UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam
As before, the Immigration procedure was a breeze without stamping our passports. Before we could even identify between the immigration officials from the Custom officials, we were already moving fast on the road towards North. There were not many traffic along the highway.
Somewhere in highway to Amsterdam in Belgium the Euroline bus stopped for midnight supper. There were McDonalds, Burger King, a mini market, cafes and pubs.
As the dawn was breaking, we arrived at Rotterdam. I saw once again the familiar buildings as I had seen in 1994. This time I saw more unique buildings as the Euroline bus took us right into the heart of the Rotterdam city centre for some passengers to alight.
After a short wait, some new passengers boarded the bus and off it went towards Amsterdam.
We reached Amstel Bus Terminal in Amsterdam at about 8 am.
We made some enquiries and were shown to a nearby family hotel which I didn’t even got to know the name. It was a short entertaining walk, although, we had to pull quite heavy luggage.
Although the family hotel had only shared common toilets but it was a good bargain, as we were only on transit to other destinations.
After negotiating the price and other arrangements, a tragedy happened.
When we were asked to pay a deposit, my wife turned pale, as she found that she did not have her handbag with her. She realized traumatically that she had left it in the Euroline bus. All our money and travelers cheques were in her handbag.
We were blank with silent for a while, before, we could think of what to do next.
The land lady was kind. She offered some advice. She suggested that we pay the deposit with whatever cash we had in hand and she willingly served us breakfast.
In the meantime, she helped us to call the Traveller Cheque’s office to cancel our traveler cheques, so that, whoever found them cannot turn them for cash.
Then she suggested also that we go back to the Euroline Bus Terminal and asked for access to the bus to find the lost handbag.
We were assured by the officer in the Traveler cheques office that we will get back our money, the next day. My wife was slightly relieved and can smile a little bit.
With that we enjoyed our continental breakfast. The landlady had a young daughter named Megan. She was cute and was about 7 years old. We talked to her and she could understand and speak English. She and her dog, named Shadow was looking at us from far while we dig into the bread and jam.
Megan always smile while Shadow was looking at us with sharp eyes, like a guard. I think Shadow was an Alsatian, or perhaps a Shepherd dog. Although, he looked fierce in the beginning with his growl, but after some pat from Megan, he looked a bit friendly.
I must confide with you that I had always thought that the London Bridge that fell down in the children nursery rhyme was the same bridge as Tower Bridge. It was only in 1994 I discovered that London Bridge is a different bridge from Tower Bridge, because, while crossing the London Bridge, we could see the Tower Bridge nearby.
