I'm thinking about doing the trip to Amersfoort with my family (wife and 10 year old daughter) this year. Not certain about it, but I'd like to decide in the next few days so I can get in under Rob's 05/30 deadline for the hotel at the meet.

I'm looking for suggestions as to how I should go about it. For instance, should we fly to England and hitch a ride over to Amersfoort with somebody from Cambridge? Or perhaps fly into Germany or Amsterdam and drive to Amersfoort? That sort of thing.

My criteria:

- Arrival and departure dates are wide open.

- Total time spent in Europe/England is open, could be up to a week or 1.5 weeks.

- Might want to see some of Germany if there's time (Jenny has German heritage).

- I'd like to visit the Cambridge office at some point during the trip just to say I've done it.

- I've always wanted to see London, but don't necessarily need to spend a great deal of time there.

- I'd like to do a certain amount of sightseeing while there. But I have no real knowledge of what's worth seeing. Anyone?

- If any folks are willing to host us for portions of the stay, or give us lifts between places, that would be really nice.

Some of these questions were answered last year when I toyed with the idea of making it over at that time. I wouldn't mind having the same questions answered again to see if it might "stick" this time.

Ideally, I'd like to have the Empeg meet be the "meat" in the middle of an England/Netherlands sightseeing trip "sandwich". Anyone have suggestions on what the best overall route/pattern would be? I could arrange for flights and hotels and such but only after we've made a basic decision as to what we want to see/do and when.

So who's got suggestions?

Hi Tony,

Probably you can take a flight to Zurich (Suisse), Frankfurt/Main or Stuttgart (both Germany). I live in the very south-west corner of Germany, so you could see Switzerland, Black Forest or whatever in this Area. You then can go with me to Amersfoort to the meet. After that, you could go with the empeg-guys to camebridge and fly back from London.
I'm sorry i can't take you with me after the meet, cause mlord will ride with me and my car isn't big enough...

cheers, Thomas

..and I can't take you TO the meet because mlord is riding with me and my car isn't big enough

Of course you're welcome to visit empeg towers any time.

Rob

I'll be travelling from Bedford which is about 30 miles from Cambridge (which is on my route anyway) and will have space in the car. I should be heading over on the HSS to Holand - will probably try to make sure I get the same crossings as the empeg crew.

I can give you a lift either direction.

I arrive at AMS airport on the 3rd. I will be renting a car, so if you need a ride, I would gladly give you guys one.

What about:

- fly into Germany, say Stuttgart (low cost hub).
- do your heritage bit in Germany for a day or so, using the excellent train system
- cross the border into NL and do the empeg meet, again using trains (http://www.ns.nl). The meet is 500m from Amersfoort Schothorst station.
- take a cheap EasyJet flight from Amsterdam to Luton, UK
- hire a car and go over to Cambridge
- drive down to London, drop off the hire car
- spend a day or so doing the sights (although that's not a lot of time)
- catch a connecting flight from Gatwick to Stuttgart
- catch a return flight home.

Ideally, I'd like to have the Empeg meet be the "meat" in the middle of an England/Netherlands sightseeing trip "sandwich".

I will send you some Magic Meat Sauce™. Upon ingestion, it will provide the power of flight for approximately 4 hours. It will also will bring good luck and cure constipation.



Enjoy!

Meatballman
Defender of the etc...etc...

Woohoo! Go for it Tony! I'd love to meet up with you and yours, and cannot imagine a better venue than around the time of this meet!

Lots of good suggestions in this thread so far, and you already know what I settled on for an itinary -- I'll be rattling around England for the week prior to the meet, and in the German / Swiss border area afterwards, with a few days in Paris at the end.

"Open Jaw" travel is definitely the way.

Cheers

Tony,

i have holidays around the meet, so in case of Stuttgart (also Zurich and even FFM) you won't need a rental car or a train. I'll catch you at the airport and get you around where you like. Would be a pleasure for me...

cheers, Thomas

Yup, I am also looking forward to Thomas's Tour Guide Service!

Just tell me, what you wanna see...

geez...this IS a tough crowd...

Or my sense of humor sucks.

In the unlikely event that anybody finds themselves in Yorkshire, Beer, Board, Banter and Boring conversation are offered enthusiastically!

* tumbleweed blows across the thread *



Hugo

London Stansted might be a better option (Ryanair/Easyjet/etc fly there) as it's only 30 minutes from Cambridge by train. Train is definitely less hassle than a car.

Hugo

Actually, I thought it was very funny, Meatballman.

Thanks, everyone, for the replies in this thread. Keep the suggestions coming. We're going to talk to a travel agent today and make a decision.

- I'd like to do a certain amount of sightseeing while there. But I have no real knowledge of what's worth seeing. Anyone?

I don't really know what is there to see besides the Amersfoortse kei. A big rock that travelled down to Amersfoort during the last iceage or something.

I am not sure if money is an issue, but I've always found that flying into Amsterdam gives you airfare prices of up to $200 less than surrounding airports per ticket. I flew out of Washington DC a few months ago to Amsterdam (Train to Hannover) for $192.

From the airport you can hop on a train and eventually get to wherever you would like to be, the ride is not bad at all, fun looking out the window if you have not done it.

Jeremy Briggs
www.carplayer.com

PS. Pay the extra money and use the ICE trains.

What's an ICE train?

What's an ICE train?

Inter City Express. German/Bahn version of the French TGV. Not quite as fast, I don't think (may have to do with routes/roadbeds), but still very fast, comfy and the new ones are tres futuristique (you can stand in first class and look right into the driver's compartment which looks like the thing Sagan drove in Cosmos...)

The route up the banks of the Rhine around Trier is really nice and could be a logical route between Frankfurt and A-Dam/Amersfoort.

like the thing Sagan drove in Cosmos

So you, too, noticed that Ellie was a character that embodied Carl's personality and values, but was deliberately made female to throw us off the trail?

like the thing Sagan drove in Cosmos

So you, too, noticed that Ellie was a character that embodied Carl's personality and values, but was deliberately made female to throw us off the trail?That was Contact. Cosmos was the TV show.

Cosmos was the TV show.

Thanks. Yeah, IIRC, in Cosmos Sagan drove his starship from this tacky futuristic desk with some flashing lights that kind of made it look like the front of a German high-speed train!

(Oh, not sure Carl was trying to throw us off the trail....I just don't think it would have worked to have Jodie Foster play a guy!)

That was Contact. Cosmos was the TV show.

D'OH!!!!!!

Hey, the titles are similar. Weren't we just complaining about composite/component recently?

It's been so long since I saw that TV show, I didn't even remember Carl driving anything at all.

As an update to the original subject of the thread...

We're trying to make plans now. Trick is getting passports. We can't find two of the three required birth certificates and are having to order them. Then there's the usual turnaround time for passports, which is far too long for what we need, so we're going to have to find a way to put a rush on them.

I've emailed Rob Schofield about reserving a room at the meet, and we're working with a travel agent to get arrangements made for the rest of the trip. Looking forward to it!

You can usually go to (or maybe just call) your congressman's office and get a rush on a passport.

This link seems to give promising information about getting passports in a hurry. So I'm sure we can work it out, it's just the hassle factor.

Yahoo!! Tony's coming to Amersfoort!!!

'

Awwwwwww, thanks.

I'm going to TRY. Not certain it's all going to work out, but we're going to see about it.