UEFA 041 – Lost our money & passport in Amsterdam

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.

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle

UEFA 040 - Dover to Carlisle
Sorry guys still no photo yet until we reached Amsterdam.

In Victoria, we went straight to the Euroline counter and booked 4 tickets to Amsterdam. We had a long wait. So we went wandering from one end of Victoria to another, taking pictures and buying souvenirs and tit bits for the long journey ahead. We also had lunch before departure.


In this trip I managed to borrow a video camera from my Manager. I took quite many shots. In fact, there were very few photographs, as most events were recorded in the video.


The Euroline bus took us through the London city before it reached Dover. The bus had to wait for a while, before, it made it onto the deck of the ferry that will take us to Amsterdam. The bus was full. About 40 people were on board and we were of different races and nationalities. We did not know each other, as Euroline, was not a travel coach, but more like any express bus service from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.


We realized the advantage of taking Euroline bus than the train, is that, we did not have to carry our luggage up the ferry. The luggage remained in the luggage compartment of the bus, while it drove up the ramp to the deck of the ferry with all the passengers on board.


From the car park of the ferry we walked up to the lounge and finally to the passenger seating bay on the upper decks.


Once again, it was a very huge ferry like the Superstar Virgo that used to take Singaporeans from the Cruise Centre at Harbour Front to Penang or Phuket via the Malacca Straits.


My 2 daughters went by themselves exploring the facilities of the luxury cruise, while my wife and I was fast asleep from tiredness of the previous long journey, via plane, train and bus.


So you see the astounding experiences our daughters had for the first time in their life.


We started off from home with a taxi from Tampines to Changi Airport.


Then, we flew in a jumbo jet from Changi Airport in Singapore to Heathrow Airport in London.


Immediately, after landing we took the tube or MRT from Heathrow down to Victoria. After that, we took a comfortable coach from Victoria to Dover. Then now, on a luxury cruise from Dover in England to Carlisle in France, across the English Channel.


All these happened in quick sequence, one after another with only short wait in between.


We arrived at Carlisle at about 8pm. Before the ferry docked at the bay, we followed the crowd down to the lower deck to board the Euroline bus once again.


The ferry crossing of the English Channel from Dover to Carlisle was about 4 hours. We were expected to have our dinner on the ferry at our own cost, but we had it earlier in Victoria Bus Terminal.


It was quite a long wait, before the bus finally made it to the road level in Carlisle. All these while, our heavy luggage were safely in the luggage compartments of the Euroline bus.




Drafted on 18-04-2007 at 2200pm
Edited on 12-07-2008 at 0956 hrs

UEFA 39b - Free n Easy

For my new relatives, friends and visitors, UEFA means Unexpected European Far-Flung Adventure. This one was in March 1996. At this moment still no photos. Perhaps next posting, when we enter Amsterdam.


I wanted to put some photos related to this travelog, but, kwank, kwank, kwang...they were not scanned yet.


In the last travelog, in UEFA 39a, I was writing that from the Heathrow Airport we took the tube to Gloucester to meet my niece, Rin, who was studying there is London. She stayed in Gloucester. It was a very short meeting, as we were in a hurry to catch the Euroline bus to Amsterdam.


Although it was a short meeting but I was happy that we could made contact although, she was from Malaysia, and we were from Singapore, but we met in Gloucester, England. Ain’t that some kind of an achievement.


Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps my daughters who followed us in that trip were a little upset, as we had to made so much trouble, just to meet their cousin whom they were not close with.


Unexpectedly, I am the type who is willing to endure the impossibilities and the undesirables, just for the sake of traveling and meeting family. It has been my personality, to visit families’ members, even if they be as far and difficult a place as Timbuktu. As you have seen in my previous trips, I always had someone to visit.


I had been visiting my first sister, Kak Ani, as far back as since 1967, when she was married and moved out to her own house. I would stay a night with her, doing nothing more important and without any other intentions than just a casual visit. When I was about 18, I took her first child, Eddy, out for a short trip from her house in KD Malaya, which was along Admiralty Road West to Johor Bahru. Rin is her fourth child.


When Kak Ani moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1971, My brother and I visited her family at Jalan Pahang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and stayed there for 2 nights.


In 1984 when I had a work assignment in KL, I dropped by at her house in Damansara and stayed with her for 2 nights, instead of staying in the hotel. My Malaysian colleague would come to pick me up in the morning from her house, to our Diethelm Instrumentation’s office, in Ampang, which was far from Damansara.


Whenever, I drove up for holiday tours in Malaysia, I would drop for a night at her house. Next day we proceed again to Penang, Terengganu, Kelantan and other destinations within Malaysia.


During her son’s engagement, sometime in 1996, we took that opportunity to travel up with her family to the bride’s house in Penang. After the engagement’s ceremony we proceeded to Perlis, up to the border of Thailand at Padang Besar. Then we went into Gua Kelam, Perlis’s famous luminous cave. We also went to the Kuala Perlis, where there were ferry services to Langkawi.


As for this Gloucester detour, it was just one of my passion to travel free-n-easy, on my own without travel guide. I like to stop anywhere I like, then proceed again to next destinations like a wanderer. Well that’s me.


Gloucester was a busy town. The wind was cold, as it was only about 9 am. After handing her some homemade delicacies from Singapore, we bid farewell to my niece, Rin and her room mate, and proceeded with the tube to Victoria.