Getting Started

While spending our Saturday in Portland’s lovely international terminal was thrilling for Rachael and me, losing the day of preparation and sightseeing we had planned in Amsterdam threw a wrench in the spokes of our carefully tuned schedule. So instead of a relaxing Sunday spent sleeping off our jet lag, walking the canals and mixing up cafés with coffee shops, we had to assemble and clip into our bicycles almost at once.

After many months of deliberation, we had decided to bring our own bikes rather than try to rent or buy bikes in Amsterdam. While bringing our own bikes certainly offered advantages (a familiar seat, a comfortable geometry, a passing knowledge of its foibles), international baggage charges on bicycles complicate the calculus. At $150.00 per bike, each way, it’s not hard to spend more getting a bike to Holland than the 10-year-old steel frame is worth. But while it felt a little like bringing sand to a beach party, having our own bikes turned out to be a good decision for us. Fresh off our flight, we knew we’d be able to be up and rolling in no more that an hour.

We were greeted at the airport by Rachael’s uncle Paul, who, despite living an hour away in Den Hague, drove up to meet our plane and bring us into the city. We couldn’t have been more grateful; without his help, we would have been assembling our bikes next to the baggage carousal. As it was, he drove us into the heart of the city, bought us pancakes and coffee, (pannekoeken is my favorite Dutch word of the day) and found a quiet canal on which to reconstruct our bikes.

And so, wheels on, brakes tuned, and panniers fully loaded, we struck out for Utrecht.  Fourteen days of riding through Holland lie ahead; we couldn’t be more excited.