Among my classmates, maybe only me who prepared a list of places that i want to visit before getting to the Netherlands. Often my  friends made a joke that my main goal was traveling to the Netherlands, studying here is my second goal. Yup, they were not 100 percent wrong, I applied StuNed since 2008, ever had a letter of acceptance from Groningen and Twente, but failed to StuNed qualification and in Dikti scholarships interview. Finally, i decided to take my master degree in ITS, Surabaya. So if i have opportunity to study abroad my destination might be the Netherlands or Australia. 

I knew Madurodam even since elementary school, because had read a review in Bobo magazine. I also want to visit Giethoorn,  after read its review in one newspaper, a dozen years ago. Every time I see a place that i want to visit, i'll pray, i hope one day, Allah gives opportunity to get there. 

Some capture from Germany, Paris, Belgium and Netherlands Trip

Since i stepped on Schiphol airport, my wish list actually achieved one. Although initially, Enschede is a city whose name is not familiar, but the city that is more suitable called a a village, hehehe is a very comfortable place. I don't like the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam or Rotterdam with towering buildings. Enschede, a small town that can be surrounded with walking or cycling, is located in the eastern part of the Netherlands and directly adjacent to Germany.

To reach Enschede, it took two hours trip using train from Schiphol. The ticket price normally is 22.8 Euro. That train ticket was the part of scholarship reimburst, so i dont have to worry about that. ITC campus can be reach by walk from the hotel. Going to open market,centrum, shops, train station and bus station only need some minutes from ITC Hotel. So the matter that have to be thought was traveling cost and how to go there. The transportation system in the Netherlands is very convenient, but the cost is quite expensive.

Prior to the Netherlands, mas Handika sent leaflets of PPI Enschede. Some web links listed there for transportation. 

First weekend in the Netherlands, i did not go anywhere. The first week was weather adaptation, on saturday i spent with shopping and sightseeing,  going to Open Market. On Sunday,  i attended IMEA (Indonesian Moslem in Enschede Association) meeting which was held at ITC hotel. End of second week, some friends prepared to get ready for the exam on that week, so i choose to walk alone around Enschede and ended up with took some photos at Volkspark. Third weekend, our traveling started with the route Munster, Cologne and Dortmund. After that, almost every weekend we always go to somewhere. Usually we chose to go on Saturday, on sunday we stay in the hotel to take some rest, because  traveling in the Netherlands has a literal sense, walk very much.

Destinations were usually the main cities in the Netherlands, while the surrounding country that was visited was, Germany, France and Belgium. For traveling detail, I have to thanks a lot to mas Aris, who gave answer for any technical questions and how to go here and there hehehe. In addition, I search information by blogwalking and check at  9292.nl.

All stories written and transportation in this blog is the one that i know and use, so maybe there are other modes that i do not know  yet. Below, is a summary of some of the transport being used as intended.

1. Germany

When we travel to Germany, we use the so-called weekend ticket, Schones-Wochenende-Ticket, which is valid for a day starting at 12 am until 03 am the next day. Tickets can be purchased at ticket vending machines at a price of 44 euros , valid for 1 to 5 people. If purchased in the DB Travel Centre costs 46 euros and if bought in a train attendant costs  7.5 euros as an addition. Terms of tickets can be found at the following link .

Weekend ticket for 5 people

2. Netherlands

Almost all modes of transportation using Ov-chipkaart, a smart card that is filled with a certain money with the provisions of "tap" before and after the use of a particular vehicle. When in Perth, it similar to the Transperth. And guess what , i dont have ov-chipkaart. I decided not to buy it, due to Enscehede is the city that far from the center of Netherlands, the cost is still expensive if you want to go to another city. Me and my friends use other means to travel more cheaply. The most commonly used is group ticket with the train. There are three types of trains that I know, the first ICE, fast train, hmmm coincidence has never been board on it. Secondly, Intercity, 1st class and 2nd class, because always used a group ticket  so we were on the 2nd class. Intercity has WiFi from T-Mobile on the train. The third,  Sprinter, this train stops at every station, both large and small and does not have WiFi on the train.

a. Groupticket

Groupticket slightly different to the Netherlands and Germany trains. Group ticket purchased online with the provision of a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 10, the price will be more cheap if it reach 10 people. Can be used all day during the weekend and after 09:00 pm on weekdays. Price for four person is 12.25 Euros and if ten people reaching 6.4 euros/person. Tickets should be printed from a pdf link that was sent throught an email. The rules and detail can be viewed at the following link . Group ticket purchased using e-banking or credit cards, we usually use Mr. Roslan account, and we pay in cash to him.

Netherland's group ticket

b. dayticket / Daagkart

Besides ov-chipkaart and groupticket, I also used dayticket, commonly called daagkart. These tickets can be used personally, so no need to gather people to the group, valid all day. Daagkart sold interchangeably by the minimarket/supermarkets network in the Netherlands such as Jumbo, Albert Heihn, Kruidvat, Hema or Blokker. Daagkart price and regulations  are vary, Daagkaart Kruidvat  for example will cost 13.99 Euros, only valid on weekend and  certain date intervals.

Daagkart from Kruidvat

c. Buses and Tram Ticket

Me and my friends rarely use buses and trams, more often we going around by walk, but if the destination was too far, we used the bus or tram. The price is actually a little more expensive because we buy in cash to the driver or staff on the tram. For example at The Hague and Amsterdam, the fare is 2.8 / 3 euros and tickets are valid for 60 minutes. When  we went to Giethoorn, price of a bus ticket is 4.5 euros or 9 euros for return.

Bus and tran ticket

Bus tickets from the train station to Giethoorn

d. Tickets entry tourist spot with Holland Pas

Most of the places we visited were free, but there are some locations hehehe paid. When we went to Madurodam, we used group tickets that a little cheaper, we also use the ticket to Keukenhof in the form of a packet bus and admission to Keukenhof. There is also an alternative way to address the high cost of ticket entry using Holland Pas .

I got Holland Pas as a gift from Chen Li to enjoy the Canal Cruise in Amsterdam. Holland Pas  has Silver and Gold package ticket that can be used for different tourist attractions and places. Holland pas package price is much cheaper when compared with buying a ticket one by one. But you have to notice the use of the ticket and the selected destination. Gold Card is more valuable than Silver Card. Detailed information can be found at the following link.

3. French

a. By Bus

We did the trip to France after the second module exam. We used Megabus, which departed from Amsterdam on Friday night and back again from France on Sunday. I ordered two groups-trip ticket to Amsterdam from Enschede and return. We will be on the bus for about 8 hours. Do not imagine executive night bus like in Indonesia hehehe cheap price adjusted for the services that we obtained. When ordering, we got the price of 37 euros  for return ticket Amsterdam-Paris trip. There is also Eurolines that serve that route. Eurolines is slightly more expensive than Megabus. Details for Eurolines is on the following link , and Megabus web at the following link.

b. By Train

If you want to travel faster, Thalys trains  that only 3-4 hours  from the Netherlands, could be an option. Normal price is expensive, around 140 euros for a single trip. However, if planned well then you can get a price of 50 euros for a single trip Amsterdam-Paris.  Just try to  check the following link , for the price of a cheaper Thalys trains.

c. Paris Metro and RER to Paris sightseeing

French subway was awesome, although initially looks complicated, but  after some time, it quite easily and reach various destinations in Paris. Just make sure do not misread that map or direction hehehe choose wrong metro direction, means we must wade or stay to the next station and then back again to its original destination. I also used Paris Metro Map application in my Android, really helpful.

Paris Metro ticket

4. Belgium

I was originally going to cancel travel to Belgium, because my classmates were not interested to this country. But apparently some Indonesian friends were planning to go there, so i visited to Belgium. The trip was planned only to Antwerp instead arrived to Brussels. We boarded with the train using group ticket to Roosendaal, the last town on the border with Belgium, and then took the train to Brussels and Antwerp

Belgium train ticket

So far, it was only four countries visited. Especially vacation time was limited, shortcourse was just off on Saturday and Sunday, so the destination is usually thought that could be achieved in one day. One more day is used for breaks. Details of the cost and the path for each destination I will discuss on the next post.