Sat, 15 Nov 2003

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 12:41 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 4 ( all photos )

Mad Rush of a Morning ( )
We had left plenty of time to get ourselves organised, but it never seems to be enough in situations like this.
Things which somehow managed to get worked out were chucking out lots of rubbish, more clothes to the clothing bin, a final check of every cupboard and nook and cranny in Rosie, and then signing a contract for the sale on consignment to her next owner after repair.
Once we had all our bags attached to our bodies, the scale of the task ahead of us became apparent. The walk to Utrecht Centraal to catch the train to the airport was probably the hardest either of us have ever done. Both our bodies were shaking, our hands were red and swollen and we were very worn out. The worst part was over by this stage, but we still had a long way to go.
We had just missed the train we wanted, but they were running well and frequently so the next one wasn't far away. It rattled us to Duivendrecht where we had to change for a very full train to the airport. With that much gear there's not much point finding a seat, so we just waited in the vestibule areas all day.
When it came time to put my pack on, a nice Dutch lady helped me get the strap onto my shoulder - obviously not jealous of all we had to carry and wanted to help us out.
At Schiphol station (I just love the idea of combined airport and station, makes so things so easy for travellers), we stumbled straight into a luggage cart! Needless to say, we dumped our bags onto it quick as a flash and took stock of how most of our muscles in our bodies no longer wanted to behave themselves.
Next target was the check-in desk, where the line was short and the girl at the end confirmed that our reading of the fine-print had been correct and we could bring three bags between us, as long as the combined weight was less than 40kg. Infact, we had been carrying 36kg between us just in hold baggage, and I'm quite glad that she chose not to bother us about the weight of our cabin baggage as I think it would have topped another 20kg, double the allowance.
We were glad that all this had gone so well, and with boarding cards in hand and big bags gone, we wandered off to find our gate in the huge airport. This done, the nearest café supplied us with a slice of pizza and huge coke, which we complimented in true backpacker style with some peanut butter sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs!
There was about six euros left in coins in our wallet, which I let Liz go off and wander to spend since banks won't change them at the other end. Not too suprisingly (it is what she does on pretty much every international journey), she returned with a giant Toblerone! The rest of the change made it to a donations box (which, out of interest, seemed to contain more currencies than we have ever seen in any one place), then we packed up and went to wait for our plane.
It was delayed about fourty-five minutes, but eventually it came, we all filed on (quite orderly considering there are no allocated seats, it's just first-in-best-dressed) and went through the standard pre-flight checks. The crew on EasyJet are always so relaxed, easy going and play jokes over the intercoms regularly. Makes for a fun trip.
The flight was just fine, nice and smooth as we headed once again for England, waving goodbye to "proper joined-on Europe".

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 12:59 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 4 ( all photos )

Posting Rosie's Contents ( )
Awaking from the excesses of the previous night rather late, we spent the day getting ourselves organised. The contents of Rosie needed to be extracted. The array of stuff we have accumulated is quite bewildering, and it is at this stage of the trip that we pay for wanting to buy so many nice things and bring the home!
We ended up sending off two separate boxes, the first 14.5kg and the second 8.6kg via post back to Oz. Each had to be packed, and then I lugged them the three kilometres or so into town though the Westfield-like centre on top of the station, out the other end and the into the main Post Office.
There, the queues were about twenty minutes, and the staff at least spoke English, and were mostly helpful. The prices weren't too bad, and since they are going sea mail it will take six to eight weeks for them to arrive back home. It will be just like Christmas, only we know what is in the boxes!
Once we had both of those out of the way, the rest of our bags could be packed. So much stuff was being left with the van, but there was no way we could have taken everything. The next owners are going to love it, because it is fully kitted out with crockery, cutlery, saucepans, gas, electric cables, bbq, outdoor chairs, pillows, dooner, sheets, soccer ball and even a frisbee, all of which we added from when we purchased the van.
The dinner was great, Liz cooking up a great risotto and both of us putting in a last big effort to get through the alcohol backlog. No waste here!

author Tim	location Hornchurch, Essex, England
posted 13:09 GMT 18/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 4 ( all photos )

Ticking Off the Countries ( )
(Continued from Deutschland 4)
Not suprisingly, there were no border formalities as we crossed back into The Netherlands. The Dutch don't have much to fear from outsiders - there's nothing that is illegal there which is legal elsewhere anyway, plus they are very tollerant of foreign people. Oh, and also, they respect the Schengen agreement which they have signed, unlike the Germans the other day!
The remainder of the journey passed un-eventfully, neither of us drifting off into sleep but that was ok - we had a bed to get to at the other end, and night was approaching.
Back at Utrecht Centraal, we just had a short wait for our bags before walking through the cold back to Donna's house and Rosie bus. We had a little bit of a shock upon opening the gate to see a different, much larger van where Rosie had been, but she had just been moved back to make room for some other people to camp there for the night.
The were a nice Canadian couple, also finished their travels, also with a blown engine, theirs the fault of Italian mechanics! That's not a good average for the mechanically-inclined people of Italy.
We cooked up some pasta and sauce for dinner, then slept to recharge for the big packing day.

(customised)