European Tour 2009: Amsterdam Add on

[comicalstar]

Folks,

I met some of you at the Tour Info night (my name is Adrian) and I am new to the club and naturally look forward to pulling on the CPCC top this season as I have moved across the spit into the salt air.

Sorry I couldn't make it to presentation night, but I had another engagement on.

I had put to John J. about the prospects of playing a game on tour in Amsterdam against the VRA club, where I played for 5 years whilst living in the pretty crazy town that is the Dam.

As you probably know the Dutchies do play cricket and VRA are the most successful Dutch club, winning the Dutch championship the last three seasons.

Check out the website: www.vra.nl

The VRA ground is sensational, it was up until two years ago the only test rated grass wicket on the mainland of Europe. In the 1999 World Cup, South Africa played Kenya at the ground and in 2004 there was the tri nations tournament between Pakistan, India and Australia held there.

At any rate, it is a great place to play cricket and I am in close contact with a lot of people over there so can organise a match with little difficulty.

I have had discussions with John and the Amsterdam leg would be an optional leg which would mean an additional cost over and above the current tour cost of $4900. At this stage I'd say that the additional cost for a 3 day stop over in Amsterdam would be $400 to $450 highest end expectations....this would include accom and the flight across from the Uk. It is important to note that Singapore Airlines fly from Amsterdams Schiphol airport, so rather than going back to Manchester, we would be able to bail from Amsterdam directly to Singapore (so negates any need ot go back to the UK).

Below is a cut and paste from an email I sent to John / Col recently:

Plan as I would see it would be:

fly from Stansted Monday July 27th (giving us possibly another fixture in the UK on the Sunday as someone suggested...).

Arrive morning Amsterdam Monday 27th. Play a match either on the 27th or the 28th.

So either play Monday or Tuesday (I have been told Monday is preferable ) - whichever day is 'off' can do the touristy thing. We can en masse hire bikes - best way to see Amsterdam and I will show everyone the sites. At night no shortage of things to do, I have a good old mate who has a curry house in Amsterdam, we can book it out and have a big dig before hitting the red light district - which incidently is filled with all sorts of bars, clubs, etc, etc. So everyone will be catered for with what social activities they want to embark on

Match day - obviously a match against a VRA side - probably 35 / 40 over match. Post match drinks, presentations and dinner on the club terrace. We can head back to Amsterdam centre / hotel around 11pm where things are only just warming up anyway! Match will probably start at 2 to 3pm (remember Europe is 1 hour ahead, but same daylight so is light quite late in holland).

Takes 20 mins by bus/tram to get to the ground.


On Wednesday 29th leave Amsterdam Schiphol at 11.55am for Singapore on Singapore Airlines, arrive Singapore 6.30am Thursday 30th. Depart Singapore 9.30am Thurs 30th for Sydney - arrive Syd 6.55pm Thursday 3oth July.

The flights back from Amsterdam as highlighted just above depart daily so people could extend their Amsterdam stayt by a day or two if they like to arrive back in Sydney on the weekend.

I can create whatever permutations of the above that would best fit the schedule. I guess it is down to the individuals who want to do the Amsterdam leg on how much time they stay there for.

So the key now is to get some sort of feedback on numbers on who would be interested in going on the optional Amsterdam leg. I reckon if we can get 7/8 people we will still get a match, because there will be no shortage of orange clad blokes lining up to play us to get numbers up.

Remembering the $450 cost is at the highest end of expectations, and of course people will need spending money.

I am naturally hoping to secure good deals on the flights (not released yet) and the hotel but lets use the $450 as the benchmark cost.

So guys all you need to do over the next month or so is indictate whether you think the Amsterdam leg is a goer.

And to add some international flavour, I am mates with the Dutch World Cup Vice captain and when I put it to him that an Aussie team might be coming over to play VRA he was dead keen to play. Brad Hodge carted him for 26 in the 50th over recently in the West Indies so I am sure his pies will be feasted upon by the CPCC!

Anyone got any queries, send me an email or pop a question on here.

Looking forward to it.

Adrian

[TC Ink]

Hi Adrian, you may remember me from the tour info night. (Tom, younger guy )
Welcome to the Club and the Forum

I would be interested in making the trip to Amsterdam, it sounds great. When abouts during the tour is it?

Playing against Internationals would be a great experience!

[comicalstar]

Tom,

Thanks for that.....the optional Amsterdam experience will be at the end of the tour, so from about the 26th July until whenever you want to stay there I guess! Probably Wednesday the 29th July head back to Sydney via sinagpore.

Obviously it is a bit to bite off in terms of work etc but it will be well worth it.

The opposition will mainly be very social players who play with the Comedians team there. But I know this bloke will be keen to play:

content-aus.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/image/285904.html

He is a Kiwi born with Dutch parents, and likes to give us Aussies a hard time.....so it would be a good mix.

Hopefully we can get the numbers up to make it worthwhile. Rob Minnett, Brendan and Andrew? all indicated they would be quite keen so fingers crossed. There is no rush to sort it out, will look to get the ball rolling after the season starts.

[TC Ink]

I am probably going to spend more time over there after the tour anyway, so count me in!

Sounds excellent, looking forward to it.

[supercoach]

Adrian...good work...count me in...

[supercoach]

The netherlands are currently playing in the european cricket championship in dublin.

They got rolled by Italy in game 1. Joe Scuderi starred for italy.

[TC Ink]

Gee thats no good, never seen the Italian cricket team before. A hopeful for the next WC?

[comicalstar]

Yeah Dutchies not fairing too well and just got rolled all out for 142 by Ireland.

About the tour - the date changes probably make the Amsterdam leg a bit more attractive from the dutchies end - always better to play a big game towards the end of the week....and is also more fun being in Amsterdam itself.

I am probably going over there at the end of August for a sneaky game so if anyone wants to know anything or the organsising committee want me to explore certain options, let me know.

Regards,

Ade

[supercoach]

C Star...pencil in Thursday July 23 rd for the fixture and Friday july 24 for the tourist day.

I suspect some tourist may fly out of schipol on the saturday lunchtime flight to be back in sydney by sunday night.

BTW r u coming up for a net some sunday am?

[supercoach]

the Netherlands will be playing in the world 20/20 championship in england in june 2009.

[comicalstar]

Coachie.,

No problems. I am actually going over there on Monday week (18th Aug) and to the UK for a month.

Is there Sunday training this week (10th August). Be keen to flick off the rust if it is on.

I will be in the Uk for 3 weeks and Holland for a week so will sort out the dutch aspect no problems at all. The Thurs/Fri is much better than a Monday fixture. If there is anything I can follow up in the UK on the Touring PArty's behalf, do let me know. Only too happy to help as much as I can.

On the Dutchies hitting the Twenty/20 World Cup, yeah a monumental result for the Dutchies, as they guarantee themselves $250k for making the Twenty/20 World Cup in UK June 2009 which is awesome. There is some talk about Zimbabwe pulling out of that tournament and if they do, the Dutchies first match will be against England at Lords!

You will meet 3 of the current Dutch squad including the vice-captain as they play for VRA - the club we will play. Don't worry though, I think only one will play and he can bat left handed and bowl off two paces.....the rest of the players will be from my old social team......

I guarantee you guys will love the Amsterdam leg in more ways than one. It is a great city.

Ade

[TC Ink]

As far as I know we are training from 11 tomorrow, see you there ;D

[comicalstar]

Nice. Is that at the ground near your clubhouse / hall where the nets are?

Will someone be able to confirm they are on, on here?

Thanks.

[supercoach]

yeah there will be a quorum there from 11.00 hrs at collaroy plateau park,blandford st,collaroy plateau.

Just ask for LordyPK when you are arrive!!

[comicalstar]

Jacko and others,

Am currently in Amsterdam and am in the midst of sussing things out for the potential Amsterdam add-on part to the 2009 European Tour.

I was lucky enough to actually play on Saturday in perfect blue sky on a ground and wicket that only two days earlier hosted Scotland A vs Ireland A as part of the ICC European A Team Championship. This will be the same ground / square we will be playing on, on tour and it was sensational.

So we are now looking at the following:

Flying to Amsterdam on Thursday 23rd July. Play Thursday, stay friday for some sightseeing and the like, and peoples option to fly back from Amsterdam Schiphol to Australia in time for work on Monday. (Deaprts Amsterdam 11.55am, arrives Syd Sun evening at 6.55pm...).

Checked out some hotels and had a good look around. Due to the exceptional strength of the Euro and being high season in Europe, accom is not as cheap as the UK but so far it looks like the Amsterdam add-on will be $350 maximum (this includes accomm with breakfast, one-way flight from UK to Amsterdam etc.)

The key is for people to let Jacko know as soon as is possible about whether they will take up this option as our hosting club are planning a tour of the UK and don't want to be in the UK when we are in town - they will be willing to work around our fixture which is fantastic of them.....but I need to let them know very soon as they plan to go to a Ashes Test.

We need the numbers and quite a few have registered that they are coming but I would like to get as close to the exact number very soon.

So if you are going on the Tour, please let Jacko know as soon as you can one way or the other.

You will really enjoy it!

Cheers,

Ade

[supercoach]

Great work Comical

[supercoach]

I would be pretty confident we can get XI on the paddock on the thursday

[comicalstar]

Just on a sad note I was pretty shocked today to find out about a guy called Maurits (Maupie) Van Nierop who played at the club I did in Amsterdam and tragically died in South Africa yesterday morning. His family is a famous Dutch cricketing family and his uncle Ed is a very good friend of mine and the president of the club we will be playing at, VRA.

When I was in Amsterdam just recently we were discussing Maups and Ed mentioned to me that Maups was the most unlucky guy going around...and his luck has now run out. Still not sure what happened but he was going to return to Amsterdam next season and could well have been a starter in the fixture against us.

He was a very popular player in Holland and a great guy. When the Australian team played in a tri-nations tournament in Amsterdam in 2004, Ed arranged a canal cruise on a barge for the Aussie squad and a few of us clubmen were able to go too. Maupie looked after the social side that night and I can remember being in a bar with Ed, Maups, John Buchanan, Steve Bernard (aussie manager) and Brad Hogg getting plastered at about 5am.

Bloody awful when these things happen.

www.cricketeurope4.net/DATABASE/ARTICLES2/articles/000044/004488.shtml

[supercoach]

See these reviews and info on CStar's proposed amsterdam hotel......
www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d238578-Reviews-Acro_Hotel_Amsterdam-Amsterdam_Noord_Holland.html

[comicalstar]

Amsterdam Leg update December 2008:

FLIGHT TO AMSTERDAM


For all prospective tourists:

So far so good, our hosts are really looking forward to having us over there and we have the fixture set down for FRIDAY 24th July.

The discussion at the recent Tour Committee Meeting has proposed we cruise into Amsterdam on Thursday 23rd July on an Easyjet flight from LONDON STANSTED.

It was also discussed that it is up to the individual to book their own one-way flight from LONDON STANSTED to AMSTERDAM.

So here I will go through exactly what needs to be done so everyone doesn't end up landing in obscure ports in Europe:

Got to www.easyjet.com

Unless you are fluent in a multitude of languages, click on 'in English' (sorry it is so obvious but just to make sure....and last time I saw thats what we were speaking on the peninsula)

Go to the middle of the page, where it sais 'Book a Cheap Flight

From the dropdown menu select:

London Stansted (STN)

In the next drop-down menu select:

Amsterdam (AMS)

It then sais 'flying out on':

Put in:

23rd July 2009

Then it sais 'Returning On':

leave it as is, where it sais: 'no, just one way'

Below that it sais:

'Passengers':

Enter the number of passengers you are booking for.

Then click 'Show Flights'.

A list of available flights will pop up and the middle column represents Thursday 23rd July:

We are going to catch the 15.45pm flight (don't book the 7am one.....we have the end of tour dinner the night before....).

so click on the 15.45pm flight on Thursday 23rd July 2009

Click on 'Next Step':

This takes you to a new page, with the interesting heading 'create your perfect flight'.

Skip past their rubbish about 'Speedy Boarding'. We wont be bothered by that.

Go to Hold Baggage:

Key here folks and this is very important - any excess over 20kg per person is going to get slugged. These budget airlines are very strict on this and use it as a revenue raiser. You used to be able to get away with a few kg's here and there but not these days. Many people will be sharing kits so don't exceed 40kgs per two people otherwise it will cost. This will also apply to the Singapore flight over from Oz so everyone pack wisely.....

We will get slugged £6 (about $14) for each hold luggage piece.

Suggestion is make sure you have a decent sized hold bag and pack all heavy but small items in that and carry it on board.

Next step don't worry about the 'Sporting Equipment' because it relates to things like Skis etc.

Forget the next part 'travel insurance' as we should all have that already BUT make sure you click on REMOVE. Sneaky buggers tried to let that one sail thru to the keeper........then they even have the cheek to ask you again so click on the box next to REMOVE again, and hit 'Update':

And finally for those of you environmentally conscious you can offset your carbon footprint flying across the channel. Costs about a $1.27 so up to you if you want to do that.

You will then see the following heading:

Cost Of Your Selection:

It should have the following:

Our low airfare: if you book now it should be £16.99

3rd party airport operator charges: £9.00 p.p

Total Baggage and sports Equipment: £6.00

Carbon Offsetting (if you chose it): £0.56

Total Amount due: £xx.xx

If you are happy with that, hit 'Next Step:

Skip past all the hotels and cars stuff, and go to the bottom of the page where is sais: 'New Customers' and click on 'Proceed without logging in':

CHECK ALL THE DETAILS TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE CORRECT!!!!!!

Then go through and fill out your details accordingly.

When it comes to 'payment details' :

Use your credit card where they will slug you another few bob to use a card and it should cost you £38.00 in total (if you book soon after this post, 8th December)

Tick the box at the bottom BUT before you send, double check that all information is 100% correct, and once you are happy with that, hit: BOOK NOW

Current exchange rate has swung in the tourists favour, amd is hovering around the 2.30 dollars per pound, so the cost will be under $90.

MOST IMPORTANT: You will receive a Flight Booking Confirmation on your screen.

PRINT THIS CONFIRMATION OFF!!!!!!!

In fact, print it off two or three times. Keep one for yourself, tuck one away somewhere in case you need to find it later on, and I suggest give one to me for the Amsterdam add-on file that I will keep to ensure I have backup for everyone.

Once you have done this, you are on the flight to Amsterdam.

Will post more stuff about accom shortly, but if you can, can you please email me to confirm about your interest in the Amsterdam leg of the tour, and go to the easyjet.com website and book your flight???

Great work.

Rgds,

Ade

[TC Ink]

Dutchies got up against England ;D

Hahahaha

[comicalstar]

Loved it. Personally one of the greatest moments in cricket.

Brace yourself coz when we are in Amsterdam we will have a few of them there to tell us all about it.

Only problem is Peter Borren - who whacked Collingwood into the top tier of the grandstand - is desperate to play to us.

So TC nothing too short on leg stump mate otherwise we will be fishing the ball out of Germany.....

[comicalstar]

I can hear the booing already.....


Last round called for the Amsterdam 'beer bike?'


Tourists cycle as they drink beer and sing karaoke on a beer bike in Amsterdam. Click for more photos

Tourists cycle as they drink beer and sing karaoke on a beer bike in Amsterdam. Photo: Reuters

* Tourists cycle as they drink beer and sing karaoke on a beer bike in Amsterdam.
* The bike, which can seat at least 10 people around a central
* The bikes can be rented, but two accidents involving the bikes since the start of April has prompted officials to investigate how many bikes there are and whether they pose a problem.

June 15, 2009 - 11:27AM

Although famous for a love of bicycles as the city's preferred transport, Amsterdam officials are starting to draw the line at a popular "beer bike."

The bike, which can seat at least 10 people around a central "bar" as they pedal through the city center, is a frequent sight in the Dutch capital and is said to be popular with stag and hen (bachelor and bachelorette) parties. A non-drinker steers the bike.

But two accidents involving the bikes since the start of April has prompted the city councilor responsible for transport, Hans Gerson, to investigate how many bikes there are and whether they pose a problem.

"This beer bike is completely legal, but he (Gerson) is not very enthusiastic about this idea of people drinking while being amongst traffic," a spokeswoman said.

But she downplayed the possibility of a ban, stressing the alderman is looking into various options.

Ard Karsten, owner of beerbike.co.uk which rents bikes to tourists, said he was open to talks with the council, adding his company only rents a beer bike out with a driver and has never been involved in an accident.

A compromise could involve the council obligating all firms to supply a driver with the bike, he said.

"We're not out on the street en masse and it's simply controllable. It is about fun and teambuilding," Karsten said. "We have a very beautiful route and people simply enjoy it, but some people ruin it for others."

A spokesman for the Amsterdam city center district, Ton Boon, said the bike was already banned in the red light district and welcomed Gerson's inquiry. "It causes a lot of nuisance."

Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool had reported earlier this week an accident last weekend resulted in various injures, while three women were injured two weeks ago.

"It is an uncontrolled projectile," motorcyclist Karin Wolfs, who was involved in an accident was quoted as saying.

[comicalstar]

COSTING FOR AMSTERDAM

Bus from airport to hotel / from hotel to cricket ground (but not returning from CC) € 20.00
Have organised a bus to collect us from the airport and take us to our hotel. This will be more cost
effective and far more convenient than other modes of transport. On top of that the bus will collect us from
the hotel on the Friday morning and take us to VRA cricket Club. Again saves us a bit of hassle.
The total cost will be 20 euros per person. If the Punters Club has some successful bets on tour, I will
look to dedicating some funds towards this to lower the cost. I have already paid for it so tourists can
fix me up in Amsterdam.

Cost of dinner at VRA after match (teas etc are provided by the club) € 10.00
(the Punters Club is tossing in roughly 10 euros p.p as a dinner subsidy (total cost is 20 euros)
and an additional kitty for booze - so beer will be free all night for everyone there!)

If you want to find out more about VRA Cricket club where I spent 6 seasons, check out the website: www.vra.nl
I had a lot to do with the building of the website when there so a lot of the English version is my stuff! There is
all sorts of stuff on there and have a flick around. Might even stumble across some scorecards where I did actually
score some runs!!!! There is a video link live too - they are still shots every 30 seconds but the crowd back in Oz
will be able to follow the game via the net (with flash scores to the scoreboard at the end of each over)

Bikes for Mugsys Big Bike tour on Saturday 25th July € 15.00
Cost of renting a bike with gears and handbrake (trust me…much easier) is 15 euros incl. insurance
We will hire them on Saturday morning around 11am and have them until 6pm the next day for return.
So we can use them on Sunday morning to ride off the hangover!!!!!
Will probably go with this mob for bikes: www.mikesbiketoursamsterdam.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1
To give you a little bit of an insight into Amsterdam / Holland, check out this link:
www.mikesbiketoursamsterdam.com/Default.aspx?tabid=27

General Spending Money € 60.00
People should budget for roughly E 60 pppd in costs = A$105 (this includes the above costs). Booze is per day
expensive in Europe and Amsterdam is no different. For a middy of beer expect to pay 2.20 euros
which is near $4 and probably not that far off what is costs back here at a normal pub.

Remember we get breakfast at the hotel and it is a buffet so load up there. We will need to buy lunch
and dinner on both Saturday and Sunday night. If we do a curry on one of these nights with beers etc
it should be about 30 euros pp.
If the Punters Club kitty still has something in it after tossing in for the VRA dinner and booze, then will
be put behind the bar or towards a dinner or the like over the weekend.

Hotel Payment
Not sure if anyone has paid via the forms I gave them. No drama if you haven't, we can square things off
once in Amsterdam. Remember, rooms are E 99 per room per night (except for the triples at E 129 ).
Just so you can factor it into your budget.

Payment methods:
Credit cards accepted in most places. Squillions of ATM's to withdraw cash if need be.


ABOUT THE DUTCH:
Classic place to live, Dutch people really are an interesting mob. They can be portrayed to be arrogant and
abrasvie people, but it is simply a matter of getting to know them. As with any culture they have their quirks
and intricacies and some will really make you laugh. Their music taste is one that will have you shaking
your head. They ALL know and love their Dutch folk songs that sing about Holland and Amsterdam and so on.
They also love their caricatures who sing ridiculous songs about such things as yellow canaries and stuff like
that. They love it and when you go to a traditional Dutch bar or nightclub the playing of these songs creates
such a magnificent and unique atmosphere. Link below gives you an idea….

This is one of my favs: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjK-_grkDGM
And this one you will hear out and about in Amsterdam. It is about a waterscooter and tooting at the hot girls
as you go by……: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VdVlN_vBI . The Dutchies love it.

Dutchies have weird and wonderful diets. They are blessed with a great genetic build so they are all tall and you
will notice that they are not generally a fat race…..although the crap they eat you just cannot understand why!
Supermarkets can be like another planet to your standard Aussie, but some of their quirky eating is really
nice too. We will experience a fab colonial dish called a Rijstafel at VRA which originates in Indonesia.

Dutchies love to ride and given Holland is as flat as a pancake. Doesn't matter how cold, or what time of day
it is, the Dutch will ride. Amsterdam is littered with designated bike lanes and basically bikes rule the roost
and cars have to give right of way to bike riders. There will be a few things we need to know about riding
and will tell everyone as a group when we go to get the bikes. Remember the Dutch drive on the other side of the
road so take it into consideration when riding along. You stay to the RIGHT all the time down streets.
Awesome way to get around. You will love it.

DUTCH VOCAB: THE MUST KNOW PHRASES AND WORDS

GEZELLIG: Worlds greatest word. Doesn't translate into English directly but basically it depicts a general feeling
or atmosphere that is awesome. So say we are all at VRA in bright sunshine on a perfect blue sky day, having
just played a great match of cricket and are sitting back having a beer in the sun….that is ER GEZELLIG!
Know it and use it when in Holland. It is a priceless word.

GOED MORGEN / HOOI: Good morning / hi/ Hello

DAAG / DOOI / TOT ZIENS / TOT STRAKS: See ya, good bye, see you later

EEN BEER ALSTUBLIEFT / MAG IK EEN BEIRJE?: One beer please / May I have a beer

BEDANKT / DANK JE WEL: Thank you……use it, the Dutch do appreciate it…especially when foreigners make
an attempt to be polite in their language.

LEKKER: Means nice / tasty. Beers are 'lekker'. A tasty 'ham kaas tosti - ham and cheese toasted sandwich
is 'lekker'.

FIETS: Bike FIETSPAD: Bike Path LINKS: Left RECHTS: Right STOP: FF Sake stop!!!

HET IS STIL AAN DE OVERKANT: What the Dutchies were singing to the pommies after dusting them at the
20/20 World Cup opener at Lords. Basically means 'its very quiet on the other side'. You hear it at the Dutch
football matches when the Dutch are in front. Sung to the tune 'Go West' by the Pet Shop Boys. It is their
sporting tune!

FLIKKER OP / ROTOP: Piss off! (not that you will really use it……….but I do!)

LEKKER BROEDJE SWAORMA MET SLA: Kebab with salad to fill that late night gap
HOE WEL? : How much
IK MOET EIN PIS HEBBEN: I need to go to the toilet
IK KAN NIET NEDERLANDS PRATEN!! I cannot speak Dutch!

[supercoach]

nice story re Dirk Nannes.....following our experieces at the VRA club the positive things he says about dutch cricketers we know to be true.

www.cricinfo.com/engvaus2009/content/current/story/418945.html