Travelling abroad

Serviço Consular Holandesa com Bicicleta de carga

August 4, 2016 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 2 minutesAt large events such as the World Cup soccer and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are always people getting in trouble. It can be drugs or alcohol related but also incidents such as loosing one’s passport, a serious collision or worse, a death. Holland Heineken House The Netherlands Embassy prepares for that by setting up a temporary office during those events, for example in the Holland Heineken House, a place that serves as the temporary location where everything and everyone Dutch comes together (medal events, Dutch radio and TV, spaces to hang out etc). Orange bicycles In Brazil, the [Read more…]

In Holland, Everyone Can Ride a Bike

August 10, 2015 Hansonthebike 9

Reading Time: 6 minutesI remember that in my youth back in Holland in our village of 13,000 a teen called Sjaak (from ‘Jacques’) with Down Syndrome cycled by our house regularly. He had an upright bike with two enormous mirrors. His bike was his pride. The freedom for him was fantastic. He could go where he wanted, was sent out for errands by his mom and everyone knew him. Note that this was the 70’s, indeed over 40 years ago when Dutch bike infrastructure was probably not even 10% of what there is now. But Sjaak cycled on a busy road, with vehicles on [Read more…]

Back from Holland – The Train System

July 29, 2015 Hansonthebike 9

Reading Time: 8 minutesThose who follow me on Twitter (@HansontheBike) got a pretty good impression of what I have been doing the last three weeks. Karen and I were in the Netherlands.  I live in Canada and although on average I go back once a year, it is often for work, which means I can only add a day or two to my trip in the weekend. We also go to other places in Europe, but we make sure we make a stop over in the Netherlands for 4 to 5 days. However, in all those 17 years I never went back for a [Read more…]