Netherlands Trip Prep

Choosing Airlines

Perhaps the most intensive planning of all: negotiating the wild world of airfares, and their associated add-on fees.  I am lucky enough to live with driving distance of three large airports: Detroit, Toronto and Chicago.  A cursory look at airfares took Detroit and Chicago out of the running immediately, Toronto was so much cheaper that no matter what bike fees we would have been subjected to it wouldn't have made financial sense to use the other two.  Flying out of Amsterdam was a requirement, solely for the ease of obtaining bike boxes at the airport.  A combination of roundtrip to Amsterdam and flying into Brussels and out of Amsterdam was also looked at, and the latter was considerably cheaper yet again, so the decision was made to choose a one way trip instead of it all being Amsterdam centric.  Finally, looking at individual airlines, we started to weed out options.  All the American airlines cost in the neighborhood of $150 each way with a bike with no exception, so they were tossed, even though Delta was really cheap.  Air Canada had a fairly reasonable $50 each way fee on the return leg, and a flight with Brussels Airlines (who flies bikes free in place of a checked bag) popped up, so we happily chose that pairing for a bit over $700.


Route Planning

Other than the fact that both Flanders and the Netherlands are known as cycling havens, there is scant little English information I could find.  The reason, as at least I have deduced, is simple: their cycle networks are not a tourist thing, not a recreational thing, but a functional part of their infrastructure.  I wouldn't expect to find in-depth information on Michigan highways on a Dutch website (other than maybe a scenic drive in a tourist area), and in that same way, I didn't find much in English on anything other than day trips from tourist centres.

In lieu of information, and knowing how extensive the routes were, I instead relied on printing out a wall sized map from OpenCycleMaps, sticking post-it notes to things we wanted to do, and soon enough an obvious path emerged.  A list of cities started to emerge as overnight spots.  As some were smaller villages with few accommodations, I invested in membership to Vrinden op de Fiets, a Dutch organization connecting human-powered travelers with families along cycle and hiking routes with spare rooms for 19 euros a nite.  More on this later.

We quickly established our first two days and last three days plans: arrive in Brussels on Saturday morning, spend the day in the city, move to Leuven on Sunday and start our bike trip from there Monday morning.  Looking at cycle maps, Brussels is a black hole of routes, and after consulting with a bike friendly coworker that lived in the town for a few years, we decided the best bet would be to train from the airport to downtown, and then from downtown to Leuven. Likewise, we planned out our end weekend in Amsterdam: roll in on Friday night, spend both Friday and Saturday nights at the same hotel, and move to an airport hotel Sunday night for our Monday morning flight.

After those plans were laid, it left determining the best way to plot accommodations for the rest of the route.  A hostel with secure bike parking was quickly obtained in Rotterdam.  It was not a city I had a great desire to visit, simply because it is new and industrial, but there was a need for accommodations in the area, and I found a great bargain.  The rest was left for the trip, mostly by chance.  I had been attempting to use the Vrinden op de Fiets organization for Monday and Tuesday, with little success.  It was only as we were boarding the plane in Toronto that the Monday location finally got in touch with me, and I confirmed our eagerness to stay when I landed in Brussels.  I failed three times to secure a location on Tuesday night, which as you read on will have turned out to be a good thing.  Thursday was deliberately left open to accommodate some wiggle room if necessary.