Europe and Rhine River Cruise

I will be very happy when this day is over because this is our most challenging travel day.

I left mom and Petrea at the hotel. They are to have a late checkout, collect all of our luggage, and catch a taxi to the Central Train station.

Meanwhile, I walked to the Amsterdam Central train station. I stopped at the information desk to ask a kind gentleman which train platforms I needed to be at both to get to the airport to pick up Natalie and to depart for our trip to Basel. Per his instructions, I went to the kiosk and purchased my round-trip ticket to Schipol airport.

I had a great time trying to figure out how to get to the correct platform and train. It was relatively easy.

I was at the airport in plenty of time to pick up Natalie, so I obtained a train ticket for her.

Natalie and I had a bit of difficulty finding each other, so I am thankful for cell phones. It didn't take very long to located each other. It was so good to see her in person after months of planning via email and texts.

Natalie and I found our platform. I was hoping to catch the direct train, but we ended up having one stop on the way back to Amsterdam Central train station.

Upon arriving at the train station, I asked a kind information specialist where we could meet taxis from hotels. We followed his instructions.

I gave Petrea a call, and she said that they were just exiting the taxi. We quickly found her and mom.

I ran to double-check the platform for our train.

Petrea and I went shopping for snacks for the train ride while Natalie and mom watched the luggage.

We caught up a bit and then attempted to make our way to the platform. The entrance turnstiles would not read the tickets on my phone, so I grabbed our printed tickets from my travel notebook. It was not easy to get all 4 of us and our luggage through the turnstile. We may have set off an alarm, but we made it through.

Of course, our platform was not listed by an escalator. So Petrea and I left mom and Natalie at the bottom of the escalator to the next closest platform. We went up, looked around, did not see our platform, and came right back down. I headed to the information desk and was told that we could take the elevator up to platform 5b. We exited the elevator, and we were dumped off exactly where Petrea and I were at moments ago.

We chatted for a bit. I saw our train go by on a center track. After passing us, it moved over to our track but much farther up. I thought it would back up, but I was mistaken. The 4 of us quickly grabbed our luggage and began to race up to the train. By the time I got to our train car, threw my luggage aboard, and turned around to find out where my group was, they were right there. Petrea and Natalie hopped aboard with their luggage. My awesome mom was right there! Again, she continues to amaze me.

The train ride has been very pleasant and we are all commenting how much nicer train travel is compared to airplanes.

The next challenge is transferring trains in Frankfurt. I am crossing my fingers it goes well.

The train transfer at Frankfurt was easy.

During the train ride to Basel, we got a quick view of the Cologne cathedral which just whet our appetite for our future tour.

When we arrived in Basel, we walked across the street to our hotel.

The most challenging travel day is in the books.Weiterlesen