A day at the seaside

If you are looking for a day-out, perhaps with the kids, you could try Zandvoort Aan Zee a small seaside town just a few minutes drive from Haarlem, and close to Den Haag en Amsterdam.

You can take the train from Haarlem or drive. Parking costs about €2.20/hour and there is plenty of on-street parking right by the beach.

There is also a large national-park just to the north of the town Nationaal Park Zuid-Kennemerland.

N201 extension opens today Friday 16th May 2014

After at least two years of work the tunnel under the river Amstel linking the new N201 with the Mijdrecht and the A2 is finally complete. This should be a great help to anyone in Hoofdorp or Aalsmeer who needs to get to the A2, but does not want to go through the A4/A9 junction which is a notorious choke-point during the rush-hour.

http://www.dichtbij.nl/amstelland/webregio-tv/artikel/3511152/nieuwe-n201-inclusief-aquaduct-binnenkort-volledig-open.aspx

Staying up to date with local events

If you are like me you have a NEE/NEE sticker on your letterbox in order to avoid receiving a ton of junk mail each day. If so why not take a look at this site: http://www.dichtbij.nl/ It is a great source of local news and can also be used to help when learning Dutch.

International Banking

As the economy starts to improve here in the Netherlands, perhaps it is a good time to review your finances. I recently visited the ExPatica Job Fair and as a result they send me this link for advice in English:

https://www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/international-clients/expat/index.html

I am sure all the banks do this, however it never hurts to get some free, if not necesarily impartial, advice.

Applying for a job in the Netherlands

This site contains lots of useful advice and tips on how to create a Dutch CV and to apply for jobs in NL: https://www.werk.nl/werk_nl/werknemer/eu/working-netherlands/applications