First day of the meet-up
Today I took the train from Meppel to Leiden almost as soon as my daughters were picked up by my babysitters, my stepmom and her boyfriend. It was an easy and fun journey: there was only one change-over in Schiphol and I met a very nice German girl as soon as I got on the train. We spent the whole trip to Schiphol talking. As she was travelling to Schiphol with a suitcase of course my first question was where she was going! From then on we just spoke about travel and I told her about TravBuddy immediately of course. I told her about the meet-up in Leiden where coincidentally she had studied for two years to get into aviation law. (I didn't even know there was a special degree for that....) When we got to Schiphol we said our goodbyes and I got on the train to Leiden which was only about another 15 minutes away.
I got to Leiden with plenty of time to spare so I hung around the train station for a bit where I ran into Kelvin. I recognised him immediately so we ended up talking for a bit while a large group of people was gathering behind us. I suddenly recognised Anouk and from there we all gathered together while more and more (and more) people arrived. What a crowd!
When everyone had gotten there we went to the hotel where many of us where staying to check in. Unfortunately the people at the Tulip Inn were not ready for us yet so after standing around for what seemed like forever we decided to put all the luggage into one of the conference room so we could start the activities which had been planned for the day. As we got off to a very late start and it was quite hot some people were dying to just go sit somewhere and have a couple of drinks but we did follow Anna around for her tour through the city.
After the tour we all ended up at Olo Rosso, the first stop we had for food and drinks. As it was getting close to 5pm and I really wanted to go to the Australian shop "Tuckerbox" to get some vegemite for the girls, I quickly dashed off to do my duty. When I got back I joined Anouk at the end of one table.
We spent more time here than the original plan was I think but finally we headed for Cafe Einstein where we were to have dinner. A room had been reserved especially for our group which was really good as it got louder and louder as the evening wore on and the wine kept flowing... The food was nice, the company was great and we had a ball! I think the only one who spent time with everyone during the night was Ape but his conversations weren't very in depth...
After dinner Steve and I really felt like a coffee but when I asked the waitress for one she said that if I wanted coffee I had to go downstairs and not tell anyone else about it! So Steve and I sneaked off and had our coffee's downstairs.
After dinner we went for another walk to the hotel, and we lost Carla along the way as she had to rush to the train station. We said goodbye to a few more people at that stage and then went inside to finally check-in properly and change into different clothes. That's when I realised how sunburt I had gotten! A few people decided to call it a night at that stage and go to bed, but the rest of us went back into town. We tried a few places for drinks and music but some were getting ready for closing time and others didn't seem to want to cater for such a large group. We had a couple of drinks at a bar that seemed to specialise in Belgian beers and from there Anna ended up calling Olo Rosso where the night had started and they were quite happy to have us back! So for another walk we went.
Back at Olo Rosso we were allowed to take charge of the music computer which was really good. There was one small group and ours, and as the night wore on we ended up dancing together and we had a great time (although looking at one of my pictures of Mehmet you wonder...). The night finally ended at around 5am for most of us back at the hotel...
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Upon arrival at the hotel with our group it seemed like the staff did not have a clue we were coming, even though Anna had booked a few rooms well in advance, and everyone else who had booked their own rooms had done the same. The rooms were not ready even though it was around the time of official check-in. As I have worked as a housekeeper in a hotel I thought this was unforgivable, but obviously the manager of this hotel wasn't as concerned as my employer was at the time.
After waiting around for ages we finally ended up storing our luggage in a conference room until the rooms were ready, so at least we could get on with our plans for the day.
Upon return we got to our room (shared with four people) which was basic but adequate. The bathroom had a double sink, a bath with a shower overhead and a toilet. There were some toiletries there but a shortage of towels which we had to get from reception ourselves. Again, I thought this could have been better as they knew there were four people in the room but there were only three towels...
After coming back to the room early in the morning after having been out all night it became very obvious how hot the room was and there wasn't much that could be done about it apart from kicking off all the covers. When I decided to take a shower I noticed that the bathroom hadn't been cleaned very well either, there was still used soap in the soap dish in the shower!
Breakfast was pretty basic, not a lot of choice in breads or toppings, except if you like jam... The "scrambles eggs" were one big chunk and didn't look very appetising, the bacon looked boiled instead of fried. As I have worked in the kitchen of a large hotel I know these items usually come pre-packed but you can still give them your own "stamp" as it were by adding stuff or even just stirring them up a little bit!
Having worked in tourism and hospitality for most of my working life I though the hotel left a lot to be desired. The customer service, the cleanliness and the breakfast could have been a lot better!
