Ferry to the Netherlands again; This time I’m spending a smidge over a week in Amsterdam. I could have come up with an itinerary to do more than one city, but … I didn’t want to? Moving between locations is kind of a pain in the arse, and I figure I can do some day trips if I feel like it.
Train to London, & another train to Harwich International, where the ferry port lives. I got there vastly too early, so went for a walk to the Thames & back. (From Liverpool Street Station)
I can report that getting bored and taking a stroll in London during the commuter period is a really bad idea if you want to be able to walk more than a handful of steps before needing to dodge around someone, stop suddenly to avoid crashing into someone., or come to a dead stop because a group of people have blocked the only way through a section of construction.
In theory they open boarding 2 hours before departure, which was roughly when I got there, and the ferry was not empty – Actual people in the hallways. I’m wondering whether they opened it early, or whether there were multiple coach tours who just drive on board.
Anyway, long queues at the bar & cafe, and they maybe had a reservation system for the restaurant?
My cabin window looked out onto a viewing deck, which was a bit odd – Not that I was planning to leave the blind open all night, but having seating right out there was unexpected.
If there was some kind of coach trip system at the UK side it definitely wasn’t there in the Netherlands; There was a long-ass queue for border control. I was at the end, but it moved fairly quickly.
I suspect the border person only asked me questions because I was obviously by myself, or because I was at almost the end of the queue.
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