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Published: June 14th 2010
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After a harrowing time carrying our bags around the London Rail system, from Luton Airport, we arrived in London only to find that the interconnecting tube train that we needed to catch to get ourselves to Liverpool Street station was out of order for the weekend, and we would have to catch a train away from the city to another connecting line to make it back to where we wanted to go in the first place. Sounds confusing??? You should have seen it from our perspective. We were travelling on train lines, walking down tube tunnels, and changing to new platforms without any knowledge of how the system is to work. At the same time, we were carrying/dragging our bags behind us.
Eventually we made it to Liverpool Street, and had to then wait a couple of hours for the start of our journey to Amsterdam. We traveled by train to a small country town north-east of London called Harwich, and pronounced Harrick or Harrich depending on who you talk to. From here we were to get on a ferry, and travel overnight to another port, this time in Holland called Hook Van Holland.
The train pulled up on a platform
in the port of Harwich, and as we got out, we Saw one of the biggest boats that we have seen for long time. The Titanic was 260 Metres long and 26 metres wide and weighed 56,000 tons. This boat was 240 metres long, and 32 metres wide and weighed 52,000 tons. This boat could carry 450 prime mover trucks, and a couple of hundred cars as well. It was just amazing, and only three weeks old. We had a cabin for the night, and consider it the best value for money transport that we have on the trip. There were five restaurants, a cinema, two casinos and gaming areas.
I could go on forever.
We arrived at Hook Van Holland refreshed in the morning and caught a train to Amsterdam. (not sure how refreshed Greg was but boat didn’t depart till 11.30pm and by time we looked at all on offer it was past midnight, and then you guessed it Greg had television on, light on and laptop so I didn’t get to sleep until about 1am then the wake up called woke us at 6.45am which was really 5.45am in uk time) As with most of our train
Stena Hollandica
In hook van Holland port travel, the Dutch Railways closed the track between Rotterdam and Amsterdam, so a different route was again set up to get around the maintenance. We had the same problems as in London except this time we encountered a language barrier as well. In the end we spent our time following some familiar faces who too were carrying their baggage from the boat and heading to Amsterdam.
After four trains, instead of two, we finally arrived at Amsterdam Centraal rail station about 2 hours late, and from the opposite direction to what had been planned. Of course, we had received some information about how to walk from the rail station to the houseboat that we were to be staying in. If we got it right, it would be about a 15 to 20 minute walk.
Because the train came in from the wrong end of the platform, we then walked out of the station on the wrong side. The plan was to be at the front end of the trrain and to walk out of the back entrance of the railway station, to make our way to the accommodation. Instead, we started our walk at the other end of the platform,
and walked to the front of the station and instantly became confused, as the roads didn’t match the maps that we had studied. After asking for directions, we started the long walk around the railway station, and to the other end. We then had the planned 15 minute walk plus a bit more for where the directions became confused, and we took another wrong turn. We finally made it to Anne-Maree’s houseboat at 1pm, frustrated and tired…. But he show must go on, and we gathered our things and made our way into Amsterdam.
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Karen
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Too long in England Kathy ... you are starting to sound like a "whinging pom". (Only Joking!!) If you are having trouble hauling the bags around, give me a call and an airfare and I'll be there to carry them!!! Jealous of the weather .. once again it is a stormy day here with damaging winds predicted with a top of around 15 degrees. Looking forward to your next update. Karen