From Here to There

(Jumping right into business because, well, I'm tired)

Our flight left the Raleigh/Durham airport at around 6 Saturday evening. My traveling buddies were Dr. Hagin and Ashley. Sleep was evasive. I believe I got a grand total of 20 minutes of sleep on the nearly 7 hour flight, so as an alternative I watched a couple of movies and, well, tried to sleep. 

Shortly after we landed in London, our company parted ways, with the Vienna and Bratislava groups heading to one terminal and "The Amsterdam Vijf" heading to another. We explored our terminal and enjoyed the British accents (minus the security lady who got upset with Ashley and I for trying to save our film from the death ray aka x-ray). I found the airport to be infinitely improved from my last visit there in 2005, when they were in the middle of remodeling and there was absolutely nothing to do. 

We found this super cool restaurant in the airport called the Giraffe where we ate what we all were thinking was lunch because we were messed up from traveling but was actually breakfast. Tasty, but quite expensive, which I'm finding is the theme around these parts. 

My team agreed that our flight to Amsterdam was far too short. We all crashed as soon as we got on the plan, but the 50 minute flight just didn't cut it for nap time. We all were pretty exhausted by the time we landed.

I can honestly say, though, the Netherlands is absolutely the easiest country to get into that I've ever experience. There was one person in front of me in the immigration line, so I had to wait hardly at all. I stepped up to the counter, they asked my what I was doing in the country and where I was going (I may or may not have forgotten exactly the name of our little town "a city right outside of Amsterdam... it starts with a 'b...'"), and let me right in. All our luggage arrived safely, and we headed to customs. I was a little concerned that they didn't give us customs forms on the plane, but we literally went through the doorway that said "nothing to declare," walked through some kind of machine on our way out, and were home-free. Didn't speak to a soul. I was in love with the Netherlands already. 

Then we stepped outside to the train platform. It was quite chilly, but fortunately we didn't have to wait but 15 minutes or so until our first train arrived. It had wifi (or, as our bed and breakfast hostess pronounced it later, wee fee). I love the Netherlands. I spent the 40 minute train ride catching up on social media (London didn't want us to have free wifi), staring out the window, and falling asleep. I so wish I could have stayed awake for the whole ride because what I saw of the countryside was precious. I kept exclaiming to my sleeping team members how cute and adorable everything was. There was a light dusting of snow atop the surprisingly green grass, sweet little gingerbread-looking cottages, canals, horses, and sheep. I love the Netherlands.

We switched trains and rode the last 15 minutes to Barneveld. We had gotten directions to our bed and breakfast, so we drug our luggage for about 10 minutes across the city (which, thankfully, was completely flat), and arrived at our b&b without a hitch. Our hosts are Esther and Melvin, a sweet Dutch couple. We asked the people at TWR about them and found out that they are not believers, so be praying with us for them and for us to be intentional with them this week as much as we can. 

The b&b (which of course is called by an unpronounceable Dutch name), or as Tyler fondly calls it, "The Chicken House," is cute and nice. Nothing too fancy, but the TWR office building has that category covered. More on that later. After we settled in, we went out in search of some Dutch food, which Gage and I had been dreaming of for weeks after looking it up in graphics class (sorry, Ms. Karyn!). And oh, did we find it.

We dined at a restaurant a less than 10 minute walk from our b&b called De Hubberd. Phenomenal. Chicken, seafood, apple strudel, cheesecake... all amazing. The traditional french fries and mayo, though... not so much. We tried to save money by ordering water, but when they brought it out in glass bottles, we realized that plane had failed. Regardless, we have been forever spoiled and plan to eat there one more time before we leave. With full bellies and contented hearts, we crashed hard once we got back to the b&b.