It’s kinda strange the way traveling in Europe has no simple formula. I fly to the UK from R’dam to Stanstead and I fly to Hamburg, also from Rotterdam. But going to Paris feels like going as far as, let’s say Greece.

The dilemma is this that there is no direct flight from Rotterdam to Paris. If one insists on flying then one will have to hop via Amsterdam or London which makes it inefficient and expensive. I could take the train to Schiphol (Amsterdam) but that will take at least an hour add to that the longer check-in times compared to R’dam airport and you’re looking at a minimum of 2,5 hours front door to ‘window or isle’ seat.

The Saga continues with arriving in Paris after 1:15 flight and then having to find a cab to our office. According to my manager the cab from CDG (Charles de Gaulle) will take 1 to 1,5 hours. My total would now come to a minimum of 4 hours and 45 minutes door to door.

As most often though there is a simple answer, the Thalys. It’s cheap if you don;t go for first class and there’s no check-in time. Above all I can get on at Rotterdam Central, it takes 3:11 from R’dam to Gare du Nord and I am allowed to work on my laptop the whole way. The cab only took 30 minutes to the office and the bus into R’dam is the same I as for all other options. Total travel time? I left home at 7:15 and got to the office at 12:15.

5 hours? Yes 5 hours due to an unforeseen wait for a cab. On top of this the first cab driver evicted me from the cab after only 20 meters as he couldn’t find the address on any of his ancient maps, “address does not exist, please leave my cab”! The second cab driver said no problem and sped off, he did take me the scenic route though as he missed a turn…

All in all the Thalys route was faster, cheaper and with a lot less risk of delays or overbookings. Oh and did I mention that the cab was only 20 eur inward as opposed to the 100 Euro I payed last time from CDG into the center of Paris? For those who’re wondering, outward it took about 45 minutes and cost me 34 as it was rush hour…

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