Boat Show Before Buying

It is hard to commit to just that one boat. We had seen so many yachts. Most of the boats had pluses and minuses just as our dream boat in Drachten had. We found out about an annual boat in Sneek which is not far from Heeg (about 13 minutes by car according to Google Maps). We though the Show might help us feel better informed somehow.

Here is the lowdown on the Boat Show in English taken from www.motorbootsneek.nl

“Motor boot Sneek, is an unique boot show in Sneek which has grown into the largest motor yacht show in the north. The event takes place on location of the organizing companies that you can all visit during the event. In this way you can get to know all the different yachts at once and you are immediately get ‘a look behind the scenes’at each location you will be informed about the latest trends and novelties. In short: motorboat snake is the event for finding your dream boat!”

With advertising language like that, especially the last line, who can resist.

The above two photos show you inside one of the boat show rooms. There were boats outside in the marine to look at, also. You could go inside many of the boats. Some boat, or should I say yachts were new, some were used. Nearly all were amazing and super expensive. I forgot to say that we were keeping in mind the boat in Drachten when we looked around - what was good about it, what could we add to it or change slightly to improve it. We could, for example, add a microwave or a built-in cutting board above the sink. We could change the carpet to wooden flooring. We could change the captain’s chair. Anyway, here is what we saw that was important to us newbies to the yacht world. 

Good brand of microwave, wouldn’t you say? 

This microwave was totally built-in.
We thought we could do this with the boat in Drachten.

This is a galley in a very expensive yacht. It made us realize that price might not give you a more expansive galley, just maybe a built-in microwave. It appeared all brand new but was not much better than the Drachten boat. 

Below are two other inventive galley additions - wine bottle holder and the wooden cutting board meant to fit into the round sink. 

The flooring in the Drachten boat is carpet. Seems like an odd flooring choice for a boat. By the way, the Drachten boat is done up beautifully otherwise with stunning mahogany on walls, cupboards and doors. We saw potential flooring choices at the boat show. 

This bathroom floor is designed to accommodate water spillage.
Perhaps there is a shower. 

This is typical wooden flooring for a boat.
There are no cracks that water could penetrate. It could be teak flooring.

Then there was the captains seat, fit for a king. Who wouldn’t want it with the built in fridge underneath? 

The Motor Boot Sneek Show certainly gave us lots to think about. The biggest take away was that for us to go up a notch from the boat in Drachten we would have to spend at least twice as much. We saw   other boats with similar interiors but newer boats, all out of the price range we wanted to be in. This encouraged us to really see the potential and value in the boat in Drachten. 

Plus, more incentive. On top of the pluses we saw with the Drachten boat our friend Andrew gave us a serious talking to about the Drachten boat. He sang its praises and discussed its faults. He left us with the thought that his brother in Germany was very interested in the boat and would purchase it if we didn’t. We also did not like the thought of returning home without having purchased a boat. After all we had put months of looking, knowledge and time spent. We had to make in informed decision. 

Dreamy, Heady, First Days in the Netherlands

We loved our little hotel room/B&B room/apartment. It was located in an area we had never visited before, in a small town called Katwijk, Netherlands. The hotel was called Hotel Steeds aan Zee. Here is a picture of Ken in our room. From the picture you can see we are far away from Mexico’s autumn warm temperatures. The weather was cool and damp, drizzly. I was back to wearing pants, sweaters and jackets.

 

  

We drove around the area in our rented vehicle. Below is one of the characters we saw in the many fields surrounding the area.  Many more fields and animals such as, sheep, horses, cows, etc running around those open fields. Often the fields are not fenced but the perimeters are surrounded by trenches of water.

In the previous post I mentioned that we had a kitchen in our little apartment. Ken was at the apartment before he picked my up at the airport. He stocked it up with a few goodies like Dutch crackers and cheese, plus this wonderful El Burro white wine. I guess he picked this wine to remind us of Mexico.

 

The building we were in was a typical, older, Dutch home remodelled into a hotel. Below you can see the steep stairway. We were on one of the upper floors. The stairs were a classic and mostly enjoyable because of that fact. When we were taking luggage up and down the staircase it lost its charm. 

I was so surprised to see this bouquet of roses in our room when we first entered it. These beautiful flowers definitely added to the decor.

This hotel had a enticing entranceway which could be seen from the street. Here is Ken standing behind the counter as if he was the owner. We were to help ourselves to the tea and baked goods available. I am curious if they often get British tourists to the area.

For those first few days of being in the Netherlands we drove around looking at the countryside or places in the city. We went looking at thrift stores, which I must say are much more socially acceptable than in North America. On weekends the thrift stores are packed, so don’t go then if you can help it. Many thrift stores are huge, even bigger than places like Value Village. I also walked to a little computer shop close to our apartment to get a battery for my dead iPhone. It cost approximately fifty Euros. I had been using an older model phone until I arrived in Europe.

I have this weird thing happen when I fly long distances. My one ear becomes plugged. We also went to a few pharmacies (apotheek) to find a solution. It is always different when you go to another country and participate in something that is rather a mundane occurrence in your home country. There were chairs for older clients to sit in and wait for their prescriptions. They seemed to have what in Canada would be naturopathic medicines.

Donna Joins the Search

I was getting ready to go. Ken was in the Netherlands. He had left our home in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico near the end of August.  I was thankful for having good friends in Ajijic. They were such a good support while he was looking for our new boat in Holland.  I had not arranged my own airline tickets nor flown by myself in many moons. After attempting ticket purchases on-line and with travel agents I was frustrated, not finding the perfect match for me. Finally I used an app my friend Phyllis suggested and found what I thought was the ideal flight, leaving Thursday, October 4, 2018 for Amsterdam. After the hurdle of ticket purchase was cleared, the next hurdle was actually readying myself for the trip and making my way to the airport in Guadalajara.

Being a seasoned traveller I had my carry-on suitcase packed and ready to go. Slight problem was encountered, however. I managed to procure a relatively inexpensive flight with the now defunct WOW Airline for part of my journey.  They were quite adamant that you bring only one piece of luggage that would fit under your seat - what!  In fact, you had to pay a hefty sum, almost as much as your ticket, if your luggage exceded a certain weight or was bigger than a specified size.  Now my ticket that was a “perfect match” did not seem to be that.  I did manage to find a smaller bag which meant much of what I wanted to take with me was to stay in Mexico.

The day before I was to leave I ran into a slight snag. I was up early, raring to go, finishing up all my tasks before I was to leave. First things first, I was washing clothes. While making breakfast I heard an odd sound coming from the hall where the washing machine was housed. Water was rushing out from under the washing machine. My landlady was going to let me finish my wash in her home.  Very commendable of her! That was just one of those unexpected incidents that sometimes seem to inevitably happen when under time constraints.

Kindly, my friend’s Janet and Paul said they would drive me to the airport in Guadalajara rather early the next morning. It was so nice to have them come with me to the airport as I was nervous about flying by myself all the way from Guadalajara to Amsterdam. Paul even carried my suitcase around the airport. We had a farewell breakfast, hugged and said our good-byes. I was so happy they joined me as long as they could that morning. It really put me more at ease.

I took Interjet from Mexico to Los Angles in a plane where I was likely the only extranjero. I felt a bit odd at first but realized the people in my row were very friendly as were the flight attendants. I should have known. LAX was not as scary or as big as I had expected. I was only there about five hours or less. I spent time looking for a restaurant with a vegetarian option and in a line up at the WOW boarding gate. By this time my bad case of anxiety had passed and I was well on my way to enjoying my flight experience.

By the time I left Los Angles it was evening. When I arrived at my seat I was lucky and did not have to share my row with any other passengers.  That way I could stretch out and sleep once it was dark.
Next morning we landed in  Reykjavík, Iceland. I had been at that airport previously so I was not nervous about that part of the journey. Janet had wanted me to send Her pictures of Iceland. Here are a couple of those pictures.

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The flight into Amsterdam or Schiphol Airport was exciting. This is a huge, world class, European airport with may airplanes coming and going constantly. I had a window seat so I had a good view of what was happening. Once we landed safely and disembarked it took what seemed like forever to walk through the arrival hallways and out through customs, out to where the pick-up spot was for arrivals. Ken was there waiting with a big smile and hug.  It was so fantastic to see him after so long being apart. 

Schiphol is south of Amsterdam so Ken had found a wonderful room for us in Katwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. It was a tall skinny, old building with a stairway that was more like climbing a ladder. Our room had a functional, small kitchen. It was called Hotel Steeds aan Zee. Wonderful place!