Category — Travel

Just a quick note to all those who have posted comments. We really appreciate reading them and know that someone out there is actually interested in reading about adventures. Hat Tours kept us very busy on the bike barge plus the internet signal was very sketchy; usual instructions were “Brenda put that tinfoil hat back on, stand on the boat railing don’t worry about falling in I think we finally have two bars on the signal indicator”, not really but you get the idea. So, we got a little behind on updating our blog, however we did make some notes, take some pictures and will do updates when we get a chance. Keep those comments coming.

We arrived in Schipool Airport close to on schedule and caught the train to Amsterdam Central Station where we were met by Fred & Barb right outside the station exit. It was great to see familiar smiling faces amid the thousands of people, bikes, barges, etc. The first thing you see when you exit is a three level bike garage where there has got to be 10,000 bicycles of all shapes, types, sizes and descriptions. After a short walk we arrived at our B&B and were met by the host – Jasper. After settling in we headed off on a walk in the Jordaan area. Amsterdam is a very large and very old City. The buildings are very old, lots of history, many are leaning, lots date back to the mid 1600’s and the canals are magical. Everyone has a bicycle and you learn pretty quickly that pedestrians really need to be aware because bikes have first priority. UPDATE! UPDATE! The bike garage is 4 levels of bicycle parking….. we’ve added pictures below.

Our Holland and France adventure has begun. Here we are sitting in the Maple Leaf Air Canada Lounge waiting for our plane to arrive from Frankfurt. We checked Lufthansa schedules before we left Kamloops and knew that the flight was delayed leaving so it is obvioulsy going to be late arriving. Right now it looks like about one hour late, so it’s going to be a pretty tight connection when we arrive in Frankfurt to get to our next flight into Amsterdam. Nothing we can do about it so we are going to sit back have a drink and watch all the hub-bub of an international airport. We had hoped to put up a picture; however in our efficiency for packing lightly the cord to connect the camera to the computer is in the suitcase which is sitting on a luggage cart on the tarmac. So, how did we get the picture posted????? Well our new netbook computer has sd-card slot and is that ever slick….. no more wired connections for us. Stay tuned once we get to Amsterdam.

The last few weeks we have been progressively cycling farther each time we go out. All this is in preparation for our Holland Bike and Barge Trip which is coming up the first week of May 2010. More on the travel details, Company we are going with, friends we are traveling with, etc. in another post. Anyway, this weekend we piled up a few miles on the bicycles. Saturday we cycled 42 km and Sunday 44 km over about 3 hrs which included a lunch stop; this will be about the average distance that we will need to do each day while on the bike and barge. Of course when we are in Holland the 45 – 50 km will include plenty of rest stops, coffee breaks, sightseeing and it will be over the whole day. So we believe our physical fitness will be alright. We just want to make sure that we can keep this up for 7 straight days. Attached is a picture (self timer) taken at the airport which is our usual lunch stop. It’s a great location, we get to watch the weekend skydivers jumping from a perfectly good aircraft in flight and West Jet or Air Canada flights coming and going on their regular routes.

Well here we sit in Calgary airport and our adventure back to reality started yesterday. Actually yesterday morning we were sitting in the hot tub at Villa Case du Roy after a morning coffee. We were enjoying the warmth of the sun and the quietness of the day prior to a hectic day of travel. Well we finally had to return the “Le Voiture Malade” and check in with WinAir. After a bit of a wait we boarded the Twin Otter for the 15 minute flight back to St. Maarten; take off was standard and toward the ocean. At St. Maarten we had about a 3 hr wait prior to boarding our plane back to the USA. Actually we boarded a bus then got driven out to our plane across the tarmac. Someone in the airport told us it is the busiest week of the year at the airport as it is the end Presidents Day Weekend, so lots of USA tourists. Everything looked like it was going to be on schedule and then we had to wait a couple minutes for a maintenance approval and then jsut when we started to get puchedback the “tug” quit working, so there we sat stranded. We finally got in the air about 1 hr behind schedule. We arrived into Washington D.C. Dulles International at 8:25 p.m. to the center terminal. Normally they close Customs/Immigration at 8:30 p.m.; however they kept it open so we didn’t have to spend the next hour taking buses and shuttles between terminals just to clear Customs, etc. After a short wait we were off to Denver CO. everything was smooth and we arrived about 25 minutes ahead of schedule. Unfortunately Denver Airport is out in the middle of nowhere, so after a 15 minute walk and train ride through the airport and another 15 minute shuttle ride we got to our hotel and to bed just before 1:00 a.m. EST. Well 6:00 a.m. wake up call came early and we were back to Denver to repeat the process this time thought there were literally thousands of other travellers and the line ups were unbelievable. We finally got to our gate on our plane and after a relatively smooth flight we landed in Calgary. It was a real treat to get to an Airport that wasn’t so busy and jammed with people. We were lucky enough to have a quick lunch with Jeff (Lindsay was working). Anyway, off to catch the final leg of our flights to get home.

There are two ways to get to St. Bart’s. The most popular is using one of the many small commuter airplanes that fly out of St. Maarten or other islands close by. The second method is by the Voyager Express out of St. Maarten which is also known as “The Vomit Comet”. This is our second trip to St. Bart’s and I had posted some pictures earlier, however attached are a couple from the other day when we happened to be near the traffic circle that is at the top of the hill that planes need to dive over on their approach. Once over the hill (take a look at the second picture of the airplane diving below the road) they have to get it down on the landing strip quickly so that the can stop before going into the ocean at St. Jeans Beach. It’s a real adrenaline rush, lots of time you see the plane float for a long way before touching down as the winds come off the ocean and keeps it in the air. The pictures are from two different days and different angles. I also included a view from across St. Jeans Bay back towards the airport; if you look closely you can see a plane that has taken off to the right of the airstrip.

We can’t tell you exactly who we rented our vehicle from; but the name of the Company starts with an “H” and ends with a “Z”….. you have to figure out the rest. It’s a Suzuki Jimmy 4 wheeldrive and it’s in pretty tough shape. The manager was apologetic when they rented to Dean and Judy saying the cars were past their prime 5 years ago, but they just keep running. The good news was the price; since vehicles are not cheap to rent in St. Bart’s. Also, obviously St. Bart’s is quite safe as the rental agent took off the back cover so ours is wide open and there is really no sense it locking it; plus everyone seems to leave their vehicles wide open and you never see a steering wheel lock or immobilization device. Funniest part about renting the vehicle was when we were picking ours up the agent was going around the car checking off (circling areas of the vehicle placing an “X” on the sheet) the dings, nicks, scrapes, rust, etc. I said I thought it would be best to draw a circle around the entire vehicle and put an “X” through it, he agreed.  It’s easy to see how these vehicles get this way. First off everyone drives at a fairly high rate of speed for the road conditions and the roads are quite narrow and in places very steep so at times you are right against a rock wall or trying to keep your wheels on the surfaced part of the road and not drop off the edge as other vehicles approach. Also, the roads have been built up and expanded over a number of years so you are really driving on about 3 to 4 different level of concrete, that make it into the actual road surface; potholes and broken out chunks just add to the excitement. It takes a while to get accustomed. The other thing about St. Bart’s is a lot of young guys drive Quads instead of cars, etc. and the young girls use motor scooters to get around while wearing fun little sun dresses….. very unique to area.  Pictures don’t do the Jimmy or the Roads justice, but I have attached a few.