Today we rode less than one mile - from our hotel to the Utrecht Central train station.

It was an easy ride through the city, even though the bike lanes were busy with pedestrians and bicycle traffic on a Saturday morning. Once we found the entry to the station, we rode through a very impressive parking garage just for bicycles.

From a kiosk, we purchased one-way tickets for ourselves and the bike for the next train to Schiphol Airport. It was simple to just wheel our loaded bikes through the turnstile and take an elevator to the lower level were our train departed from track 7. We had the opportunity to watch as another train (bound for Amsterdam) and passengers disembarked and stepped on board. We could see the doors on each car where bicyclists would enter, and we could tell that there was more space in the cars toward the rear of the train, so that's where we headed.

A conductor made it very easy for both of us to board the same car by catching my eye and directing me torward the car which had space for us. He even asked one of the passengers who was standing in the bike storage area to find another spot so we and our bikes could be accommodated.

There was another passenger sitting in the seats in that area, and he immediately struck up a conversation with us. He was fun to talk to. He was a businessman from Canada (but born and raised in Denmark) who was in the Netherlands to work with companies who raise produce in greenhouses. We talked about bike trips, movies, history, Ireland, and other things. It made the trip go very fast.

In less than an hour, we arrived at Schiphol Airport - directly in the airport terminal on the lower level. We wheeled our bikes out and onto a ramped escalator where it was easy to manage the bikes by simply holding the handbrakes and bracing our feet as we rode up to the main level. There we took another ramp to the walkway that took us directly to the front door of the Sheraton hotel.

The hotel had a room ready for us, so we checked in and retrieved our bags from their storage. Then we took the bikes apart and packed the bags. By early afternoon, we were finished with the packing and took refreshing showers. Now we have a little time to take the train into Amerstam and find a spot for dinner.

Our flight leaves around 8:30 tomorrow (Sunday) morning, so we will be up early to make sure the check-in goes smoothly. We are a little concerned about the weight of the bike bags since that was an issue on Steve's bike on the way over. We hope we have taken enough stuff out of his bag to bring the weight down one pound. But frankly, there were very few things left to take off the bike.

Thanks for following along. I'll add some trip reflections on this site after I have had a chance to digest all of our adventures and impressions.

Our hotel in Utrecht

---

Utrecht Central train station (on the left; shopping mall on the right)

---

Ramps in the bicycle parking garage

---

Bikes in the parking garage

---

Ticket kiosks at the train station

---

Turnstiles to go to the tracks

---

Lift to the lower level (where the track are)

---

On the train platform

---

This young woman was assembling her bicycle on the platform at Utrecht Central train station. It took her less than 10 minutes (but she didn't install the chain - just put enough of the bike together that she could wheel it onto the train).

---

End of the trail

---

NEXT - Departure