Work trip to Zeist, Netherlands - 27th to 28th August 2007

A fairly flying visit to the Netherlands, for some work. Flying out of Heathrow on Bank Holiday Monday was surprisingly hassle free - the airport (at Departures at least), was pretty empty, so I was checked in and through security in less than 10 minutes. Totally unheard of! The journey down there was a bit more annoying, getting strange looks for wearing a suit on a Bank Holiday, and also having to fight through crowds of Notting Hill Carnival go-ers on the Tube.

When I arrived at Schiphol airport, I still had to get the train to Utrecht, where I was staying for the night. This involved a minor navigation of the Dutch railway system, but the journey was easy, cheap, and in fact reminded you of what a decent public transport system could be like. It cost 7 Euros for a the trip, which is only a little bit more than a cash single on the Tube. Everything is well signposted, easy to work out, and the staff are really helpful and informative. And, the trains are clean, with plenty of space, and they run totally on time, every time. How other countries seem able to do this, but we are utterly unable to even get close to it in the UK, I will never know. Most annoying, but a very easy and pleasurable journey.

After staying the night in Utrecht, and sampling the delights of The Guardian Irish Bar for a couple of drinks, I went to the small town of Zeist for a day's work. This is a very quaint place, extremely flat, and basically stuck in the middle of the countryside. A beautiful setting, but it was a bit weird to be in the middle of countryside that is not at all "rolling" like we have in the UK - it was totally flat.

An equally good train journey back to Schiphol airport, where I was amused to see Triple Whoppers on the menu at the Burger King there - quite why you would need all that, I'm not sure, but it sounded interesting anyway. The flight home took 45 minutes, then it took another 45 minutes to get from touching down at Heathrow, to get off the plane. Standard Heathrow behaviour really, and I'm glad I haven't had to go there for the last month, with climate change protesters and all.