The Best Worst Trip to the Netherlands

David, Katherine, and I left for the Netherlands on Saturday morning. Katherine had a cough, but we thought it was just a cold and that she was getting over it.

Before we left Baumholder we stopped by the local post office to pick up some packages. The main post office is right by where we live, but the packages weren’t there. David said they were in this little shop that sold backpacks and bags. The place had a little German post office emblem on it, but it also had a sign for “LOTTO.” I thought it was just a little store that sold lottery tickets and had a post drop-box or something, so I thought David was crazy when he wanted me to stop there. I didn’t even get out of the car with him, but when he came out of the shop, he was holding three big packages addressed to us. It was hard finding room for them in the car with all of our luggage, but we managed.

Even before we got on the autobahn, our car was having problems. By the time we were in Belgium we were having trouble staying 70 miles an hour or above. By the time we were in Holland we were struggling to do 60. On top of that, Katherine’s cough and runny nose were getting worse. It started raining on us as we got closer to our destination. The drive was supposed to take 4 hours 40 minutes, but it took us 7 hours to get there. Katherine was miserable.

When we got to the hotel in Haarlem, we were upgraded to a nicer room on the top floor with a balcony for free. That was really nice. I didn’t even ask (or beg) for it, the man behind the desk just upgraded us.

We got situated in our room and then went out to find something to eat. David loves Chinese food, and there was a very nice Chinese restaurant across the street from our hotel, so that seemed like the logical place to go. Katherine ate a little bit, but she was so miserable that I had to take her back to the hotel. David came back after us and brought the remaining food with him in a take-out bag. We couldn’t go out sightseeing, but Katherine and David made up a splendid hotel room game. She would turn out the lights and say “Where Papa?,” and then when she would turn the lights back on, David would be somewhere different in the room, and she would have to find him. There were lots of giggles involved. She seemed to be having a great time.

We all went to bed at the same time, but Katherine woke up early at 4 a.m. She was no longer coughing as much and she didn’t have a runny nose, but she was having trouble breathing. She was breathing quickly and wheezing. We gave her more medicine, and David even played with her some more, because she was in good spirits, but later in the morning we had the desk clerk help us make arrangements to see a doctor.

The Dutch are really lovely people. Everyone we met was really nice and helpful, and everyone spoke English flawlessly. The desk clerk at our hotel called around and found the best place for us to go on a Sunday morning, and then she got us a taxi. Our taxi driver was super nice, and he had movie-star perfect hair. Even after he had dropped us off, he took us upstairs and helped us check in. There were two ladies working at the clinic we went to and they were also very friendly and helpful.

Katherine was breathing very quickly, about 44 breaths per minute, but they gave her an inhaler treatment that helped her. The visit wasn’t extremely expensive, but we had to pay in cash, and it did cost us most of our euros. They recommended that we take her to a hospital The hospital probably would have taken our insurance, but I didn’t know if we could afford more cab rides, food, etc… I started to cry, because I felt sad that I couldn’t fix my baby and that I had taken her so far away from home.

It was getting later in the day, so we decided to go back to our hotel room and get something to eat. (Room service could be put on our credit card.) Also, Katherine really needed a nap. The food we ordered from the hotel was really delicious and the servings were huge. After we ate, Katherine and I took a restful nap.

When Katherine woke up, we decided to head back to Germany so that she could see her regular pediatrician. We checked out of the hotel at 5:00 p.m., and started driving back to Germany. Unfortunately, the car was doing worse than before and less than 20 miles into our 300 mile journey, we had to stop at a rest area/gas station to try and figure out what to do.

This was probably the worst part of the trip, I was so worried about Katherine and so worried about getting home. But luckily, David got things sorted out and we were on our way as good as new (almost). We arrived home at about 10:30, which was good. David unloaded the car, and I called around and got directions to an American hospital here which could see Katherine immediately. So we gathered our stuff back up and headed back out. We got to the hospital at exactly midnight. Katherine was seen, and x-rayed, and given medicine, and released to come home. We left the hospital at about 3:00 a.m. I was driving. The drive to and from the hospital is about 40 minutes, and just as we were returning to Baumholder, an idiot jumped in front of my car. I came very close to hitting him, I thankfully I didn’t. He ran out in front of our car and faced us, sticking out his tongue, laughing and screaming. I guess he and his friend just like scaring people. Poor David and Katherine were asleep when it happened. David woke up screaming, because he didn’t know what was going on. Katherine slept through the whole thing. We arrived home just before 4 a.m. We gave Katherine some of her perscription and put her to bed. Then I had to go move the car. We can’t park in front of our apartment due to construction. I was still feeling nerves from almost hitting that guy, but I walked back to the house and went to bed at 4:16.

Even though our trip was a disaster, we really did have a great time together. David is the absolute best person to be on a miserable road trip with. Holland was lovely, even though we only saw it from the car and the doctor’s office. The people we met were really lovely. We saw lots of windmills, canals, tulips, and people on bicycles, but we didn’t see any wooden shoes. I guess we’ll have to return later.

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