American Reacts to 'Even Small Towns are Great Here' (5 Years in the Netherlands)

[@jeroenursem]

As being Dutch myself, I have to remind myself sometimes that I shouldn't take this country for granted :)

[@FerrySwart]

that were my thought also! we're so used to it all.... you forget how awesome it is...

[@CavHDeu]

Yea and to have you as neighbors too 🇳🇱🙏🏻🇩🇪

[@johanschellingerhout5242]

@@CavHDeu altijd fijn om fijne buren te hebben

[@flopjul3022]

@@CavHDeu and its a country where no limit on the highway(on certain points) is also very nice as a dutch car guy and the nurburgring... and so many car museums

[@marjorierijnbout7905]

Same!!!!

[@whoelsehighafrn1677]

Most of the time you don’t realize what you have till you don’t. Seeing the Netherlands from your perspective makes me realize that i need to appreciate my country more. It’s easy to complain all day whiteout any reference.

[@corbeau-_-]

ik kan me nog goed een poolse collega herinneren die door heel Europa had gewerkt. Openbaar vervoer en de wegen zijn in Nederland veruit het beste. Waarschijnlijk omdat we allemaal zo zeiken, dus stop er maar niet mee, maar wees ook tevreden met wat je hebt, af en toe ;)

[@whoelsehighafrn1677]

@ hahahaha tevreden zijn is lastig maar het kan altijd erger zeg ik dan maar 😂

[@CavHDeu]

​@@corbeau-_- i was shocked when I've been to Poland last September. They are not far away from your infrastructure. Germany is falling apart except most parts of the Autobahn...

[@vmvds]

i often complain about my country but after seeing your reactions i feel ecstatic about my country

[@Flippityflap]

and then u think about the islamization who hate western culture but come here for free money everywhere and the shitty left 'green for the planet' government when being green has absolutely zero use when countries like China and America Russia and India don't go green and u feel bad again

[@gregsmythe7705]

Unfortunately we’re very similar in the UK, always complaining about our country until we see it through the eyes of visitors 😊

[@FerrySwart]

Yes, yes. i so agree...

[@leanderbuijtendijk6241]

Resident of Alkmaar here and loved your enthusiastic reaction😊. If you are in the area one day you are more then welcome to come along on a boottrip.

[@KrefelderBusfahrer]

German here, living pretty close to the border. Everytime I cross the border there is a sense of "calm" - the Netherlands are on another level with their infrastructure. Once I crossed the border via bicycle and it immediately felt way safer. I love the Netherlands and my dutch brothers and sisters ♥

[@CavHDeu]

Their asphalt is rougher and that makes much louder to drive there 😉 but this calm feeling is true.

[@dvb8637]

​@@CavHDeurougher?? Its perfectly flat. Go drive in germany or belgium and tell me again about "rougher". Smh. 😂

[@CavHDeu]

@@dvb8637 i don't mean roads that needs maintenance but the structure of the asphalt.

[@vannellegrolsch]

​@@CavHDeu I think you're referring to the type of asphalt with a more open structure. This is to make water flow off the road better and prevent aqua-planning. It does make a louder noise but is saver. Not sure if this is common in Germany. When I drive there during rain, it often looks like a river instead of the autobahn.

[@josegerrits3927]

But Germany is much cheaper! And your cities are awesome!!!

[@thedutchhuman]

How glad I am, and many others, that you are also looking at this. Many only see Amsterdam when they go here or on holiday and do not see the rest of our small country, there is so much to see, and since you have already been here you also know roughly how it works with public transport etc. So if you come again, explore the rest of the Netherlands too!

[@Stammetje135]

yes next time definitely visit the place Giethoorn then you will see a completely different part of the Netherlands

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

Hij woont al 5 jaar in Amsterdam. 😂 Gek hé. 🎉

[@mourlyvold64]

@@on-the-pitch-p3w Je haalt het één en ander door elkaar, ben ik bang. Lees anders even opnieuw aan wie dit commentaar gericht is (hint: het is niet Jason Slaughter 😉)

[@corv.9706]

i agree as a frisian😊

[@Ballerina2025]

Great vlog 👍👍👍 I live in Arnhem , Holland . But I'm an Xpat from Melbourne , Australia ..... After having lived here for that long now , I'm getting my Dutch passport to 👍🙏❤🤍💙 The flag , from top to bottom stripes , horizontal . ( Same colours as the Aussie flag ) But you know what ? They COULDN'T PAY ME ENOUGH TO MOVE BACK , I FOUND THE COUNTRY THAT I WANT TO GROW OLD IN ...... NO OTHER COUNTRY IS AS ORGANISED AND SAFE , FRIENDLY AS THIS ONE ! ( Helps of course that I speak pretty good Dutch to by now ) ... Mind you , Dutch = very similar to English , you'd be surprised ! 😮😊 Give it about 5 to 6 months of night school , and really , you CAN TALK to the DUTCH !! 👍👍👍 It must be a virus , once people from abroad have lived here for a while , they WANT TO STAY ! Thanks for this vlog mate , Cheers & catch you next time , Helen 👍🍺 💙

[@ChrisTaylor-dz6nk]

Hi im a kiwi.lived in Amsterdam for 37years.i dont miss auckland or nz.😊😅

[@Ballerina2025]

@ChrisTaylor-dz6nk I know excactly what you mean 👍👍💜💞

[@ElskeHansma]

As someone who lives in Assen, it's nice to see some appreciation for some of the cities in the North of the Netherlands. Most tourists go to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and cities surrounding, but Northern Netherlands is an entire other cup of tea, which most people don't visit, sadly.

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

En als jij bijvoorbeeld naar New York gaat, ga jij dan ook naar Woodbridge? Hell no. Doe niet zo dom.

[@B.Krol.050]

En toch zie je nederlanders meer steden aan doen im de vs van oost naar west, noord naar zuid... Amerikanen daarentegen geilen puur op de randstad en trekken daarmee hun conclusie over hoe en wat nederland is "doe niet zo dom"....​@@on-the-pitch-p3w

[@ElskeHansma]

@@on-the-pitch-p3w Je hoeft niet zo onaardig te doen, ik gaf alleen mijn mening. En Woodbridge ligt niet in New York, het heet Woodridge. Niet mij dom noemen als je het zelf ook niet weet. Ik hoop dat je een fijne dag hebt, dankjewel.

[@corv.9706]

je hebt gelijk groeten uit friesland

[@gubsak55]

I grew up in Odense (150,000 inhabitants) in Denmark and lived on a main road with a bus stop just outside the apartment block. Every 15 minutes, a bus was passing, but I always used my bicycle to get around. Then I moved to England (without my bicycle) and later rural England. I worked and lived 12 to 14 km to the nearest bus stop where the buses passed every hour or every 2 hours. In 1976, I moved back to live in a village just outside Odense for a year. There were buses in the morning and afternoon and on Saturdays after 15.30, no busses were passing until Monday morning. 😢 So it was back to the bicycle or moped. Now the village has been totally integrated in Odense and has regular bus service all day and all week through. Although Odense has an advanced bicycle path system, it is still way behind most of the Netherlands.

[@Flippityflap]

Thank you for Eriksen (Ajax fan)

[@lachlanmain6004]

I get a feeling someone will be checking out the flights for a revisit to Haarlem. The videos of your Euro trip last year are brilliant Joel, great for a winter rewatch!

[@Guus115]

I guess i've taken our bike infrastructure for granted. I'm so used to it

[@roelbrook7559]

12:55 - Yes, that bus that runs every 12 minutes is probably more or less a coincidence. This happens to be a busstop with multiple routes going by. Normally, in small villages / towns, a bus will do a route every hour or so. Most small towns have now switched to "belbus", meaning you press a button in a website / app, and the driver will begin his / her route. Kind of like calling a cab, but for public transport.

[@crazymonkeyVII]

I agree with the first part of your comment, it's probably 2 routes that pass by there. But the typical bus route outside of the Randstad in my experience goes every 30 minutes, and in the evenings in some cases every hour. Maybe the smallest of villages use the belbus concept but I haven't encountered that yet (in 31 years).

[@Flippityflap]

@@crazymonkeyVII Its getting less and less with all the bezuinigingen

[@crazymonkeyVII]

@Flippityflap yeah that's true. And they stop earlier and earlier...

[@elliepascoe5954]

And nowadays, the frequency of bus routes is minimal during (school) holidays.But once you know that, you can plan your public transport ahead online and get somewhere on time still.

[@qualitytraders5333]

Living in a small compact country has many advantages i.e. easy to maintain, provide excellent infrastructure and public transport, family is always less than 3 hours away, you can live close to your job, other countries are close by, etc. etc.

[@burninhell107]

Netherland is also flat so it's easier to use bikes. Though the dutch urbanism is pretty well made and nice.

[@ramarkble101]

​@@burninhell107But its allways windy.

[@mandje2002]

18:28 This building is called the Waterpoort and is the symbol of Sneek

[@youpie24]

The Watergate at 18:12 is on our standard deck of cards! In the Netherlands, the Aces resemble cities. It's the ace of Spades.

[@bratwurst2611]

I'm German/American and I was raised Düsseldorf, Germany not far from the Netherlands. I am now 60 years old and I have never really considered moving back to the states. Now with the situation in the US I will def not move back for the next four years. However, the infrastructure in Germany is not yet as good as it is in Holland, but it has gotten close in the past 10 years. Love your videos and I keep sending them to my sister, who lives in Florida and whom I would love to come back to Europe. It is so much safer living in Europe and the work life balance is indispensable if you love life 🙂Have you been to Groningen? Check out the bikes in front of the University in the middle of the old part of town. Beautiful 🙂

[@ym5891]

So much safer in Europe? Sure, if you forget the rampant crime, grenade attacks, SA's, child exploitation, etc, etc...

[@youpie24]

The Watergate at 18:12 is on our standard deck of cards! In the Netherlands, the Aces resemble cities. It's the ace of Spades.

[@peet-janissen5838]

yea localised playing cards are commen here in the south to (zeeland).

[@frdml01]

That's how taxes should be spent, when the government asks for higher taxes from people. There is a clear return of your "investment".

[@vlinder6329]

The Netherlands has so much cycle paths And people wanted more space to cycle safely. And that worked. Cycle paths were laid everywhere throughout the Netherlands. About 35000 km of cycle path, that is almost the circumference of the world. Always Great Videos 👍 Thank you 🌷🌷🌷 Love from Volendam The Most Famous Village in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 Volendam is One of the Tourist Attractions of The Netherlands, Almost 1.5 Million Tourists Visit Volendam Every Year in Search or Volendammers in Traditional Costume and Fishing Boats 🥰

[@sanmama1602]

Volendam heeft al genoeg toch. Ik woon in Leeuwarden.

[@sanmama1602]

Ga weg met je volendam.

[@vlinder6329]

@sanmama1602 Leeuwarden is ook fantastisch hoor, ben er vaak geweest. Ik heb trouwens een vriendin uit Sneek >Snits< als ze in het Fries sprak kon ik haar amper verstaan, veel gelachen met haar, was een gewoon een Toppertje Fijne avond doeiii🙋🏼‍♀️

[@joyl7842]

The number of bikes parked at train stations does become a problem. When I did my studies in Breda they had to remove a lot of bikes quite often because people would leave them anywhere for ages. They'd collect them in an area away from the station for you to find your bike if you had left it for that long. I never found mine after I spent time interning in Australia, but it felt like there were a million of them in a old parking lot. In the end it didn't matter cause a 2nd or 16th hand bike costs like 50 euro's.

[@TryptychUK]

There's a small village near me in the Cotswolds, UK. One day I noticed a small bus shelter and asked in the pub if there was a regular service in the village. "Oooh, arr", said a local. "Comes every Thursday at one o'clock. Regular as clockwork."

[@duncanalmond7880]

Great video! Hi, Jps .... watching your reaction to this, plus videos of other places/countries on this side of 'the pond', as well as your own travel experiences, I can imagine 'YOU' producing this kind of content one day, once you have migrated away from the US and settled somewhere in Europe. 🙂

[@merkvandermeulen3978]

As an alternative to the excellent bus transit in the clip, the one with the cows in the background, there's the local Arriva railways as well, with departures of about every half hour to Leeuwarden, swiftly connecting you with friends in let's say Turin or Helsinki.😎

[@Kiritomens]

It's kinda crazy to see someone just filming in Alkmaar, Molentochtpad. I used to bike there on the daily, and used to hang out around that skate park. I still remember climbing up the roof of the school in the last shot hahaha.

[@BrazenNL]

Thank you for posting a link to the original video.

[@seluwka30]

uk london here. wish we had this kind of bike infrastructure here

[@ElmoAsmussen]

I grew up in Haarlem and yes, it IS better than Amsterdam. Happy to hear you liked it!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

I concur. But in my older generation there was an aversity against Amsterdam in Haarlem. It was seen as a chaotic Sodom and Gomorra.

[@buddy1155]

I grew up in Amsterdam and yes! Haarlem is better.

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

I grew up in Haarlem, and yes Amsterdam is much nicer. 🎉🎉🎉❤

[@suicidalbanananana]

Live in Haarlem, work in either, party in Amsterdam, best of both worlds.

[@TheKeystoneChannel]

I have lived in several countries, in Europe and outside of Europe only in Mexico, but I have always taken this side of my country for granted until I was in Mexico. What a different world compared to Europe in general. But even other countries in Europe don't have this manicured infrastructure like The Netherlands does. I still appreciate other countries in Europe equally.

[@jip5889]

Just last week I took a bus from Groningen to just outside Lauwersoog. Busses go about every two hours.

[@MsCass64]

I used to live in Harlingen its a wonderful warm town with great people. Now Im near Sneek another nice town and the turreted building over the canal in the video is called the Waterpoort.

[@bradsan]

We do have a lot of cars only the Netherlands isn't just focus on those cars but all road users pedestrians included. Everything is designed for safe use with help of the traffic rules and traffic measure. Also a lot of people use a bike or walk even when they have a car.

[@TheMetalChef38]

11:30 I live in a small town 9 km away from Diepenheim. And yeah, it's beautifull. Smallest city of Twente, it has like three of four castles and/or homesteads. A lot of scenic landscape and agricultural history.

[@ThysRoes]

The Dutch are very practical people. Bikes are very practical. That's the reason :)

[@charlescorbee9498]

The Lidl shop in Vathorst is the one where i go for my groceries! (Amersfoort)

[@koentjeeee2134]

In the netherlands you can get a ticket for honking if its not in a dangerous situation

[@Elvewizzy.]

Unless ur Turkish.

[@merkvandermeulen3978]

North America screwed up planning city sprawling and zoning, a long long time ago. Practically irreparable, yet increasingly unsustainable as well, from more than one angle. Or maybe any angle even.

[@corbeau-_-]

@@Elvewizzy. was gonna say, tuuuteren is pretty much 'accepted'. It's mostly cultural - everyone honking their car achieves little. Even them Turks know they shouldn't do it all the time as it loses all meaning. They go with the concentrated approach a few times a year, sort of like new years eve.

[@applejuices]

Wait you can? I need to call the police on those people then!

[@christianbell1357]

The reason i really love your channel is because you help me appreciate my country in ways i have just grown accustomed to. Do keep in mind though we are a small country and even though the US could adopt a lot of these infrastructure ideas, its way harder because the US is so huge.

[@666Maeglin]

every video not just bikes makes is amazing and well scripted

[@AnthondeVries]

24:20 that's just before opening time, 20min later it's clogged with rental boats and tourists. you don't want to live there.

[@patricktrakzel9657]

The problem is not only the infrastructure. It has to do with attitude as well. If you put a Dutch infrastructure in a place in North-America it would not work. In the Netherlands the car is not a status symbol. It is simply a means of transport. We choose the way we travel by convenience. Going on a bike or taking public transport is not only for the poor. In NA it is. There the car is a status symbol. If you go on a bike, or take public transport ( which is really bad ) to work, or the gym, wherever, it is seen as you being poor. In The Netherlands if you go by car and come back in the evening to find there is no way to park your car, we don´t go by car. Simple. The former Minister-President of the Netherlands lives/lived ( I don´t really know, and don´t care enough to find it out ) in the centre of The Hague. So he went to his work on his bike. The most convenient way. BTW he has a car, an old Saab.

[@la-go-xy]

However, it is possible to change, if enough people are interested. Give them the opportunity to choose... Problem usually is, people wait until everything is nice and safe and frequent, but the cost is too great and opposition comes, if bike lanes or busses aren't full instantly.

[@justdadstuff5171]

I'm a 44 years old Dutch guy, I remember the tail end of The Netherlands reconfiguring the road infrastructure. I've heard my parents grumble quite a lot about this street that was closed off from now and they had to take this-and-that roundabout way to get to whatever, why do they have to make it so inconvenient... And they were right. There were many small local measures that changed up things, that made traffic flow less logical, that led to bottlenecks (which got modified in turn, leading to...). It was a lot of hassle, with a lot of grumbling. Until it didn't. At one point the grumbling stopped, people were used to having to drive longer to the limited access points to city centers, they were used to parking being a hassle due to limited number of parking spots. From that point it completely turned around: now people are complaining at their local govt. because cars are driving too fast through this or that street and they demand traffic calming measures!

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

Oké.

[@jfw413]

I think I've seen imagery of the current prime minister cycling also. Anyways, the midset also matters; even if you're in a car now you're the cyclist in an other instance so they are one of us and not one of them even when you are in a car. As for public transport, especially busses, they are focused on getting you in and out of city centers. when you need to go between adjacent areas away from the center jou usually have a challenge. Example: I can bike to work in between 10 and 15 minutes. Car is about 5 minutes quicker (door to door, so, excluding walking time to and from nearby parking locations). Just walking is 50 minutes and bus can be either 5 minutes of actual bus time and 35 minutes waling to and from relevant bus stops or 55 minutes total using the nearest bus stops on both ends which still includes 15 minutes walking in total.

[@Blackadder75]

the PM would also have a bunch of fat Audi or BMW business sedans for work, for when he needs a car during his duties , but yeah in private he would just bike when that is more convenient

[@BMWHP2]

Thanks mate, about right. I worked for 50 years in Amsterdam, and we live near Alkmaar. We love to travel all around Netherlands, specially up North and East. West and South tend to be a bit on the crowdy side 🤣🤣> I must say, we have been to NY several times too, and that has its own charm.

[@clairesepter2725]

hihi new years eve was nice, I saw a lot of fireworks :) So nice to see you love Haarlem my hometown

[@adriandesauvanie]

Fascinating video to me, being a dual Canadian and Dutch citizen myself. Interesting observations!

[@HistoricFootballz]

As a Belgian teenager,I know in Belgium that inside the "Bebouwde kom" which translates to builded/urbanized centre you can only drive 50km/h and this exists in small city centres too In Walloonia, it's a little worse ruled because there are a lot of less urban regions there,Flanders is just overbuilded I think

[@CaptianInternet]

12:50 - Many Busses in rural areas have charging ports and free WiFi. Although, the WiFi is more or less obsolete since the network coverage is far better than the lousy WiFi in the Busses. The thing here is, you just wait a few minutes on a road, the bus picks you up and you can spend the time to your destination with anything else but driving. I love to read the news in public transport. If just saves so much time.

[@Schuimp1e]

Haha cool to see my biking route to work through Lent/Nijmegen in one of your videos 😁

[@klaasvanmanen8214]

12:39 You're right: many cities have bus lines for their own inhabitants to get around (to work, shops, train stations etc.) but there's also public transport at provincial level. These are so-called 'concessions' that transport companies can make a bid upon. The province then selects the one with the best price vs quality ratio. Concessions are usually awarded for a period of 10 or 15 years. These busses travel over longer distances throughout the province, usually ending at a main public transport hub, like an intercity train station, but during the trip you can see people getting on and off the bus everywhere, so they also act as a means to get to a neighboring village. Jutrijp is situated along the main provincial road from Lemmer to Sneek (Sneek has a train station), and is quite close to Sneek, so no wonder that so many busses, serving different lines, pass through Jutrijp.

[@TheVeganMantisGuy]

Hehe, I'm from a very small village Sint Philipsland in Zeeland with 2000 inhabitants. There's a bus every hour from 7 AM to 6 PM and none in the weekends. Though it's not the worst, since it's an island village connected by 1 bridge and other public transport doesn't get even near the village.

[@LarkspeedNL]

I was born in the UK and grew up in Canada, I have been living in The Netherlands for the last 20 years and it is by far the best place I have ever lived.

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

Those trains in the middle of the video are Swiss Stadler FLIRTs. 12 min intervals between buses is even good for London standards where suburban rail runs every 15-30 mins and buses also run every 10 mins or so on most routes.

[@Blackadder75]

every 12 minutes is a fluke, that little village must be on 3 major routes by chance, because otherwise it would have a few buses in the morning and afternoon for school kids and workers, and then only 1 per hour the rest of the day (and even that is not a given these days)

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

@Blackadder75 you must be talking about England and project to your experience to others. Because the town where I am from is served better by trains than Cambridge or Peterborough in the United England

[@Blackadder75]

@ no i am talking about the country in this video, the netherlands . we usually don't have busses every 12 minutes here in small villages

[@budapestkeletistationvoices]

@@Blackadder75 you don't usually have trains or buses in London every 12 mins.

[@sem8860]

I literally live in Ommen, the small town talked about in the video. it’s funny to see how someone can admire this town I live in so much while it’s boring for me hahaha

[@Arfhu]

as a dutch person it's so funny to see someone so amazed about something i find normal everyday😂

[@NotNateDiaZ]

15:56 Another thing that's really big here is recycling. If you look at the left of the screen, you see a guy tearing up and disposing, of a piece of cardboard. Just like bike lanes, these are everywhere. Usually somewhere central and close to a store and mostly at least one per village, depending on the size of the city.

[@henkvandervossen6616]

Snall towns maybe. But villages in the countryside often have once an hour or less

[@hoosful]

Not sure where you live bit i live on island above zeeland but even there its 30 min for the busses

[@BetsyEimers]

The bus-connection between my village and another village closeby is every half hour, ( trip 15 minutes) but only on weekdays during the day. In the evening and in weekends I have to travel via a city and it takes me 1,5 hour to get there.

[@tthijssen]

dont worry about pausing! we want to see and hear what you think, that’s why we watch :) greetings from Haarlem

[@annemieke186]

I have a feeling that you will be back in The Netherlands in the future... Bike-holiday perhaps, combining trains and rental bikes from the station. Not just bikes is a great channel. I had no idea about the bad infrastructure in the USA, people on bikes are very brave. He made a video about going to a hardware store NL versus USA on bike. I was shocked to be honest. Makes me very gratefull for what we have in The Netherlands.

[@clairesepter2725]

Please do a collab with Its Charlie Vest, he seems so sweet and loves the Netherlands too!!!

[@letheas6175]

Amsterdam is great, you just have to get off the few touristy paths/areas. Everyone in the Netherlands knows the best neighbourhoods are outside of the canal ring. And those neighbourhoods, I do enjoy more than Haarlem. Oh and even in the city center, there are so many undiscovered parts without tourists (that are coincidentally, much much more beautiful). I feel next time you should go with someone who is a local in Amsterdam. (if anyone would ever need a free, personal tourguide, let me know haha I love explaining and showing things about my city).

[@la-go-xy]

16:35 where people meet vs where metal meets

[@666Maeglin]

Sneek has a two two towered waterpoort, or water gate.. It is not a tunnel

[@Scarafax]

1:19 Phoenixstraat in Delft, my hometown...

[@remischmitt9308]

We have such good infrastructure because it is paid by our taxes. Yes, our tax is higher than in USA/Can, but it is used to make life nicer/easier for us.

[@viceroyzh]

How useful is it to compare the Netherlands with Canada? Not everyone lives in a small superflat country (where the sun seems to shine every day).

[@patrickhendrikskingston9303]

I'm from Amsterdam originally, but Amsterdam is totally ruined by tourism. Most Amsterdammers moved to cities above Amsterdam ( Purmerend, Hoorn, alkmaar) and to Almere and Lelystad in Flevoland.. i moved to Hoorn, a town with 75.000 inhabitants from which about 50.000 are import from Amsterdam.

[@T.O.P.]

Thank you.

[@Tjalie-j6i]

20:00 Alkmaar has its city rights for 760 years now. But it's been a large town going back to Roman times and has been inhabited for 9000 years before that as a collection of villages. So, yes, it's a city with about 112000 people living there.

[@davidozz4068]

haha I'm surprised you are so surprised 😊 ty!

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

I'm from the north of NL, Fryslân, but the busses here are really not riding every 15 minutes. If you are on a route with more larger towns you mostly have one every hour. But a route nearby doesn't have a bus on sundays. So forget the 15 minute busses.😊😊

[@pauldenby878]

The problem with cycling in the UK is that you will, at some point get your bike stolen. You couldn't leave your bike next to a remote bus stop. When one of my bikes was stolen, I was asked to come to the police station to identify a length of snipped chain (it wasn't mine).

[@dasja9966]

I laughed so hard at 'identifying a lenght of chain'. Theft is the same for the Netherlands. That's why we usualy have two bikes. One good bike for long trips. And a city'wreck' to take to high risk areas. As cheap as possible, if it looks pretty ratty even better, just needs to drive. Also: maybe you can hide a tracker on your bike. Safe travels and have a good week!

[@pauldenby878]

@@dasja9966 The best thing was that the policeman's name was PC Shackles! LOL

[@dasja9966]

@pauldenby878 it was a good story as is, but this made it so much better!😂

[@gunsnfuckingroses7242]

8:15. Lol.. This is where my mother lives.. I live in Rotterdam though but i have to say the big cities aren't fun anymore. Gun and drug violence is growing. I even sometimes joking by saying that The Netherlands is looking more like America every day 😂 Anyways nice video, it's cool to see Americans and Canadians or w/e loving my country. ❤

[@mikeatlantis351]

Not sure when you went but i am glad you enjoyed your stay.

[@armandovanhaaren9823]

I've seen pictures of cities in the US before car centric infrastructure was installed and it is a difference between night and day

[@obelic71]

Remember due to the close to each other density of the town, villages and cities ( often a 15 min max drive to the next town/village) the way we commute / travel has to differ form the US/Canada. Ofcourse we use cars (11 million for 17 million people) and love them but we use them more in a practical sense. We even transport our bicycles on mass on the towhook of our cars! And public transport is often combined with cartravel on ( P&R ) bustops and trainstations. In general bus/train services depend on the route and time of day. A bus/train line between 2 bigger cities also services the smaller bus/train stops in the small towns on the route. Often those "middle in nowhere" stops are strategicly placed in a midpoint to serve several towns and villages surrounding it. In very small comunities in some regions of our country side public transport can be challenging. A driven by volunteers small community bus/taxiservice runs 1-2 times an hour on those very rural routes. Those community busses have the same livery and have also a line number like normal public transport busses but have only 8 seats and are staffed and maintained by volunteers. In the early, late and of hours a car is standing by for just service on demand. I also drive as a volunteer with the community bus or my own car to uphold that service.

[@benjamine3890]

"this guy has been al over the Netherlands, thats insane" Made me chuckle hehehehe. You can do probably that in a day or 2. Experiencing it is a different story though. This was after the island/farm part. There is also an island of the Netherlands that does not allow cars even. Just bikes, and walking.

[@dasja9966]

Schiermonnikoog. Heerlijk daar! Snel weer eens naar toe!

[@sanmama1602]

Ik kom uit de Achterhoek en heb gestudeerd. Gewoond in Zwolle en Groningen en op Texel. Nu in Leeuwarden.

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

Arme man.😂

[@NecramoniumVideo]

The biggest problem other countries have, is that they build their current infrastructure around cars, most of our towns and cities grew or were modernized with cycling build into the infrastructure. We also have the advantage of being a small country so its sometimes better to just take the bike. And when you see cows in the Netherlands, you are also driving on a highway, and a road, in a train, bike lane, dirt road, forests, lol...

[@zweitsedewit2703]

I live in a village with a very long name: Gasselternijveen, near - I am not kidding- Gasselternijveenschemond. 2000 inhabitants, but also a busstation and in the morning and rushhour 4 busses every hour.

[@Blackadder75]

690 inhabitants in 2023 ... did you count the cattle as well? oh wait, you listed 2 village names, I got confused with the smaller one

[@timothybird4264]

I’ve seen some you tube videos on a channel called joe & nic’s road trip While it’s not about travel infrastructure I feel genuinely depressed watching it the state of some of these places

[@endurancegoliath4569]

hmmmm Jutrijp has a bus every 12 minutes? Must be, because it's so close to Sneek, because I can assure you; in these small villages in rural area's there's not every 12 minutes a bus. More like 6 over the whole day ( last bus around 19:30-20:00) and none over the weekend. And some villages don't even have a dedicated busschedule anymore. People have to call in for a bus, that then will arrive after around 1 to 2 hours. I used to live in a village with around 400 in the same province as Jutrijp and back then a bus would arrive 7 times a day and around 4 times on saturday......years later and that now has been reduced to around 5 times a day and none in the weekend...Jutrijp is an exception, because these small villages are normally not getting that many busses per day. For most villages in rural area's it's more 1 bus every 2 to 3 hours or none even

[@bekhouwe8888]

Nice!! I live close to alkmaar and also went to liquicity festival.

[@Timotarius_]

I am Dutch myself , and let me bring a reality check , public transport is not great everywhere , i don’t live in the city so i only get 1 bus going by my street every hour until 6 pm , so whenever i go to the city for the cinema like let’s say in groningen, and i want to go back home i will have to take a bus from there to whatever is closest to my place which is like an hour away by foot. Its do-able but it should be so much better. It actually used to be better but it is getting worse here. City is fantastic though for transport , no shocker there.

[@MrGradje62]

What are we (the Dutch) complaining about. Really love to see your enthusiasm!

[@roykliffen9674]

Not Just Bikes also has some great videos about North-American zoning laws; by only allowing single-family homes without any other types, like shops, restaurants, sports locations, schools, etc. you'll HAVE to drive to get anywhere.

[@natuurfotograaf]

It's a great video and I love your reaction to it. And being Dutch I would love to say: 'Yes, we are great. We built an amazing infrastructure.' But the reason why the infrastructure is like that, has nothing to do with our mindset. It has to do with how densely populated our country is. Yes, it is great that even a small town has great infrastructure for bicycles, but that is _because you can cycle to the next town easily_! If these cities were remote, no one would cycle here either. Yes, we have some great infrastructure for cycling, but let's not make this about culture. It's just because our entire country would fit 12 times in the state of Texas. Even Florida is twice the size! I travel from the eastern part of the country (by car) to the western part of the country just to have some coffee with family. It takes about 1,5 hours. That's half the time it takes to get from Houston to Austin! So, yeah. I love my country, please come visit us. But don't put our infrastructure on a pedestal.

[@Tuinierenopstrobalen]

24:20 I remember inviting you to come over and visit! Next time skip Haarlem and the 'Randstad'. I'll give you a free tour around Giethoorn and other beautiful places near there!

[@on-the-pitch-p3w]

No thx. Too much Asians who can’t controle a boat. 😂

[@Tuinierenopstrobalen]

@on-the-pitch-p3w 🤣

[@Beuk-jx1dc]

You should visit the green hart of the netherlands , big cities small villages cows farms everywhere , iam sure You love it there , its has beautifull nature , and its a great place to live , specialy places like oudewater with the witch scale montfoort gouda utrecht , in dutch het groene hart van nederland

[@stephanvanlunenburg4930]

a bus that comes every 12 minutes is really not everywhere in the Netherlands. I live in a city and the nearest bus runs every 15 minutes. at least if the bus comes because it often doesn't show up

[@Bramfly]

Happy greetings from Utrecht, do come back !

[@nfnworldpeace1992]

haarlem amsterdam was the first trainline in the netherlands since 1839 :)

[@jaccohoeve2783]

hey Ermelo..thats where I live. What a small world.

[@hardyvonwinterstein5445]

I lived there for about a year. On the Generaal Spoorkazerne, 176 zaucie. A very religious village with nice woodland.

[@jaccohoeve2783]

@ yeah it’s a nice little town .. with all services you need

[@crazymonkeyVII]

Ah Ermelo, the nice but boring village next to the town of Harderwijk 😋. The forest and heath land there are nice though!

[@Games8-D]

I think every town in holland hass a region where you rather not be. I grew op in Breda. I new where not to go with out my parents. Now I live in Etten leur. Here are also places where you rather not be unless you have to.

[@JanuzTrance68]

Biggest problem in Canada and the U.S. is that all of the stores, schools, restaurants, cafe's, local small businesses like hairdressers etc. are located (too) far away from where (most) people actually live.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

If I have a favourite Dutch city, it must be Leiden. It's outdoor market is great, for example.

[@kevincarroll1983]

I'd love to see you watching some videos from documentaries about 999/A&E etc in UK.. lots of great docs on here..

[@christophedejonge918]

Haarlem is very nice. I think Leiden is similar but better, the latter is a University city. That makes a big difference in terms of culture, for example.

[@Rutger79]

I live in Haarlem, nice video

[@johanschellingerhout5242]

i like your vids.also when you visit Holland,come again back,then visit the midle of Holland,like Apeldoorn our The Veluwe,so nice here and you wil see that the people are also very nice,and willing too help you

[@ThysRoes]

I love my car, but I also love car-calming infrastructure. It's just the mindset and acceptance of driving around in a potential murder weapons - so while I still like to hit the gas on the highway - I yield and give deference to peds and cyclists and anyone outside my car alike. My experience of congestion is less in the Netherlands than my experiences in the US, where gridlock is daily in many cities. ( where there are also a lot of completely clueless drivers). It's also nice to have 2 or 3 or 4 alternatives often. (Car, bike, shared scooter, walk, metro, bus)

[@pietjegaatjeniksaan739]

The popular name of the Netherlands is HOLLAND. From 1807 to 1810 the name of the Netherlands was "THE KINGDOM OF HOLLAND."

[@Frahamen]

Except Zeeland and in particular Zeeuws Vlaanderen where it still sucks to get around without a car.

[@framegote5152]

Watching my country through the eyes of a North American makes me realise I never think about safety in trafic (or anywhere for that matter). Of course there are exceptions, but this is how it is in the whole country. I think that if you want to compare our coutry to the USA, you should think about it as a state, so a lot smaller, but then with a government that takes care of its citizens and regulates a lot of things.

[@tomdebruin2512]

Yes I was in the States.Yes it was car centric. But is the Netherlands better? Cycle infrastructure is nice, but not everywhere. Maybe in "The Randstad." But the rest?.... Public Transport, in my town every half hour. If your'e living in rural villages nearby every two hours. Going by bike? There is something as wind blowing ahead, the wind is blowing hard. I'm still happy to have my own car, like my neighbors.