PIK-AMS-PIK On Transavia With PICS

By: DJ17 - 26th February 2007 at 18:07

Here's a photo/trip report of a weekend in the 'Dam with my 2 mates. I'll try and not waffle on as much as I usually do and let the pics do the talking ;-) I'll also list the prices for trains/buses/museum admission etc in case anyone else makes the trip.
Booked the flights in November for £80 each, also booked a 3 bedded room in the NH City Centre Hotel for 470 euro's (£328) for 3 nights, not too bad for Amsterdam, no breakfast included, but we never make it anyway for one reason or another :shock:
Arrived at PIK at 1420 and were first in the queue, check-in opened bang on 1425 and I asked for the Exit Row seats but were told they were blocked off but we could ask if we could move once we boarded (they weren't, and the Cabin Crew didn't bother where anyone sat, although there were only 44 pax on the flight).
Had a couple of Bud's in the landside bar at PIK then one more once through security. Got called for boarding just after 1600 and taxied on time but unfortunately we were No2 to an Air France 747 who seemed to sit for an age at the Hold for 13, finally departed at 1645.

View down on 03/21 -

Flight time was to be 1 hour and 5 minutes and we started our descent into AMS at 1815 Local, less than 30 minutes after departure.
Landed on 19R which is the one with the 15 minute taxy to the Stand, never mind, we weren't in any hurry.
Parked near the end of Pier D and by the time we got down through Immigration and into baggage reclaim our bags had appeared.

A not very good pic through the window on Stand -

Then we got three single tickets for the train into Amsterdam Centraal, 3.60 euro (£2.50) which is great value, the trains are about every 10-15 minutes during the day and most take less than 15 minutes to get you into Centraal.
The hotel is only 10 minute's up the Daamrak so we just walked it, checked in, had a shower then headed back out.
By this time we were pretty hungry so we went straight to an Argentinian Steak restaurant we had been to before and each scoffed a Desperate Dan type 16oz fillet with chips and a beer, the bill was 31 euro each (£21.60).
Then we went a bit of window shopping to walk the food off, great place for window shopping is Amsterdam.
We then headed away from all those doors with red lights above them as they were starting to give us all a sore head and headed for the Leidseplein which is a big square with loads of bars on it, we had a few more there then headed back to the hotel, at 3am..
The original plan was to take in a Dutch League game but it all fell through, so I had a cunning plan up my sleeve, a trip to The Aviodrome at Lelystad Airport about 45 minutes north of Amsterdam by train and bus.
So, after a breakfast we headed back to Centraal Station, 3 x returns to Lelystad Centrum was 46 euro (£10.70 each), once at Lelystad we got 2 x 'Nationale Strippen Kaart's' for 13.60 euro (worked out at £3.17 each return) for the return bus to Lelystad Airport which took 10 minutes at most from Lelystad Centrum. Only thing is the bus doesn't go right into the Airport but drops you just at the entrance and then it's a short walk to the Museum, but you can't miss the stop as the KLM 747 sort of let's you know you're there :wink:

The second F50 prototype greets you at the entrance -

Entrance is 14.90 euro each (£10.40) and I reckoned it was worth it.

View out the An-2 cockpit -

Another couple of old timers, the F27 is still used for charters and taking aviation enthusiasts to air shows -

Most of the aircraft were open for inspection, here's a view from the 747 -

747 cockpit -

A view of the ramp from a small mound, to the left of this was a simulator which was included in the admission -

Inside the main hall of the Museum was also very interesting, here's a shot of 'The Flying Dutchman' -

A DC-3 -

All in all a great couple of hours in a very interesting museum, for the number crunchers there was plenty of light aircraft based and a very active circuit, types seen in the circuit were R22/R44/Rallye/Ce152/Ce172/Seneca/Long-Eze/Robin/Falke Motor Glider etc.
Then it was time to head back, another short walk to the Bus Stop and a 10 minute wait for a bus (every 30 minutes) but remember to press the button at the Bus Stop which activates a light on the Traffic Light gantry to let the driver know to stop and let you board.
A 10 minute wait for the train at Lelystad and then 30 minutes later we were back in Amsterdam.

Some additional pics + the return to PIK -

The Connie's cockpit -

Connie and F27 -

Back at Schipol on the Sunday I went up to the Viewing Terrace after we checked in, the weather was a bit misty but there was still a great view although most aircraft seemed to be departing and arriving out of sight of the Terrace and part of it was closed off for refurbishment which meant I couldn't get an angle on some of the more interesting stuff as I had only brought my 17-55 mm lens.

Martinair 767's -

Privatair 737 -

Armavia Airbus -

We got a nice surprise when we boarded, we didn't ask for them but we were alocatted the Emergency Exit row on the 737-700, 12A/B/C on the port side and there was plenty of room to stretch our legs. But the starboard side has a different configuration, there were only 2 seats, 12D and E, there was no seat at the window and the leg room was the same as on the rest of the seats.
Departing from r/w 01L this time, we passed numerous viewing areas, this one was pretty busy -

It's never a grey day above the clouds :wink: -

During the short flight the Cabin Crew come around with the usual sandwiches/Pringles/hot drinks etc for sale and the prices were reasonable, there was also beer wine and Champagne but funnily no spirits?
There was also a couple of items for viewing on the drop down screens but they didn't even offer the earphones for sale, mind you, one was Mr Bean...

We coasted in over Newcastle then tracked north-westerly to route just to the north of Carlisle and the Solway Firth, and by this time I'd sussed we were going to be landing on r/w 13 but I was on the wrong side for an arial pic of PIK on the downwind leg :evil:

Final over Royal Troon, anyone spot Ben Lomond? -

A smooth landing and an early turn off but not anything interesting aircraft wise to be seen as we taxied in, parked on Stand 1 and 10 mins after landing we were on the way home -

A very enjoyable trip helped by the great weather over In Amsterdam, the Aviodrome Museum was also excellent and well worth the trip on the excellent and easy to use Dutch public transport system, and it also helps when the majority of the Dutch speak English.