Infrastructure Nerd's Dream Bike Trip

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This is the once-in-a-lifetime trip I got to take for my honeymoon. We visited The Netherlands, Belgium, and France and did a Trek Travel trip right in the middle. I'm a nerd when it comes to safe infrastructure and I wanted to show you all about it. Enjoy!
Correction: 12:55 I misspoke. Nazis weren't around in WWI.

[@The123somerandomguy]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for making this video! Seeing the dunes section at 7:00 just awoke something in me I can't quite explain it. I ended up taking a bus to Amsterdam, bought a simple omafiets and bikepacked all the way down the coast to Dunkirk and then hopped on a boat back home to the UK. It was the best thing I've done in YEARS, absolutely wonderful! Again thank you for making this it's made a big change in my life.

[@BrazenNL]

It always surprised me why people from different countries visited to see our infrastructure. Then, when I visited those countries, or when the internet came about and I could see a video, I understood. This is why we pay taxes. Good infrastructure is not free, and it's not a given. We had to fight for it. I'm really glad you got to experience another way of living. Thank you for documenting it.

[@christoalexander]

Glad you enjoyed it! I'm hoping I can take even a small part of what I learned back to improve my city.

[@StefanRink]

@@christoalexander Please do, all our infrastructure is open source. 😉 Just take all the best parts and implement them where possible.

[@luxembourger]

The infrastructure is mostly very good in West of The Netherlands, but for example in the South-East area, the part I normally cross the border, public infrastructure is worse than in my country. Especially public transportation is underfunded, and most will realistically need a car to be able to work unless you have some day time office job in the center of a city.

[@Littleweenaman]

Bro I’m literally gonna go there and look at bike lanes I’m not kidding

[@jsb7975]

​@@luxembourgerpublic transportation and infrastructure is as good as the whole of the country, yet WITHIN the Netherlands itself, not connected to Belgium or Germany......

[@VoidUnderTheSun]

If you're wondering, the infrastructure doesn't just extend to the suburbs outside of Amsterdam. It extends to basically every village and every town and every city in the country.

[@christoalexander]

That part was just as impressive as the city infrastructure. Kids were biking to school out in rural areas which is completely unheard of in the US unfortunately :/

[@Redisia]

I can go by bycicle (or walking) 4 safe ways from the tiny city i live in to the town my parents live in. (it crosses a national highway)

[@DB-gr7ch]

Vsiting the Netherlands should be a *required* fieldwork module for ANY student studying civil engineering. For unlimited functional, ingenious, elegant civil engineering feats, it is unsurpassed.

[@jannetteberends8730]

The tulip flowers are not harvested. They are topped, because they are there for the bulbs, not the flowers. The flowers are cutoff before they start to form seed. Here is a video where they are topping the flowers. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3y1pKidotx_Y5o 4:35 the cow on the right looked a Blaarkop, an old breed. They are uni colored with a white spot on the head. They come in the colors black and red. They are my favorite cows. As a child I was always happy to spot them, even made up a song when I saw one.

[@VoidUnderTheSun]

Just as a note about the Atlantic Wall at 12:55: The Nazis weren't around in WWI. There are some bunkers which exist from the First, but most of the Atlantic Walls is a WWII construction.

[@robinboyea5813]

Thank you so much for capturing and sharing this video! We had such an amazing trip and it was great to have this to reflect back on the experience! It was wonderful to meet you and Rachel! Hope you're both doing well!

[@KuswandiRia03]

INCREDIBLE BICYCLE TRACKS FRIENDS, GREETINGS FROM INDONESIA

[@iamjoestafford]

Great video! I am heading to NL later today from my home in England - I can't wait. I feel very lucky that I can just pop my bike onto an overnight ferry and be in the world's best cycling country in the morning 😃 Your viewers may like to know that the Dutch have a fantastic organisation called Vrienden op de Fiets (Friends on Bikes), through which people offer their homes to fellow cyclists for a bargain €25 a night - always with a big breakfast included, and sometimes dinner too. I have used it several times, and it is an amazing way to see a country through the eyes of its residents - the hosts are always eager to chat about cycling, The Netherlands and life in general. It's much more fun than staying in hotels/B&Bs, and much cheaper too!

[@europeangardenflower9812]

Plan your trip mindfull of what you want to see. Tip: don't cycle though North Holland up over the Afsluitdijk along the Northern coast. This area is havily engeneered with boring and baren long stretches of dike, empty fields and lots of wind. The south and east is way more pleasant to cycle with divers scenery and towns.

[@iamjoestafford]

@@europeangardenflower9812 I just got home today! I did an inland route from Hook of Holland up to Leeuwarden and back down again, but partly followed the Noordoostpolder and Flevoland coasts. I've done the northern coast before - yes, it is mostly very empty and windy up there!

[@iamjoestafford]

@peterfijten7470 I did indeed - dank je wel Peter!

[@parisgermain523]

@@europeangardenflower9812 not necessarily true, Around Haarlem, Heemstede, Zandvoort, Ijmuiden, there are some beautiful routes, including routes through the dunes

[@leonardoluc6362]

@@europeangardenflower9812 yes agree but your can travel by train to Friesland Provence is the one nicest of Europe and only 2 hours by train and take yr bike with you its is amazing for sure.

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

Glad you enjoyed our low countries. Sorry about the free showers, but that's all part of the deal.

[@djopdam199]

Hearing you guy's drewl about ( what are basically my regular commutes ) makes me appreciate my country high taxes.

[@ohhi5237]

please use my taxes and take some english class instead

[@djopdam199]

@@ohhi5237 It's English classes my critical friend.

[@Maguramishi]

Expert flower lookers! Yay!

[@bramharms72]

2 Decades ago you couldn't walk around Amsterdam without stumbling over some English binge-drinker drooling on the pavement, at least we get a better class of people drooling on the sidewalks these days. 😉 I'm glad you had a good time here and congratulations on your wedding/honeymoon.

[@lisaalexander450]

What an awesome trip! Great job!

[@sandramorey2529]

My beautiful Dutch bike, bought in Rotterdam in 1967 resides in my basement. I recently got new tires and a bunch of repacement parts, but my arthritis prevents me from riding it. I have a much more recent bike friday that folds up. I can get my leg over that and it doesn't weigh much.. I'd like to sell my Dutch WBR, but there doesn't seem to be much demand for them. I rode all over Europe including over the Alps. I did have a Raleigh 3 speed added in Rotterdam. It has front & back racks, mud guards, chain cover, headlights with generator.

[@Paul_C]

Maybe the owner of Propel might be interested in it, he has a bikeshop in New York Brooklyn, Cally Long Beach and a new one in Wilmington DE.

[@Rcthans]

Great video mate. After biking across country and tullip fields for 10 years (20 miles everyday to get to school) i really loved the big malls and 16 lane LA traffic chaos. It's what you dont have that seems most interesting. But this video gave me some proud feelings for being a dutch citizen. Hope you visit again. And glas you enjoyed it. Subscribed :)

[@make.and.believe]

OMG I must take this ride! Thanks for sharing.

[@JohnnyJaxmusic]

Another awesome trend now is that new homes / neighborhoods are being build in 1900-1930’s architecture. I just love my country 😊

[@assmanxhire]

I lived in Amsterdam for two years some 12 years ago, and being a bike lover myself, I can tell you it was like living in heaven, and being able to bring your bike in the metro or the ferries, or the trains, well, what else could you ask for? I wish it was like that everywhere. Thanks for sharing you experience.

[@BangBangChicken]

What a great video and a lovely trip. Greetings from The Hague

[@robertdegroot8302]

What a great idea for a honeymoon. You look like a fun couple. Congrats!

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

What a beautiful trip! I can't wait to get to the Netherlands and experience it firsthand.

[@lennartvers1767]

Great video! Thumbs up from The Netherlands!

[@RonKanon]

Excellent vid by the legendary Christo "Artisto' Alexander

[@ferryvantichelen6521]

Good to see you had a great time here! Hope the wife was also enjoying the nerdy stuff a bit haha. You even got to experience some of the famous Dutch weather, sorry for that. One of the nice things from biking: you get to pick up all the rays of sun when it finally gets out haha 😁 Fun to see you guys took some of my local bike routes, the dunes between Katwijk and The Hague are nice. One small note for (future) travelers: be careful when taking photo's of flower-fields, farmers don't really like trampled flowers, so stay on the side and enjoy from there! Also: those continuous sidewalks where cars have to give priority are awesome, they indeed work really well.

[@RFGfotografie]

Awesome video to watch, relaxing :)

[@SkribbleNL]

Ohhh an Andy Anderson board, a rare occurrence of meeting a fellow urbanism nerd that is also into skating 😅. Also always nice to hear someone enjoying their stay here! I think doing a bike trip is a great way to enjoy and see more of the Netherlands

[@SimonDonkers]

I just checked out Trek Travel, looks like a great holiday idea. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@dustinbranham9746]

Awesome video. Really enjoyed it. Sounds like you're a real bike guy, and perhaps also an urbanist. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

[@nbosscher]

Well done! Great video.

[@ryansaunders7923]

Excellent footage! I'll have to check out the bike paths along the beach in the dunes!

[@paulmortimer4161]

fantastic video loved seeing this

[@ZDD760]

Thank you for sharing a beautiful trip!

[@benefiet]

We love our cobble stones in Belgium!

[@irakyl]

Great video!

[@susanstopoulos]

Great video, Honey! You two are so cute! 🥰😍 Thank you for the tulip shots! 🌷🥰 What gorgeous scenery all around, especially those white cows (or were they sheep?) under the trees on the hill. 🐄 🐑 🌲 🚲

[@christoalexander]

Those were really muscular Belgian cows LOL! Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@Joey-ct8bm]

Glad you loved it. We're very blessed with our infrastructure for sure.

[@stephenvanwijk9669]

Love to see this, because it points out that day to day ordinary stuff is actually special for foreigners. We have classes mopeds, yellow number plate shouldn’t be on bike lane, blue is allowed, except when bike lane is indicated with the blue Fietspad sign, instead of the blue bicycle icon sign (yeah, I know). Pretty neat country, huh? We love it ourselves, biking is recreational, sport and just general logistics, in The Netherlands. Dutch bike like nobody.

[@luchof8364]

Great country .love the rain and the rain

[@ilsefaber683]

Nice video!

[@nkrishna2005]

Very Nice Video. Thanks for your Video 😊

[@jzwaan02]

I was very surprised when I saw you biked along the Boulevard in Katwijk. It's my home town!

[@willyhuijsmans3066]

I am very impressed!

[@midasghijsels]

Welcome, from a fellow (dutch)infrastructure nerd.

[@EricvanDorp007]

Nice upload!

[@robcherry6734]

Scooters & Mopeds only banned from the bike lanes in the centre of AMS, nowhere else.

[@christoalexander]

That explains why I kept seeing them! Thanks for clarifying.

[@rikmarx107]

And dutchman Mathieu van der Poel , became worldchampion roadracing on the racebike just 6 days ago , around Glasgow , UK.

[@gordonmculloch4904]

The Trek is a fantastic looking bike, but for touring, I would think the Dutch upright would be far more comfortable for that particular trip. Great video. 👍

[@jacobo8773]

That route along the coast used to be my route to work 😅

[@OP-1000]

I see you have experienced Dutch weather also 😊

[@VoltageForce]

Sick!

[@Hensepens64]

Nice to see your vlog. And yes .. we need foreigners to realise how lucky we arecwith our bike infrastructure. But regardibg your bikes. Nice look, but with out shirlds above the tyres you will be dirty after biking during a raining day. Secondly (now being Dutch straight to the point) flashing red rear lights are not allowed in the Netherlands. They mus show steady red light. But further it is a great video 👍

[@christoalexander]

I wish we had mudguards! That would make sense for this trip, but we just got what they provided. I never knew that about the lights. This was the first year Trek did a trip in the Netherlands. Maybe next year they will change it! Thanks for watching 😊

[@infj4w511]

Wow, you really went north and south, capital, village and countryside. Love to see it. Also, do you have a backlight on that's... flickering?? Firstly, choose. If you want to switch your lights on, switch them on. Secondly, just put them off, it's day: the son shines brighter than that 1 led battery light you have going on.

[@chipdale490]

I may be wrong, but using a flickering rear light might actually get you a ticket. 😅

[@Arjan_2]

12:45 The sea is actually called the North Sea: for some reason the Germans called the defence wall the Atlantic Wall. Maybe due to Norwegian and French sections. Fyi

[@deheermailmum5036]

Did you already watch Not Just Bikes about infrastructure?

[@christoalexander]

Yes, that channel was a big part of why I wanted to go!

[@Quetzietse]

I could tell by the state of the rood that it was Belgium lol

[@MarceldeJong]

That means you must have gone through or past Bergen op Zoom, which is my home town, just before the Belgium border.

[@autohmae]

1:11 I think it's important to see the big picture, biking isn't specifically a priority, just a priority in that part of town. No wait, it goes even further, it's more like separating modes of transport. Their are different networks for the different modes of transport in the city.

[@autohmae]

13:44 interesting how you'd call it a highway...? Edit: I checked, so you used it more like the original meaning, colloquially I guess nobody would call it that. 🙂

[@esgee3829]

did you notice how far away from the entrance the bike parking was at keukenhof? reminded me of the states. pretty strange for netherlands.

[@ohhi5237]

its "tourist only"

[@ohhi5237]

aint no local to be found there

[@esgee3829]

@@ohhi5237 that ain't true from my experiences. depending on day of the week and season and what you call local, you certainly will. have met plenty of fellow noordhollanders inlcuding from leiden, even lisse when you visit. but yes, they are outnumbered by other dutch people and many many non-dutch people on most days.

[@dimrrider9133]

We dont have painted bikelanes ;p

[@bebobism]

Carbon is non recyclable , so if you can stay away from it . . . please do. The weight savings on let's say aluminium is only marginal. Keep on cycling ! 😎

[@hiddehosper4914]

So, when are you two move to the Netherlands and love your life biking to work?

[@sauravbasu8805]

Which bike model did you use ?

[@harrynac6017]

Thanks for the video. Little side note: Nazi Germany was founded in 1933. So during ww1 it was Germany, but not Nazi Germany.

[@HonestMan112]

I'm going to amsterdam in august. I cant wait, where did you hire your bikes from?

[@lollauren]

it seems they got their bikes with the tour they took, you can just rent bikes everywhere in Amsterdam. there's shops that rent them out and also bikes out on the street that you can use with an app. it's very easy to get a hold of a bike

[@Lord_RFAS]

You know you're a tourist when you wear a helmet whilst riding a bike 🤣

[@ohhi5237]

or fucking disabled, same thing either way

[@ringodekroon]

mopeds was bans of type 45kmh ; 25kmh not

[@JasperKlijndijk]

i love how the dutch think amsterdam is the worst place in the netherlands while everyone else thinks is the best place on earth. visit groningen, zwolle, nijmegen, apeldoorn, deventer, assen for the real netherlands, not only the coastal cityblob

[@AndreUtrecht]

Lovely trip.... and it is really funny to see people be so enthusiastic about what is daily life for me. I have a question though. Was this a 6 day, 5 night trip for 4599$? That seems quite a lot of money to me. Even when you get a bike to use. Did you stay like in 5 star hotels and had dinner at top restaurants? People can plan this trip by themselves, rent a bike for 6 days and book hotels themselves no? 4599$ is an enormous amount of money for basically just biking to Brugge / Bruges .... At least you enjoyed it.

[@autohmae]

trying to organize something like that from all the way around the world, if you don't know the local language, etc. takes ... a bunch of effort, people gladly pay for that willingly or unwillingly because they don't know what is possible or where to begin. Knowledge is power

[@AndreUtrecht]

@@autohmae No.... most European countries and especially the hotels and touristic tours etc speak English.... you can have a more exclusive holiday for 4600 dollars then this poor excuse of a trip.... but true, ignorance is bliss.... bliss for those who organise it .... people haven't got a clue ...

[@heyborttheeditor1608]

How much could this trip cost then?

[@marcel9147]

Nice vid. Great to see you enjoyed yourself in my country. Is the red light flashing because of the camera? Flashing lights on bicycles are not allowed in the Netherlands, could have cost you 60 euros.

[@christoalexander]

Wow, I didn't know that was illegal! Yes, they were flashing. These lights were provided by the tour and we were instructed not to change the settings. I'm glad we didn't get in trouble. I use flashing lights at home in the US when I'm on roads with cars. On bike paths I have them set to solid.

[@marcovonkeman9449]

@@christoalexander Technically, it's only illegal at night, or in bad weather (rain, fog or snow). But to be honest, I don't think you'd get a fine for a flashing light. It's better than having no light at all. And during the day, a flashing light is simply safer.

[@ArjenHaayman]

I couldn't really figure out your route from the images. It seems you went up and down North- and South Holland? How come you were in The Hague the first day?

[@apveening]

Probably a fixed base for a couple of days so they didn't have to pack and unpack every day and the organization didn't have to transport the baggage every day.

[@christoalexander]

We took a shuttle to The Hague from Beemster, where we ended of the first day's ride. Trek Travel is more of a vacation than a bike tour - they take you to all the awesome places and you get on the bike and go. We rode about 40km most days with an option to do an additional ~40km if you choose the avid option.

[@MrDiederikDuck]

It now cost you €110 holding your cell phone when you are biking. :-)

[@09conrado]

You're supposed to ride side by side so you can have a conversation and time together

[@abel6846]

I’m pretty sure that the nazis weren’t around in WW1, or the Atlantikwal.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Dont you have huge cheese wheels in Wisconsin?

[@shnake_case]

$4600 for a 6 day trip? Why is it so expensive? Did you get to keep the bikes after the trip or something?

[@frankhooper7871]

Weird that a bike tour in the Netherlands chooses to use the less comfortable bikes rather than traditional Dutch style...and that it appears they required helmets LOL.

[@xsagradoxcorazonx]

Fuck me dude, get me out of here. I need to experience this.

[@personligassistent4308]

Some strange turtle shells on your heads please remove them in the Nederland's :)

[@apveening]

Why should they, it makes tourists easily recognizable.

[@Diggnuts]

It would be greatly appreciated if you ditch those pointless helmets while riding here. What you put on your head is your choice, but over here it signals that you are a tourist, ill or elderly or not very experienced with bikes. This means people will try to avoid you by a larger margin, putting themselves in danger. Also the blinking light over day is completely useless.

[@mb10kx]

beetje overdreven nietwaar

[@Kerry.]

Great video!