Business trip to The Hague (Netherlands)

woah! After reading my feeds (I mean your latest blogging) for about 2 hours I finally have time to blog about my first business trip to The Hague on Thursdy 6. dec (Nikolaus day and birthday of my big sis - still gotta give her a call)

3 a.m.: alarm clock rings - time to get up and get ready for the day

4 a.m.: time to leave home and ride the bike to the train station and catch the train to Frankfurt

5 a.m.: time to change trains on central station:
the train to airport was crowded with people working there...

5:30: arriving at terminal 2 - far too early. I wanted to catch some breakfast but I forgot that they only have one footcourt with a MC Donalds and a bar there - so I made my way through security checks but even in the duty free area nothing proper for breakfast (In the opposite to Terminal 1 where you'll find a great varierty)



Don't ya wanna go there instead???

6:15: time for boarding



or there? (China Eastern) - already waiting in the plane



Airport at the morning - Lights reflecting in the window -  taken on the way to take off of my tiny Fokker 100 -  It was my second trip by plane after about 14 years within 3 months

6:50: take off! (flying always touches me to tears - I actually don't know why - so I hide my face from the other passengers till I found my balance again)



Frankfurt from above -  not the city centre - but a commercial area in the west  (I suppose)

At least I got proper breakfast on the plane (special thanks to KLM!) - the tea was delicous



When you see this you know that you are in the Netherlands (greenhouses in the night)

8 a.m.: landing in Amsterdam Schipol on the lane where the plane has to use the bridge over the highway

8:30 a.m: picked the train (sneltrain) to The Hague just in time because I had some trouble with a ticket machine which was out of order I think so I had to find another one...

On the way to the hague I enjoyed the sunrise which looked quite different to those I'm used too..



I don't like the color of the trains but they are modern and comfortable (and air conditioned) inside (sorry Katia)

9 a.m.: Finally there!

I took myself some time to take some pics..



Skyline from The Hague (the highrise on the left is really beautiful)



The main building of the central station



Actually don't know what to think about this one....



The headquarter of my company is loacted in this big complex in the back....

9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.: Several meetings at the office (sorry top secret) - I can only say that they had been successfull and the analysis I worked on during the last weeks found the acceptance of the managers and made it's way directly to the board...and it also was fun to meet some people again and meet others whom I only talked at the phone



Same building as above in the night



Central train station at night

6 p.m.: Train back to Amsterdam Schipol (in time  again )

6:30 p.m.: Got there in time and met with another colleague there. We had fun talking and I had also a delicous ciabatta with thuna salad



Fancy lightening at the main building of Amsterdam Schipol - I already saw it in the morning but did not have time to take a pic.



Coolest new years greeting I'ver seen

7 p.m.: Time to say goodbye and to face the security checks again. Everytime I go through the metal detectors it peeps and have to face body check - this is so embarassing because they check everything - the chest,  the bra (even in the middle at the front and the backside) , the waistband from inside and the shoes... When you go through this procedure twice in one day you feel like (even when it's done by women)

7:30 p.m.: Finished with passport and security check and on the way to my gate which was quite a long way, actually longer than expected and I thought I'll miss first boarding (scheduled for 7:25 p.m.), but on the next information screen I saw that our flight was delayed for 8:40 instead of 8:15 p.m.

8:20 p.m: finally boarding - unfortunately our flight was delayed a second time due to bad weather in Frankfurt (which I got confirmed by my english teacher next morning) so we had to wait inside the plane for another 30 to 40 mins. But the stewardesses were so kind to hand out some liquids (water and orange juice) and played some music from the speakers and also accepted the help of a little girl while handing out the snacks later on...

around 9:15 p.m: take off finally...



The leftover of the snack at the plane (had a delicous black tea again). I really like the design of the sugar pack .

around 10:30 p.m: Finally landing in Frankfurt. We were flying almost 30 mins within the clouds which really made me feel a bit uncomfortable but at the landing we had clear weather.

Tried to take a pic from the skyline you'll see when you approach the airport but didn't succeed.

11:05 p.m: Finally made my way from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 where the train station is located and just saw the interurban train to the central station depart. This actually meant waiting for the next train and be at home one hour later and I was already really.
Spent the waiting time while talking to my mum at the phone...

11:25 p.m.: Next train to the central station...

11:40 p.m: arriving at central station - went to the toilet and back to the track to wait for the interurban train home...

0:04 a.m: Picking the train home

0:45 a.m: arriving at the train station at home - could not sleep properly on this train because it stops every few minutes

1.00 a.m: Finally arriving at home and it was raining so I walked for some time with the umbrella in the one hand the bike in the other

1:15 a.m: sleeping

6 a.m: alarm clock ringing and getting ready for the next day at the office which I survived pretty well so that I decided to meet some friends in the evening


Conclusion: We live in a really crazy world