TRAINS IN HOLLAND: HOW NOT TO BE EATEN BY RAILWAYS

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Lots of valuable information about trains in Holland (Netherlands) and one heartbreaking story about how a perfectly working mechanism can fail at the most inopportune moment, pretty much fraying the nerves of respectable gentlemen.

If our team got out of their den in order to scout out the surroundings, then we chose trains exclusively as a means of transportation, even despite the misunderstanding that once arose between us and by railways in Holland... We changed the brave Dutch trains only twice: once with a bus for the sake of interest and new experience, and the second time with a tram, but out of pure necessity. But we carried the love for Holland trains through the entire trip and continue to tremulously keep it in our hearts to this day. Despite all the pain they've caused us. Well, beats - it means he loves.

Trains in Holland - it's all! They connect cities and connect different areas of the city, allowing people to meet and business to be done. Life is in full swing, business is developing - and all this is not least due to the well-oiled functioning of railway transport in the country.

In general, trains are not only the most convenient form of transport, but also the cheapest. For example, a bus ride from Zaandam to the center of Amsterdam costs 5 € (just robbery!), And the price of a train ticket on this route is only 2.5 €. In addition, it is three times faster on the train.

Trains in the Netherlands they run very often - I don't remember a case when we waited for the desired train for more than 10 minutes. Although the movement of trains on distant and not the most popular directions will certainly not be so frequent.

You can go in first class, and you can go in second, which, of course, is cheaper. The advantage of the first class is that you get a fixed seating position in it, which can be useful when traveling long distances during rush hour.

Crash in the universe of the Dutch railways

Our task was to get from Amsterdam to The Hague in order to move into an apartment rented through airbnb.ru. Nothing foreshadowed a storm. We knew it was a trifling matter, so we checked out just an hour before our appointment with the owner of the apartment. Who could have known that it was on this day and precisely at this hour that the impossible would happen - the well-coordinated work of the railway communication of the Netherlands would fly to Tartarara, which would turn out for us to wander for many hours through the Dutch cities and lands.

So, we bought a train ticket to The Hague, got into the carriage and away we go ...

Our route ran through Haarlem. We stared out the window and listened to music, occasionally glancing lazily at a bulletin board telling us where the train was and what the next station would be. Everything went on as usual. A cold shiver ran through my body only at the moment when we realized that the train had been at the Harlem station for quite some time, and only our trio remained in the carriage. An alarming silence hung in the air of the carriage, and we decided to get out of its box to collect some information about what happened.

It is impossible to say unequivocally whether we managed to do it or not. The information was sketchy, and people were not talkative - they disappeared, uttering only one word "impossible". We collected information bit by bit, but could not get the big picture, and the puzzle remained unresolved. "What's going on here?" - we asked the sky, falling on the cold concrete of the station floor. Harlem did not give us an answer.

In addition, we were constantly harassed by calls from the Hague lads from the Asian diaspora, generously showering us with angry threats to give a good spanking for the fact that we are disrupting the appointment and letting Serious People down. They were dissatisfied with us, and we were left to fend for themselves. Again we were left alone with our problems.

Feelings of hopelessness. Lack of understanding. The mechanism broke down and all plans were cracked. The Great Yellow-Blue Shark, tightly clenching our bodies in its three-row jaws, shook us from side to side until completely exhausted. Zaandam-Amsterdam-Haarlem-Sloterdijk-Haarlem-Amsterdam. An eternity passed until we somehow miraculously found ourselves in Utrecht - only there we rested our noses on bread crumbs, which showed us the way to The Hague. We drove through Gouda, a cheese city, approaching the city from the east. A little more, and The Hague opened its doors for us. We got out. We got there.

For us, it has always remained a mystery what happened on that gloomy day on Dutch railways... Trains went crazy, and people remained indifferent. We agreed that there was an incident somewhere along the tracks and direct communication between North and South Holland was disrupted. The main thing is that we have overcome the crisis with dignity and have not broken down.

Moral: even such a clear and seemingly impeccable mechanism for the movement of trains in the Netherlands sometimes fails and can threaten even the most law-abiding passenger with a serious hassle.

Buying train tickets in Holland

This can be done in two ways, or rather, even three. Tickets for rail transport in the Netherlands can be purchased at the box office, but it is not always possible to find them, so it is easier to use ticket machines. There are two types of machines: those in which you can pay only with a bank card, and those that also accept coins. The latter can be identified thanks to a special slot for throwing coins, located above the screen. If you buy a train ticket at the box office or at a machine using coins, then you will need to pay exactly the same as the ticket itself. But when paying with Visa and MasterCard, a commission of 50 euro cents will also be withheld.

The tickets themselves are of two types: simple paper tickets and magnetic tickets. The latter should be leaned against special validator posts at the departure station and again at the arrival station - I can not vouch for the correctness of the instructions, these are our guesses based on observations of the behavior of the locals. But you don't need to do anything with the first ones - if the controller grabs you on the train, just proudly show him this piece of paper, he will instantly relax and cheerfully hit it with a stamp. In general, I will note that controllers are a rare bird: in 10 days we met them only twice, and then there is a possibility that it was just a vision - perhaps they do not exist at all.

Few numbers: train fares in the Netherlands

The fare from Schiphol Airport to the center of Amsterdam (Amsterdam Centraal) is 4 €.

A ticket for the Zaandam-Amsterdam Centraal route costs 2.5 €. Life in Zaandam is good because hotels there are much cheaper than in the city center, and in fact this town is the northern region of Amsterdam. By the way, you can find a hotel here - roomguru.ru. We stayed at the Ibis Budget for only 3000 rubles / day for a triple room.

To get from Amsterdam to The Hague, you need to pay 11 €. The central station in The Hague is called Den Haag Centraal, in addition to it there are several others in different parts of the city.

A train ticket from The Hague to Rotterdam (Rotterdam Centraal) costs 4.6 €.

You can find out the price and buy a ticket for the desired direction on the website trains Netherlands - www.ns.nl/en.

Travel passes and discounts

On the railways website, you can see information about discounts up to 40% on tickets off-peak hours and on weekends. Alas, only NS Flex cardholders can use the discount for themselves and three fellow travelers (there are several tariffs that need to be selected and paid monthly). But only local residents can become a cardholder: you need an address in the Netherlands and a local bank card.

Trein dagkaart - these are daily passes throughout the country for 13-20 euros, which, as part of the campaign, are sometimes sold in supermarkets in the Netherlands.But such promotions are rare; a tourist should not count on them.

Day train ticket for € 19.50 - travel card for a day. Sold only with the Holland Pass (there are three types of them: 45, 60 and 75 euros), which gives discounts on museums and other tourist spots. If you do not need this museum card, then it is not profitable to buy it for the travel card. Read on their website about the Pass and the Holland Pass itself.

In short, the average tourist cannot count on travel passes and discounts on trains in the Netherlands!