Heading to Rotterdam and the Novotel

I found out a day before my departure, I would actually be staying in Rotterdam, which is about an hour outside of Amsterdam. The city is the size of Milwaukee, but very different than Milwaukee.

After my arrival into Amsterdam, I was picked up and we headed to Rotterdam. There are hardly any large cars or SUVs on the road. A matter of fact, most of the car makes are not sold in the US. The cars are overwhelmingly compact. GPS seems to be standard in all cars along with a manual transmission. It is hard to tell the difference between street names, city names, etc. It is easy to get lost.






We stayed at the Novotel Brainpark minutes outside Rotterdam, which considers themself a 4-star hotel. The idea of service and quality in the Netherlands is different than the US. This seemed to be more of a 2.5 or 3 star hotel. There were very little extras.

There is no fitness center, gym, pool, etc. Wireless was available, but cost 5 Euros an hour and you had to buy a t-mobile hotspot card to use it. Many times in a day the Internet would go down. The staff didn't think anything about saying "try back tomorrow." They even ran out of Interent cards one day.

There was a free breakfast, but for an American, it would not be too appetizing. The orange juice (same as on my flight) was fresh squeezed and the best OJ ever. Juices and coffee are delivered in very small glasses. Therefore, you end up having several refills. The food of choice seems to be bread, many kinds of bread, with butter, along with cold cuts and cheese.


Luckily, the hotel does have a bar, except we seem to be the only people ever at it. Wine was the cheapest thing on the trip, which you could get for about 4 Euros, which is about 5-6 uS. People do not eat at the bar like we do often in the states. People may order food at the bar, but then it is delviered at the table. The bartenders and waitresses were very nice. There is no tipping in Europe, so to leave a couple Euros is much appreciated. When ordering wine, you must request white and dry, which is usually a chardonnay. This is your safest bet.

Single and 2 Euros are in coins. There are no dollar bills. The smallest bill is 5 Euros.