Netherlands | Growing Up Expat

Today there was a break in the rain so we took the train into Amsterdam. The Zandvoort train station is an easy 10 minute walk from the hotel. Buying tickets was super easy. They have yellow machines at all the train stations. You can also buy tickets online. From what I understand you don’t even need to buy tickets, you can swipe your credit card at the machines to enter and exit the stations. I didn’t want to do that because kids age 4-11 cost less so I wanted to get a kids ticket for Leo. Kids under 4 are free and kids 12 and up cost the same as adults.

I looked online and saw that there are trains to Amsterdam about every 30 minutes, so we decided to just walk to the train station when we were ready. A train arrived a few minutes later and it was so quiet that I didn’t even hear it approaching. I only noticed it because the whistle blew. The train we caught was scheduled for 9:20. It arrived at 9:09, doors closed at 9:19 and it left at exactly 9:20. The train has screens in each car telling you what the next station is. Taking the train in the Netherlands has been one of the easiest things I have ever done.

It’s not raining today but it is really windy and cold. We went to the NEMO science museum because it’s only 10 minutes from the train station and would give us a break from the wind. Leo was not into the short walk at all. He did love the museum though.

After the museum Leo had a bit of a tantrum because he just wanted to go back to the hotel. I guess he is all waked out even though we hadn’t even walked that much at that point. After stopping to get a snack I was able to convince him to go on a boat tour. I figured that would be a unique way to see the city since Leo definitely wasn’t going to let me see the sites on foot.

The boat tour was an hour and it was a nice break. Leo had a few toys that he played with so he (mostly) let me look around and take pictures. The houseboats in Amsterdam are amazing. Before the boat ride I had made a deal with Leo that after the boat ride we would get lunch and then head back to the hotel. He was really done with walking and luckily we saw a hot dog stand in front of the train station. He’s a pretty picky eater but he loves hot dogs!

Finding our train back was a little more complicated but still easy enough. The Amsterdam Centraal station is really beautiful from the outside. I don’t really remember the inside because I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our train. We’re on the train right now. Fingers crossed there’s not another meltdown when we get off because we still have a 10-minute walk to the hotel.

Amsterdam looks like a beautiful city. I spent about 4 hours there so I really didn’t get to see much. Obviously it’s on my list to visit again some time. I don’t think we will come back this trip, but we’ll see.

Today was day 3 at Efteling. Tomorrow will be our fourth and final day. When I booked this trip I knew a lot of people compared Efteling to Disneyland and said that Efteling is better. I definitely on board with that! We go back to Disneyland Paris for Christmas so I will be able to compare again, but I think I Efteling will always be the winner in my book.

Efteling has so much green space and beautiful flowers. They have tons of fountains and ducks. Sofia has developed a sudden interest in ducks because there are so many here. Efteling has an abundance of benches that are in the shade, which I really appreciate since we have been getting 18,000 steps each day! I also appreciate how Efteling uses scents to add to the ambiance.

We meant to spent a day in each area of the park, but on our first day we were so excited that we walked around most of the park. We went on the big rides we wanted to do. The second day we went to a part of the park we hadn’t seen yet. Today we stuck to the fairytales and playgrounds in the park. Tomorrow we will have to revisit our favorite rides.

Sofia’s favorite ride is Max & Moritz, which is the family racing roller coaster. We both like Max best- the blue side. My favorite ride is droomvlucht, which I just call the fairy ride since I have no idea how to say that word. I love the track on the ride (it’s above instead of below). I love the displays you see and at the end you go up a bit and then down semi quickly. It’s cute and it’s fun.

Sofia also loved the Carnaval ride. It’s fine although the music is kind of annoying and gets stuck in my head. I liked the gondola ride. A few people said to skip it but I really enjoyed it. It was a nice way to rest for 20 minutes and to see parts of the park from a different view. There is a train here with two stations, but one of them is closed right now which is why we have been walking so much.

We rode all three tracks of Symbolica. We both really liked the treasures one. Sofia isn’t quite tall enough for most of the roller coasters yet. We did go on the wooden one which I really thought she would like. She ended up hating it because it was too intense.

We want to bring Kyle and Leo here of course. I think next summer we will try to come visit. Efteling seems like a great park for so many ages. Sofia’s age (5) is great but I could see older kids liking it too because of the coasters. The dark rides are nicely done and I think most people would appreciate them. I love Efteling- it is definitely one of my favorite theme parks and I’m excited to come back. Next time we’re going to stay at one of the Efteling hotels. We’re staying off site this time which is fine but next time we want to be in one of the hotels on site. They’re building a brand new one right next to the entrance with a sign saying it opening in 2025!