"Mainport NL, flying in (and out) at... " a Schiphol Travel Page by Pavlik_NL

Welcome to Schiphol, mainport Holland (preferably The Netherlands) and also known as Amsterdam International Airport. This is the place where some of you will enter our little country and therefor I will make this page an informative one. Maybe it helps to prepare you a little, as Schiphol is one of the largest airports in Europe and can be quite dazzling for some. However, when you speak English one thing is off your mind. There will be no lingual-problem, as there is English written everywhere. I have had some occasions that I even had to speak English in the shops, as the people behind the counter didn't know Dutch! For others, there are also many signs that are logical to understand. With this guide you will have some extra information and will find the whole of The Netherlands before your feet.

KLM, the "Koninklijk Luchtvaart Maatschappij" (Royal Air Company) was the world's first civil aircraftcarrier, flying within the Netherland and to our colonies in the Caribic, Indonesia and Suriname. Also bringing mail to the many emigrated Dutch throughout the continents. KLM is still a considerable strong airliner that is already for many decades within the top ten of the best in service. In advertisement KLM distingueses itself from the others, by using a graceful swan as symbol. The campaign is one of the better.

One of the greatest things of Schiphol is that it is perfectly connected in all ways to the rest of The Netherlands. Under the airport are the platforms of the trains, connecting with Amsterdam Central Station within 15 minutes or The Hague in less then half an hour. As Schiphol is situated within the "Randstad" the larger towns of The Netherlands surround it. By car Amsterdam is 15 minutes away (excl. parking which will take half an hour extra (-: ). Haarlem: 10 minutes. Utrecht: 30 minutes. The Hague: 20 minutes. Rotterdam: 30 minutes.
Furthermore in front of Schiphol Plaza (see General tips) there are bus-platforms and taxi-places that are always having cabs ready (no annoying taxidrivers that await you in the airport itself). Here also the hotel-coaches stop and take you to your preebooked hotels in Amsterdam or anywhere else.

Schiphol - of course - also connects to hundreds of other airport in the world, but about that ... I will not need to explane further.