Never, Netherlands

I spent a brilliant four days last week in Holland, two nights in Amsterdam and two nights in Rotterdam. It is the first time I have visited the country. The two cities are very different in both appearance and feel, but are both fantastic. I flew to Charleroi Airport outside Brussels on a cheap Ryanair flight (€30). From here it is possible to get a regular town bus down to the train station for €2.50, and a train straight to Amsterdam Centraal via Brussels Midi for €27 (U26/youth fare). The whole journey took about 4 hours, with a half hour wait and time for a coffee in Brussels; direct fares to Amsterdam from Dublin that day would have cost way, way more. That time flies anyway as you cross the region; the sprawling factories, yards and quaint, quiet towns of the Belgian countryside and the windmills, waterways and endless fields of the neighbouring Netherlands. Then, via Rotterdam, Den Haag, Lieden and Schipol... you get to Amsterdam. And things are never the same again.