We arrived at Amsterdam’s airport after a night of little sleep for all three of us. But for me at least, the excitement and challenge of building our bikes and getting our tour started kept any kind of jet lag from setting in.
We worked our way thru the baggage claim, not sure where our three bike boxes would show up. We’d actually watched our bikes be unloaded from the plane. Noah saved the day in baggage claim: after waiting in the area we were sent to, Noah investigated the large baggage claim and discovered our boxes someplace else! So we loaded up the luggage trolleys worked our way through customs, and found the perfect spot just past its exit to tackle the bike-building.
All in all, the bike building couldn’t have been smoother. With Noah’s help, I built all three bikes in about 90 minutes with no major issues, missing parts, or damage to contend with. Tammy got coffee (twice) at the Starbucks right there, then collected packing garbage and bought hand wipes to help clean up. We walked our bikes out of the airport and into the fresh air of a sunny day in Amsterdam, our three pannier-backpacks attached to our racks, and began our journey to our first hotel (XO Couture).
The ride to our hotel, XO Hotels Couture Amsterdam, was about 7 miles directly into a harsh, strong wind that tested all of us and had me promising it would be the worst headwind of the trip, given the direction we were biking, the weather forecast, and the open area around Schipol Airport. We survived, checked in a bit early to a room on the top floor, figured out bike parking in the garage, and all took showers.
Noah fell asleep for a bit before we bravely got on our pannier-free bikes and headed to central Amsterdam, passing through the large, crowded Vondelpark on a picture perfect Saturday. We also bravely navigated Amsterdam’s densely packed streets and bridges filled with bikes and walkers, found a spot to lock our bikes, bought a second lock, and explored the canals and shops by foot for awhile, including an impressive Lego store. We sampled our first fries and drinks too.
We took a different path back and biked around the Rijksmuseum before dropping our bikes at the hotel and walking a block to small Indonesian restaurant, where Tammy and I had nasi goering and Noah had a plat of Indonesian noodles. The food was fantastic! We strolled a bit along the canal near our hotel, then headed back to the hotel for the night – lights out by 9. Our arrival day was a complete success!
Dan – Tammy – Noah 
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