Planning A Trip For Seniors: Part 2, Taking Mum to Holland and Belgium

My 81 years young mother was into the idea of a holiday somewhere new to her by train.

Lots of lovely places in easy reach by rail, frequent services, step-free access and easy walking were all on the want-list.
So a six day adventure from London to Rotterdam and Gent ticked all those boxes!

Day 1: London, Rotterdam, Delft, Rotterdam

A very tempting price for Plus class on the Eurostar journey from London to Rotterdam was an option, because it was 08:00am departure on a Sunday morning.
Mum's reaction was, I've had to take flights from Gatwick earlier than that lots of times - and it's nice to have more time when get there.

Then two weeks before departure mum got let down by the local taxi firm, so  getting any type of cab to to pick us so early on a Sunday, suddenly felt like a risk.
Hence a hunt for two rooms within an easy walk of St Pancras International. 
So we stayed at The Point A, King's Cross, which turned out to be ideal, then on the Saturday evening we had a great meal at my fave London pub, The Betjemen Arms.

Though a lesson learned - Relatively last minute room rates for a Saturday night stay, within easy each of St Pancras, wiped out the savings made by booking the early morning Eurostar.

Boarding the Eurostar

Staying so close to the station enabled us to time our arrival at St Pancras exactly in line with Eurostar's recommendation to be at this station 75 mins before departure.

Despite it being a Sunday in late September, and the check-in desks proceeding smoothly, the queue for Standard and Plus class passengers was spilling out of the Eurostar area and down the concourse towards the Thameslink area of the station.
Though our train was one of three Eurostars that would be leaving before 08:15.

This wasn't something that needed to concern us, as Eurostar has a semi-secret service, for those who ideally need to avoid being in a slow-moving line of people for 30 mins or more.
Hence we, along with other people with walking aids and families with small children, were guided to a special ticket gate.
My brother had told me about it, as he was also given this VIP style treatment, when he'd passed through earlier in the year.

All of the Eurostar staff, in fact all of the railway staff we encountered during the trip, were excellent, but mum got flummoxed by the security and customs procedure.
Managing her luggage as well as my own through the checks distracted me and I hadn't anticipated that mum would bewildered.

She had been excited about her first journey by Eurostar in more than 20 years, because she has decided that the rigmarole of taking an international flight is becoming too much bother.
However, she had assumed that because we were taking a train, that it would be no different to our recent trips to Scotland and Yorkshire.

Chatting about it afterwards we agreed that some clearer signs and instructions, that the boarding procedure involves Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 - And that you need to put phones and keys in the luggage scan trays etc, etc, would have made it easier.
Mum's also hard of hearing, so the staff shouting instructions wasn't ideal.

Off we go

I'd told mum that there was no need to queue for coffee and croissants at the cafe counter in the Eurostar departure area, because breakfast would soon be served to us at our Plus class seats.
Though to be fair, she preferred the bacon rolls that we'd received when taking the LNER Azuma train 1st class to Yorkshire.

One of the reasons I'd been pleased to bag the Plus tickets for such a good rate, was that I'd anticipated that our 280 km/h per journey across four countries in only 3hrs, wouldn't excite mum as much as it thrilled me - So after breakfast, the more comfortable seat helped her settle into a restful sleep.

Though she woke up in time for one of the trip's scenic highlights.

On arrival at Rotterdam Centraal, I carried out my first test of her patience levels.

Taking a smart image of a Eurostar train can be tricky in London and Paris, so I wasn't going to miss this golden opportunity!

Though not for the erm final time over the next five days, mum said, "You must have thousands of train and station pics by now, you don't need any more, surely?"

However, she became an instant fan of Rotterdam's main station -  'so clean and modern, lovely lifts and it must handy for when it's raining, but why did they have have to make it so big!'

An afternoon in delightful Delft

Thanks to the long snooze on the train, mum didn't want to rest up, so within 90 mins we were back at the station and tapping our debit cards on the ticket barriers.
We'd also been able to use the tap and go method on the convenient tram back from the hotel.

As it's pretty much brand new, I was confident that Delft station would have an easy exit; and we both noticed that each lift had its own easy to manage ticket gate.

The station was only a 15 min walk at mum pace from the lovely town square.
So after a coffee and cake in the sunshine, we lingered on the way back.

We had taken one of the easy boarding Sprinter trains from Rotterdam, but we just missed one on the return, so as we got to the platform the next option was taking a double-deck Intercity train.

Mum had never seen a double-deck train before, so I explained about the steps and stairs - but for a ride of less than 20mins, she said that she'd actually rather stand up.
Though she didn't have to, as what we both discovered when boarding, is that these trains actually have seats on three levels.

There is a bay of seats just inside the doors, though something to keep in mind when planning Dutch rail journeys is that the seats can't be reserved.
So you can't guarantee that these seats will be available when boarding, if they will be your preference.

Day 2: A trip to Amsterdam

On arrival at Rotterdam Centraal the previous day. we purchased two Holland Travel tickets for this day of travels - having checked with Conductor Sam

• Whether a day pass was available for travel in The Netherlands
• What the cost was
• How they could be purchased and used

The logic being, was that I had an idea that we could stop over in Leiden or Utrecht on the way back to Rotterdam.
Despite that, conventional train tickets would have been cheaper than these day passes, but what tipped the balance towards the pass, was it also covered the day's public transport.

The value for money was still marginal, but purchasing the day before meant that we could use them on the tram from the hotel to the station.

I also made an incorrect assumption that using the Holland Travel tickets would save the faff of buying tickets for each journey by train, metro and tram - but we were yet to discover that pretty much the entire Dutch travel system is now 'Contactless'.

The journey

Taking a train to the Central station seems logical when travelling to Amsterdam, but a more accurate name for the station would be Amsterdam North.
This was one of the reasons why we boarded a train heading to Amsterdam Zuid. 

Another was that the timetable for the Rotterdam ↔ Amsterdam rail route has been recently altered.
We, and everyone else, had a choice between 2 x trains per hour to Amsterdam Centraal and 4 x trains per hour to Amsterdam Zuid - Plus the trains to Zuid use the Dutch high speed line, so are more than 30mins faster!

The icing on the cake for the Amsterdam Zuid decision was that InterCity New Generation trains are used on this route - and unlike the double-deck trains used on the Rotterdam to Amsterdam Centraal route, these new trains have level boarding.

Though something we didn't pay any attention to as we found our seats, was that we ended up in the Quiet Zone on the train - so I had to spend 5 mins telling mum that we weren't supposed to talk :)

Another tick in the box for heading to Amsterdam Zuid is that the city has a relatively new north-south metro line which serves the main tourist locations - and I'd checked with Sam that we could take lifts / elevators between train and metro at Zuid station.

But on arrival I was baffled - I was looking out for an impossible to miss Metro station lobby with escalators leading down to the trains etc, but I couldn't find it.
That was because at Amsterdam Zuid the Metro isn't underground, we had to take a lift upwards.

A friend had recommended the Museum Van Loon and it was an easy walk from Vijzelgracht metro station.
And he was right. the beautifully preserved merchant's house is a delight.

Its garden and tea room were particularly charming, but unfortunately mum didn't get the opportunity to experience them, because of the museum's staircases.
I hadn't appreciated that the type of staircase now makes a difference to her, and these stairs were the wrong type.

I redeemed myself by targeting a very nice place for lunch which ticked the boxes of being by a canal and within a 2 min walk of a tram stop.
We took the tram to Centraal station, as it's also a place where canal cruises can be boarded - giving us the opportunity of seeing a lot of the city without walking.

After we had got off the boat, mum said, "Oh what's that lovely building over there?
Which was handy, because what she was looking at was Amsterdam Centraal station.

I wanted to seize the opportunity to check out its enhancement works and refresh the images on ShowMeTheJourney, a wish that I cannily disguised.
I offered the opportunity of having a drink and yet another cake of the day in the 'very nice restaurant' up on Platform 1.

We'd then head back down to take the Metro to Zuid station, for an onward connection - the quickest option for getting us back to Rotterdam.

However, the restaurant had closed down two weeks earlier - hopefully it's only temporary, as it was an ideal place to have a meal prior to boarding a Eurostar or night train.

Then having the spontaneity of a Holland Rail Ticket for the day proved to be useful.
Beside us on the platform was a double-deck IC train heading back to Rotterdam.
I checked that the seats on the same level as the doors were available and mum said she'd be happy to take the longer ride - this route from Central station to Rotterdam goes via Leiden, The Hague and Delft, so we climbed on board.

Day 3: To the seaside

We were blessed with gorgeous weather during the trip, so on this day of the adventure we took the sunny day option.
I kept where we were going as surprise, as mum had no idea that the coast was within easy reach of Rotterdam and she loves time by the sea.

One of the things I love is being a public transport nerd, so today's itinerary was going to bring joy to both of us.
Our hotel in Rotterdam was within 5 minutes of Beurs Metro station, which I'd checked had lifts down to the trains.
However, we didn't take an underground train.

What I was fascinated by, but what mum + plus 99.99% of everybody else couldn't care less about, is that Rotterdam has conventional Metro / Underground system, but The Hague only has trams.
The train we boarded was a line E train of the Rotterdam Metro, but it carried on beyond the city across the Dutch countryside, until it reached the tram tracks in an adjacent town to The Hague.
It then used them to travel on to Den Haag Centraal station, which didn't seem bizarre at all, but in Britain, this would be like building a bridge to the moon!?!

Remaining in full nerd mode for the moment, I'm a huge fan of the main station in The Hague.
With some of the trams which serve it, whizzing in and out of its main hall above the trains, it has a Thunderbirds vibe.
Mum appreciated that she could take a lift to the rest rooms, so we were both happy.

Presumably Den Haag Centraal is studied globally as a text book example of how to provide the easiest interchanges possible between different modes of transport?
The roof over the train platforms and tracks looks a tad gloomy, but that's because it has the city's main bus station on top of it!

We stepped outside the main station to the other set of tram stops, as this is where we could board line 9 to Scheveningen.
Within 10 mins of stepping off the tram we were on the spectacular pier.

It had taken us less than 90 mins to get there from the hotel in Rotterdam.
The very Dutch style pancakes in the cafe at the end of the pier were a hit with both of us and then it was time to move on the afternoon activity.

After taking the tram back to Den Haag Centraal we took a Sprinter train on to a second visit to Delft.
I'd checked that the bus station was right by the rail station - of course it was, we were in The Netherlands after all.

We needed to take route/line 40 for the short ride to The Royal Delft Porcelain Museum.
These days large museums and galleries can be tiring for mum, and I have to admit they can wear me out too, but this was small and lovely.

Plus the gift shop, which was almost as large as the museum, came close to being mum's idea of heaven on earth!

Despite already having taken 2 x trains, 2 x trams and 2 x buses, when I'm organizing your itinerary the fun never stops, no matter your age :)
So once we were back at Delft station we took a train to Rotterdam-Blaak, which is a stop beyond Rotterdam-Centraal, because this other station in the city is adjacent to the Marktal.

Myself and the population of Rotterdam are evidently on the same wavelength, because the Marktal is dedicated to food!
So it was my turn to feel a tad overwhelmed - Mum came to the rescue and suggested we have a meal in the most popular place we could find, because if it's busy it must be good.
Hence mum had her first meal in a Japanese restaurant - every day is a holiday.

Day 4: On to Gent

There is a choice of two rail routes from Rotterdam to Gent / Ghent:

1. A Eurostar to Bruxelles-Midi station and making the connection there - a tad quicker, but more expensive.
2. A train to Antwerpen-Centraal and making the connection there.

We were happy to save money and take our time, so I checked that lifts / elevators connected all levels in the layer cake of Antwerp's main station.

I'd been there before, so I knew that the train from Rotterdam would arrive at the lowest level, but the train on to Gent would be on a level above.

I also confirmed on the NS International website that if we took an ECD train on the Rotterdam to Antwerp part of the journey, we would save by booking in advance.
Though ultimately we decided to book last minute at the station, it was easier, because we had to factor in the check-out and check-in times at the hotels.

I was therefore surprised when the super-helpful agent at Rotterdam Centraal's ticket desk, said we could save if we took an EC train instead - and it was leaving in 10 minutes. Perfect!

EC train or ECD train, what's the difference?

• The ECD train is quicker and I'd planned to take it as they're brand new trains, so have level boarding
• The EC (Euro City) trains are older and are slower, as they divert off the direct route to serve Breda

Together we saved around €40 by taking the EC train.
Note that neither the NS website or Trainline had shown taking the EC train as an option.

Despite it's age, the train was a hit - mum liked its large windows and the seats.

On arrival at Antwerpen-Centraal I feared that my plans were about to come undone - we encountered our first out of order lift / elevator of the trip.
Fortunately the station is so enormous that an alternative lift was available, but we had to trek down to the far north end of the platform.
However, it paid off, as this set of lifts went straight up to the somewhat odd, below ground level lobby area of Antwerpen-Centraal, that some of the IC trains on to other destinations in Belgium leave from.

Though our luck ran out when we arrived in Gent.
Something I'd left off the planning check-list was asking Conductor Sam if we could take a step-free route out of Sint Pieters station.

I'd assumed it wasn't something I needed to verify, because I'd last used the station seven years earlier, and I'd ridden in a brand new elevator.
However, we now discovered that progress on the massive construction project to transform Gent-Sint Pieters has evidently been slow.

We took a lift/elevator to the space below the trains, but from here we had to use a flight of stairs to reach the main hall in the station and its exits.
The only staircase within a station that we'd had to use on the entire holiday!

Day 5: A Trip To Bruges

On a fast IC train, Bruges / Brugge is only a 22 min ride from Gent, so mid-morning we took the tram back to the city's main station.
The day before a wonderfully helpful member of staff had shown us the current step-free route from the main station hall to the trains.

What I hadn't realised on arrival the previous day, was that the alternative lift at the western end of the station was the route we should have taken.

An enormous double-decker train arrived to take us on our journey and we were lucky to find a space in the one seating bay on the same level as the doors.
However, mum took against these trains.

They're shiny and new, but what I didn't know at the time was that these M7 trains have caused some controversy in Belgium, due to a larger than normal gap between the first step by the doors and the edges of Belgian station platforms.

Mum was happier when arrived at the station in Bruges.
I'd made a day trip from Gent on a previous holiday with a friend, so I was aware that the city centre is a 15-20 minute walk away.
So I'd asked Sam if an alternative was available, and discovered the possibility of taking a shuttle bus.

On exiting the station we passed the Tourist Information Office, so I thought it would be best to confirm and was told to take a bus from stop / stand A1.
However, on exiting the station we could see what looked like it could be the shuttle bus.

I asked the driver and yes it was, plus over 65s could travel for free; 1-0 to Sam!

The bus takes a circular route by all of the  tourist locations and departs every 20-30mins, so during the day we hopped on and off.

By the stop at Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk we went into the Church Of Our Lady and had a quality coffee and cake.
Mum was falling in love with Bruges.

Back on the shuttle bus for a one stop ride to Dijver, because the driver recommended that we leave the bus there if we wanted to take a canal cruise.
The captain of the boat reassured mum that she could get her on and off her vessel, so we had a delightful journey.

The cruise pier was a  5 min walk from the main square and after a browse in a year-round Christmas shop and a late lunch, we took a final ride back to the station.

Day 6: Homewards

The run of beautiful weather came to end, but the tone of the stones in Gent suits a grey day.
However, you won't be surprised to discover that by now mum was feeling tired, so we took a peek at the beautiful heart of the city.

Seeing the city's top treasure will have to wait for a return visit, but what was awaiting us that day was the return to London on the Eurostar.

Similarly to our experience at St Pancras International on the outward trip, the Eurostar staff at Bruxelles-Midi station guided us to a pre-ticket gate boarding area, so that mum didn't have to wait in line.

We were both surprised at how different the departure area was to the London terminal.
On the other side of the customs check area was a duty-free shop, similar to what can be found in large airport terminals.

Then came the somewhat austere waiting area for the the Standard and Plus class travellers.
Though we were directed to sit in a priority boarding area, even though we had Standard Class tickets.

However, we couldn't help notice the fancy entrance to the lounge that's exclusively reserved for Premier ticket holders.
Though I'll never get to experience its delights with mum, as when I showed her the price of going Premier, she declared that anyone paying it must be bonkers?!?

A smooth journey took us back to St Panrcas International, and guided by the station staff we found the one lift / elevator that leads down to Eurostar arrivals.

To conclude the holiday, we returned to The Betjeman Arms, because within five minutes of being back in London, mum wanted fish and chips and I was craving a pie!