Rotterdam...

Map of Holland


Our flight to Rotterdam is scheduled to fly at 9+ am.. but the airport bus leaves at 7am so we met up pretty early to buy tickets for the bus..
Took the airport bus from Stockholm to the Skavasta Airport.. ( a 1hr 30 min ride from Stockholm) Budget airlines make use of airports that r far from the city center or main airports such as Arlanda international airport so as to cut down operating costs..


Was bored so took some pics from the bus.. tried to capture shots of the sun outline behind the clouds.. made use of Dom’s polarized lens to take pics of the sun..




Flew from Skavsta Airport to Rotterdam Airport by Transavia


At the airport, there is this smoking cubicle.. there is no door for this cubicle.. the smoke gets suck up so that it does not escape this cubicle..


Waiting for the plane..

Our plane will be near Gate 2..

The duty free shop at the airport..

There r some items in the Duty Free shop that caught DOm's attention.. his bizness mind start to work as soon as he saw all these items.. haha quite nice though..



Pics of the plane..


In the plane.. pretty much the same as normal airplane except that food n drinks have to be ordered n paid for.. its just a short 2 hrs flight away so just take a short nap..

I had the window seat so more photo opportunities… its rather disappointing to see that Holland is mostly covered by snow which equals to no tulips.. :(.. sigh..

From the plane.. we can see that Holland has lots of canals n dykes..

Arrival at Rotterdam Airport..


There seem to be customs check at the airport.. there r also no immigration officers to stamp our passports. Once we get off our plane n collected our check in luggage, we could just walk straight out to Rotterdam.. I guess this is pretty much the case for any plane coming in from any European Union country. The European Union consists of many European countries such as Great Britain, Sweden, Holland, Germany etc.. so moving within the EU countries is like moving around one whole country.. thus no need for security checks n stuff like that.. I guess.. We went straight for information desk and collected maps of Rotterdam n took a bus 33 to Rotterdam Central Station.. it costs 2.40Euro.. (abt S$5) .. the ticket allows us to use any public transport within the next hour without extra charges..

NATIONAL 'STRIPPEN CARD'

The cities of The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam offer transportation by tram. Amsterdam and Rotterdam also have a subway system. Most tram and subway services start at 6 a.m. and run until approximately 12 midnight. The subway trains and trams are usually faster than the city buses. You do not have to buy a ticket on the tram/subway but you use the so-called 'strippen card'.
The local The Hague tram company is HTM, in Amsterdam the GVB company offers tram and subway services, while the Rotterdam equivalent is RET.
Holland's network of buses and trams serves both urban and regional districts. Most services start at around 6 a.m. and end at around 12 midnight. A wide range of tickets is available. Only two of these are of relevance if you stay in Holland for a short time.

The 'Strippen Card' is valid throughout the country for travel on buses, trams and subways. It is also valid on trains which travel within the city boundaries of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague.
Holland has been divided into transportation zones with set tariffs. To travel one zone you have to pay two 'strips'. You pay an extra 'strip' for each subsequent zone. Within the same zone you may change within a time limit mentioned on the back of the card.
You can buy a 'Strippen Card' with 15 strips (EUR 6.50) or with 45 strips (EUR 19.20). You need one strip more than the number of zones in which you want to travel. Usually a tram ride in Amsterdam center is within 1 zone, so that means 2 strips in total have to be stamped. You either stamp the card yourself in the bus or tram, or you can have it stamped by the bus driver or tram conductor. Several people can travel on the same card, as long as the correct number of strips is stamped. Your stamp is valid for one hour, so you can transfer to other buses, subways and trams as long as you stay within the zones you originally stamped your ticket for.

Thus we purchased a Strippen card with 45 strips for EUR 19.20 at the Central Station n we could share this among ourselves.. otherwise public transport in Holland is very ex..

At the Metro (subway), there r gantries where ppl could insert their strippen card n have it stamped automatically.. of course we didn’t noe wat issit used for then n we still r within the 1 hr limit for the ticket we bought for the bus from the airport. There r no ppl to check if u stamped yer strippen card or not.. but however at the interchange subway station where it’s the busiest when commuters switch from the east line to the west line.. there are ppl wearing green RET(the company in charge of the subway) jackets (like the one on the left in this pic below) checking the validity of the tickets..


In the train.. we saw a croissant shop selling croissants for only EUR0.90 at the station .. we were pretty tempted by it but still not very hungry yet..


There r designated roads for two wheels n four wheels haha.. as u can see below.. bicycles n motorcycles use this track while other cars use the main road..

Trams in Rotterdam..

These yellow boxes are for commuters to insert their strippen card n get the time stamped on one of their strips.. n occasionally there r conductors who go around the tram checking the tickets for date stamped.. n when there r no conductors, of course we dont stamp n save the strips for later usage.. haha



Sometimes the doors dont open by themselves at certain stops, so ppl who wish to get down have to press this "Door Open" button on the door..


Posing with the 45 strips of ticket we have...