Trip Log: Low Countries - Intro.
In which I introduce you to our July/August 2025 trip to the Low Countries (plus a quick stop in Germany)
We have this list of places we want to travel to that’s never-ending and constantly being reshuffled for things like geopolitical events and flight prices. We don’t tend to have some magical way we choose where we’re going. If I’m honest, it’s usually based on two things - 1) flight cost and 2) average temperature. We tend to travel south in the winter to enjoy the warmth and north in summer to enjoy the cool. Of course, these rules don’t apply when it comes to travel for special events (though we’re pretty unlikely to go, say, to southern Italy in August unless it’s for someone we’re super close to).
Over the next few posts, I’ll share with you our adventures on a trip to the Netherlands, Belgium, and a quick stop in Germany. The trip lasted nearly 3 weeks, with us starting off July 24th and coming back August 12th.
Travelers
This trip was a first for us - traveling was Matt, Lizzy, me, and my mom. We hadn’t traveled with my mom since we went to Spain when I was pregnant with Lizzy. She flew up here a few days before and stayed a few days after in order to fly with us on the same flights.
Itinerary Overview
Thursday, 24 July: Flight IAD > DUB (Dublin) > AMS (Amsterdam) then ridehsare (Bolt) to our rental apartment in Haarlam
Friday, 25 July: Day trip to Alkmaar
Saturday, 26 July: Hung out in Haarlam
Sunday, 27 July: Headed to Delft via train
Monday, 28 July: Day trip to The Hague (more than just a famous court!)
Tuesday, 29 July: Day trip to Leiden
Wednesday, 30 July: Left Haarlam, stopping in Antwerp en route to Brugge/Bruges
Thursday, 31 July: Hung out in Brugge
Friday, 1 August: Day trip to Ghent
Saturday, 2 August: Hung out in Brugge
Sunday, 3 August: Left Brugge, stopped in Brussels en route to Köln/Cologne
Monday, 4 August: Hung out in Köln
Tuesday, 5 August: Day trip to Brühl
Wednesday, 6 August: Left Köln and traveled to Amsterdam
Thursday, 7 August: Hung out in Amsterdam
Friday, 8 August: Day trip to 3 small towns (Edam, Volendam, and Marken)
Saturday, 9 August and Sunday, 10 August: Hung out in Amsterdam
Monday, 11 August: Half day trip to Zandvoordt
Tuesday, 12 August: Reverse of trip to get here - Bolt to AMS then flight to AMS > DUB > IAD
The Notebook
I always take paper notes when we travel and have brought along or purchased a bunch of different types of notebooks. My every day carry is usually Leuchttrum in dot grid but that doesn’t really work for a trip and the large amount of things I tend to tape or glue into the pages. I’ve done the Travelers Notebook before a few times and that’s especially good for adding in receipts and tickets and things but it’s not the best to write at length in as it doesn’t at all lay flat. I think, at least for now that I’ve found the perfect notebook: the Clairefontaine A5 5 x 5 graph notebook (online here is the ruled version via Atlas Stationers; similar also at Plaza Artist Materials if you want to buy in person). They’re slightly cheaper in Europe - I paid 3 Euros back in April - as they’re a very common school supply there so I would probably vote waiting to purchase on arrival when I next go to Europe.
My daily pages tend to follow the same approach - I write in big, sort of fancy lettering titles then write around/underneath more details. I try to collect brochures, tickets, labels, etc as we go and paste or tape them into the notebook as I go. I’ve sometimes included photos from my beloved photo printer (Amazon affiliate link here) but decided not to do so this time as everything was very go-go-go on this trip.
Post Schedule
I’ll break up my posts by where we stayed - post 1 will be about Haarlem, post 2 about Delft, post 3 about Brugge/Bruges, post 4 about Köln, post 5 about Amsterdam. En route stops will be included based on where we stayed that night. Posts will go out each Wednesday and Saturday.