Voordeelurenabonnement

I applied for a Voordeelurenabonnement online, a few minutes ago. To my disgust it will only be valid from May 5 at the earliest. Seems it takes that long for the NS (Dutch Railway) to get one little card made. Hmph. My passport was more quickly created than that.

This means that it will be a really expensive trip next weekend. Perhaps we should look into leaving very early on the Saturday morning then, instead of overnighting in Pieterburen the night before. That will shave at least 23 Euro off the total cost of the weekend, per person.

So far, it seems it will be only Elma joining me this coming weekend, though others plan to join in along the way. Elma is determined to walk the entire Pieterpad as well.

Weather looks very promising. I can hardly wait.
This week I'll be organising a sleepover place in Winsum, and figuring out the train timetable so we can leave REALLY early on Saturday.


I just checked on 92920v.nl:
From Den Haag Centraal to Winsum will cost € 32,80 for a single, € 41,70 for a return ticket. With discount it would have been € 19,70 and € 25,00. Then we still need to take the bus from Winsum to Pieterburen, that's 4 strips and will cost € 1,84. Disgruntled does not even begin to cover it...

Well. It is what it is.

I figure we should buy a return ticket Den Haag Centraal to Groningen (valid for the weekend), and a single from Groningen to Winsum. If we leave from Den Haag Centraal at 6.36 from track 4, we should reach Pieterburen around 10.00 in the morning. Ouch. Three and a half hours travel on train and bus-taxi before walking one meter, that will have us feeling quite shattered...

The alternative is to choose to kick off in style, and overnight in Pieterburen on Friday night after all. I'll talk it through with Elma - my first instinct is to go Saturday morning. Friday after work, three and a half hours train etc is no picnic either.