Work trip to Amsterdam, Zeist and The Hague, Netherlands - 21st to 23rd January 2009

Another trip to the Netherlands, not long after the last one, and this time it was a tour of the country. Time spent in Amsterdam, a day in Zeist, and a trip to The Hague as well - all in less than 48 hours. The trip started annoyingly, my flight from Gatwick was delayed by an hour due to a change of tyre on the plane - but BA got everybody strapped into their seats before they announced this. We were about to push back, when the pilot announced that they were going to change the tyre - most annoying, because I would have spent that hour in the lounge with free food and free wifi. So, the journey took one hour to change the plane's tyre, 40 minutes to fly to Amsterdam, then a 20 minute taxi once we landed - not what you need.

For this trip, I was staying at the Qbic hotel - a new capsule hotel in the World Trade Centre at Amsterdam Zuid. Like most of the capsule hotels that are springing up at the moment, the offer is for a very small, functional room, for a cheap price. The general features are good decor and design, excellent use of space in the rooms, free wifi, vending machines and auto checkin machines. You really get everything you need if you know what you are doing, aren't going to stay very long, and come prepared - and you don't pay the earth for it.

The room I stayed in reminded me of an Ikea show apartment, where they pack all of the essentials into an improbably small space. The excellent design really makes the most of the space available, and when you get into the room, it actually seems quite roomy. A very good hotel, especially for the price, and being right outside Amsterdam Zuid train station (from which you can get almost anywhere in the country), it is in an absolutely fantastic location. I'll definitely stay there again next time I'm in town.

On this trip, I went to a couple of gigs, which meant that I came into contact with many Dutch people (other than the colleagues I usually encounter). This reminded me that in many, many ways, the Dutch are extremely like the British - they like football, loud music and drinking beer; when they talk it sounds quite like English; they tend to like the same types of food; and the Dutch just generally remind me of Brits at almost every turn. But there are some different, cooler things about Dutch people too (stereotyping hugely here of course!) - they are liberal, much more willing to live and let live. They are extremely direct - if they think something, they will tell you, whereas Brits tend to beat around the bush. Generally, our Dutch friends are just like us, but a little bit more so.