Netherlands Meet Up in April? (3 updated dates entered in 4/6/2018 thread below)

Mona, I'll RSVP. I'm pretty sure we'll see you there. Two for beer or wine!

That would be fun but I don't arrive for several days after.

Nigel, we're planning a later in April Meet Up in either Haarlem or Amsterdam, avoiding the King's Birthday date. Are there a cluster of dates when you might be able to join the late April visitors for a drink?

Oh, man! I'd love to meet Nigel! Nigel, when are you arriving? We're going to be around a few days longer, but we'll be part of a RS tour from the 15th. Could we tempt you with een biertje? Een glaswijn?

If you get the opportunity to meet Nigel and his lovely wife you should absolutely do it. They are good people.

By the way Nigel, my Germany plans have changed so I don't know how feasible it would be to meet up unless it's in Frankfurt. Ms. Jo will be there too of course.

Wow, I would love to meet everyone, but I'll only be in Amsterdam from Tuesday, the 17th through Saturday the 21st.
Sharon

We'll be staying in Haarlem from April 27 through 30, would love to connect if we can. But leaving home next week so won't be in touch with this forum till the 27th.

I would like to thank Nigel for explaining how to pronounce Slough, and for so much other useful knowledge.

....and I get there on May 1. Sorry to miss you all.

I think I responded earlier but we would enjoy swapping travel stories over a beer with RS folks. Hopefully we will be there to meet up. We plan to go north that day but should be back. Renee and Bill - Tacoma.

Renee I so hope you can make it! Did you have to change your fight over too because of the strike? We might need to have a beer or two! 😬

I'm 90% sure we will be there drinking beer by 5 pm on Friday then 13th
.
We are on Delta out of Seattle on Tuesday 4-10 so we are good. Although we are traveling from Brussels to Paris on Thalys on April 23 which is a strike day so we will see. I've planned to visit the Royal Greenhouses that day and have a nonrefundable hotel room in Paris so.... lots of beer will help us roll with the strike and take it as an adventure.

Renee, looking forward to meeting you in Haarlem! And I'm interested in hearing about the Rijksmuseum's drawing tour. I looked it up after you mentioned it in another thread, and I must say I'm tempted.

Renee,
I will be in Paris arriving the 19th. We planned to travel to Amsterdam via prepaid Thalys train tickets on strike day - April 23 - to Amsterdam. Our departure time is 8:19 am. I talked to Rail Europe yesterday and they said about 70% of the Thalys trains are running on strike days so far. I would feel more comfortable with 80% odds but 70% is not too shabby. The likelihood is we will arrive that day, however, it could be hours later than we planned. But, as you said, it is an adventure with a French flavor!

Mona,
We are staying in Haarlem from the 23rd and leaving on Sunday, the 29th. Any chance of a meet-up that week? I would to meet some of the nice folks from the forum!

Judy B--I'm working on it! Dick, Nigel and sjbookworm will all be in town at various times after the first meetup and not overlapping 😢. I'm trying to avoid the King's Day weekend crowds for a second meetup so stay tuned!

Mona,
I will stay tuned! It would be exciting if it works out. Thanks for your efforts.

In taking to my husband and looking at the Grand Café in Haarlem we've decided to just go there every Thursday (EDIT one Thursday is changed to a Wednesday so see below) for a drink and light meal at 5 pm to ? It is only 10 minutes away from where we'll be staying in Zandvoort from 11-30 April. By choosing Thursday evenings, we'll avoid King's Day itself. Hope this time and location are good for several of you.

If you are interested in the 18th or 26th April meet up and need a picture to help find us in this old church brewery, send me a PM with your email and we'll send a picture. This also applies to April 13th where Jane and I have already exchanged pictures and there is a possibility that Renee might be able to join us too.

Lynn, sorry to miss you on May 1.

Mona,
I'm excited that I will be able to meet you on the 26th in Haarlem as that is where I'm staying! I will send you a pm.

I'm the trouble guy for timings. I haven't replied because I don't know for certain that we will be there. The days I will be in the Netherlands - if we go - are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the 16, 17 , 18th. At this point the odds of us traveling are sort of 60/40.

I wish I had more time.

Here’s the adjusted schedule for people who can make it to Jopenkerk in Haarlem:

April 13. Friday 5 pm onward
*April 18 Wednesday 5 pm onward
April 26. Thursday 5 pm onward

If you want a photo for easier recognition just send me a PM with your emai address.

This schedule has more possibilities for meeting people. Any locals out there who can come? Please join us!

Mona, thank you for wrangling all this. What fun to meet some of the folks we've "talked" to here on the Forum.

We have met several other Forum friends in the past, either on tours or in a travel group, and have enjoyed them all.

We don't arrive till the 27th, but we'll stop by the Grand Café to see if you're still carousing 24 hours later. Or if they've cleaned up and replaced the furniture after your visit. ;-)

Dick we may have our own table at the Grand Café after meeting there 3 weeks in a row. We'll still be a 10 minute train from there after your arrival so you never know. We are leaving for Paris on the 30th.

Steve & I arrive in Haarlem Friday 4/13. Will plan to meet at the Grand Cafe if we don’t get lost. This is our first Europe trip. Jane we are on your tour. See you all next Friday

Mona,
I’ll be there on the 26th, thanks for arranging this!

Mahlonaw, you're the first people we've heard from on our tour! I'll send you a PM later. Oh, I just checked the tour roster; there you are!

I will be there each time with my wife, Mona. Looking forward to meeting each of you and to share our experiences and ideas about travel in the Netherlands.

Leaving in the morning. I’ve packed a blue and white dog themed scarf so I think I’ll wear that to all 3 meet ups to help spot our “group”. See some of you soon!

Dog=Spot some of you in the US may be old enough to equate the two 😉

Look Dick! Look Jane! See Spot! See Spot run!

Bon voyage Mona! I hope you and Dave have a great time and I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip next month! Enjoy your meet ups with people. You've inspired me to look into doing the same thing in June when I'm in Paris.

My husband and I are going to be staying in Amsterdam from 4/21-5/2. Maybe we will make April 26th the day we explore that area and come in for a drink at 5. I will send a PM to you Mona. I spend a lot of time reading on these forums and would love to meet some of you!

My husband & I will be in Amsterdam from 4/24-5/3. For me, these forums are like my bedtime stories-I read them every night when I’m trip planning. So I too would love to meet some fellow travelers & posters. These posts are sooo helpful. We’ll make every effort to be at Jopenkerk on 4/26!

jeanne and djridder: I know! I spend way too much time on the Forum, but I love it. I've become one of the people I used to make fun of. :-) (Not really, I don't make fun of people. But still...)

Jane-it certainly helps that I’m not alone! But I’m not even on a RS tour haha. When my trips end I actually miss the forum:-( Time to plan another trip!!

That's the only way to get over post-trip letdown. Start planning the next one!

I really wanted to see that spotted doggie scarf but I won't be able to. I'm afraid that that my Dutch trip is off for at least a few weeks, perhaps until the second week of May or maybe until next year.

Sorry.

Oh Nigel I'm sorry to see that you won't be able to meet up with us on the 18th. I hope you get to see the flower fields later in the season. Hopefully we'll catch up with you somewhere else in our travels in the future.

Darn, I just got back yesterday. I would have loved to meet up with you and others. Have fun!

That is too bad Carroll. How were the tulips when you were here recently? We probably won't go for another week or two.

Six of us had a nice meet up last night at Jopenkerk in Haarlem. It was a treat to meet Jane, Renee and their spouses in person. Hope to see more Holland RS travelers on Wednesday the 18th at 5pm. The weather should be warmer but bring a jacket in case we need to sit outdoors. Jopenkerk was a hopping place with great craft beer and bar snacks.

Mona,
I’m in the last stages of preparation, leaving for Paris next Weds., the 18th! See you on the 26th in Haarlem. Excited to meet some folks from the forum.

Sounds like you had fun.

And the reports about the current stage of Tulips - if anybody had been by then - is??

@Nigel. None of us have been to see the tulips at Keukenhof yet. We are going on one of the sunny days at the end of the week to the formal gardens. What I can tell you is that the fields are blooming prolifically right now as witnessed by us on a couple of trips back and forth between Haarlem and Leiden looking out of the windows to the west. For more than half of the journey there is just one solid block of vibrant color in a multitude of shades. Our Leiden friend said that the warm weather 2-3 weeks ago finally woke everything up at once. She has been living in Leiden for 8 years and said that to have the daffodils, hyacinths and tulips all blooming at once is something she has not seen before. Usually they roll out their blooms in that order, not simultaneously. Can't wait to see the gardens themselves!

Next meet up date is Wednesday, April 18 at 5 PM. Hope to see any Hollanders who are in Haarlem at Jopenkerk for a drink and conversation. I'll be wearing my blue and white dog themed scarf.

It's that time again so I'm bumping this back up to the top. If anyone would would like to meet up in Haarlem, we will try to secure a table for Thursday, April 26th at 5 PM at Jopenkerk. So far I think there will be 6 people who are in Holland to see the tulips or begin a tour. Hope to see you if you can make it. I'll have my blue and white dog scarf on AGAIN...

My husband just found out that he has to be on a conference call tmo (Thursday) at 5:30. So I know he can’t make it. I’m trying to decide if I have the nerve to take the train to Haarlem on my own after a whole two days here. If I bail, hope you all have a great time!

Hey, I just wanted to jump in and say how much we enjoyed meeting up with Mona and Dave, Renee and Bill. The company was great, the beer(s) were wonderful. Mahlona and Steve missed us that evening (April 13), but they were on our RS tour that followed, and we spent a lot of time with them on free afternoons.

Thanks again, Mona, for putting this all together. I'm going to try to remember to do something similar our next trip - France, mid May, 2019. We hope.