On saturday, I woke up unnaturally early, 5:15. After 5 hours of sleep, it took me a while to actually wake up but still, I made it to my train. For Saturday and Sunday, I purchase a "Daagkart" for the Dutch trains. It means that I can travel as much as I want during these two days. So my plan was to do a little exploring trip around Holland. Oh yeah, and most of the pictures on this post are from Maastricht as on Sunday it was pouring cats and dogs and I had no interest on taking photos(or doing much else either).
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| 5:45 Ready to go! |
It is so weird that in here, you can just jump on a train without reserving a seat, they don't even have any numbers on the seats. At least what it comes to the InterCity trains. Also a lot easier. No need to be purchasing new tickets all the time, I just had two A4 papers as tickets, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. Oh yeah, and one ticket was 17€, so I was saving quite good amount as I was almost going around Holland in two days. Of course, I only saw a little bit of every city, but that was kind of my intention, to see a little bit of everything and then later on I can revisit one or more of these cities if I want to.
5:15 wake up
When I woke up, one of my neighbors was still awake that is how early it felt like, too early.. As I got myself ready(and unpacked a little - how much do I really need for a one night trip?!) it was 5:45 already, and I had "missed" my first train. I had a very ambitious plan to get the 5:49 train to Maastricht. But luckily, the trainschedule is quite flexible and you can practically just go to the station any time you want and within 30 minutes your train will departure.
Groningen-Maastricht
From Groningen, there are many connections to Maastricht. I took one with only one change, since that seemed the easiest to me. It took quite a while, 6:36-11:02, so 4,5 hours and you have to change the train in Duivendrecht. It went by ok - or so I thought. I found the connecting train very easily, but after a couple of hours of traveling and only half an hour away from Maastricht, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere, and the conductor made an announcement, in dutch of course. Luckily I was sitting next to a friendly old couple who were able to translate it to me. It seemed that there were some electronical problems with the train and they couldn't close the doors. After half an hour of wait, the train finally moved and we actually made it to Maastricht, an hour too late so around noon.
Maastricht
The weather was perfect for traveling and walking around - not too warm but still very clear and enjoyable. First sight at the train station was this beautiful street filled with mainly old people in their booths selling stuff. Everything from bags to decoration peaces and binoculars. I could have bought so many things from there, but it wouldnt have been very practical as I would have had to carry them around. So I just enjoyed the market and took some pictures. The city centre of Maastricht was beautiful. Old streets, old buildings, lots of cafes and people strolling around. I also found some very interesting stores selling both luxurious and high street clothing/accessories. There is also a university in Maastricht, I might have to look up if there are some interesting master programs in there for me - that is how much I liked the city. After going around the shops for quite a while, I ended up buying just a craazy cool pair of Vans and churros for lunch, yum.
Roermond
My next stop was Roermond, and more precise the outlet city located in the edge of the city center. Only about 20 minute walk away, there was a relatively small area of outlet-stores of many kind. I had waited for this and was very excited about it. I dont know wheter it was the long day and my heavy bag straining me or the quality, but I ended up buying just one hoodie from Nike, some sports clothing from Asics, supercute stuff from Ralph Lauren Home and . I felt like the selection at the stores was poor quality and the stores were very small and cramped, stuffed with too much stuff! I am still happy that I went there.
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| Local VR as in NS |
Eindhoven
I had booked a hostel to stay in Eindhoven, half an hour train ride away from Roermond and one hour from Maastricht. I thought the city was small and calm, but when I arrived to the train station it turned out to be a proper city - rather than a town or a village. On my way to the hostel I saw three different sushi places, many shops and even a KFC. Oh yeah, and starbucks at the train station. After checking in and paying the hotel, which btw was 30€ inlucing the tourist tax, I went to walk around the city and find some food. I was quite tired from the early wake-up, travelling and all the walking around so I decided to order take away sushi and buy some breakfast supplies for the next morning from Albert Heijn.
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| Budgethotel De Zwaan |
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| Eindhoven marathon / Rainy view to amsterdam |
Sunday
On Sunday, my plan was to first go to Rotterdam, check out some sightseeing places and then go to Amsterdam for a little shopping spree. But the weather was so horrendous that I decided to skip Rotterdam and go straight to Amsterdam. To be honest, I would have been happy to just return to Groningen but I thought it wouldnt make any sense as I had the daagkart. So I ended up spending a few hours in Amsterdam, tried to find this one particular bag to buy but it was sold out from everywhere. Also to the Van Gogh museum, there was a HUGE line and no way I would have queued in the rain for hours - alone. Soaking wet, at around four o'clock I gave up and headed back to the train station to get my luggage and head back home. I found a good connection with only one change so it only took about 2 hours.
I had my new travel backpack with me, and it was perfect. Even though it was quite heavy and as my sholders weren't really used to carrying the heavy bag, time to time I had to stop just to give some rest for them. But it was good to try it out before heading to Germany next week.
I had a really great time on my little weekend exploring trip. I heard that some people were kind of amazed that I would travel alone but I find it the most easy and enjoyable. Especially for just a two-day trip so close and with a lot of cities to visit you can just go whenever and to wherever you want. You don't have to make compromises or wait for anyone. When traveling alone it gives you more freedom and also the opportunity to meet new people easily. I am so excited for my trip to Germany next week, I even already received my InterRail pass and booked a hostel for Hamburg and Berlin.
