. Why I didn't fly to Prague? Well, it was cheaper to fly to Brno and as I live in Náchod, I am almost indifferent between these two airports.

From Maastricht to Eindhoven

I picked up all my passengers – 3 girls and we left Maastricht at about 5. I was really glad, that we got a big car, because it was comfortable and girls had really big luggages. I put the Airport location as target for GPS navigation on my smartphone, just in case. The way is easy to follow – just drive on highway A2 and after we reach Eindhoven we will follow the signs. After a bit playing with the car computer, I managed to switch on the tempo-mat. The roads were empty, we had time so I decided to save some fuel by setting the speed to 110km/h. We didn't managed to turn off the display of the radio, which was a bit annoying – it was to shiny, but nevertheless the trip was smooth. We talked and I enjoyed driving. We took exit 31, so we could refuel the tank in order to return the car with full tank. I put there 7.55 l, which I expected to be less, as my consumption on the highway was usually 6l/100km or lower. Whatever, not that bad.

Let's drive to Eindhoven – a rented car from Sixt.nl

Eindhoven Airport is closed over night, so we needed to changed our plans concerning spending the night before we fly to home for Christmas. One solution was available and worth trying - renting a car, so we can get at the airport exactly on time. How to rent a car in Maastricht? It's actually pretty easy.

Sixt.nl, Source: www.sixt.nl

I never rented a car, so obviously I had a lot of questions and I was not sure wheather I want to do it now. But the thing was, that it was a really nice solution to our problem and not that expensive. After my friends dig out more information I made a reservation via internet at the home page of Sixt.nl for a middle class car – Open Astra or similar. The day after, I called there and made a reservation for a smaller one, as no bigger was available – I was not sure, if my previous order went through, as I got no call back. Ok, deal is to pick it up at 1 o'clock – the office is near the train station in Maastricht. After some stuff I needed to do in the town I met my friend Petra at the train station and we went to pick up the car that we need the next day morning. Well, because of my double order, we got lucky – we got bigger car for the price of a smaller one! One day, fully insured, leaving point Eindhoven Airport and 150km included cost about 55€. We also add gas consumption as we have to return the car with the full tank. It's strange rule, as for example in our case, the nearest gas station is about 4 km away and I could not find on the map, if it is open 24/7. Well, renting a car showed to be easy.

Book the cheapest car online