There is a minibus from Zanderij to Paramaribo. It goes hourly from the petrol station, maybe 50 Meters from the airport.

I tried to get this minibus but was not lucky. I waited from 15:50 to 17:00 and no bus showed up. So I went back to the airport to ask for shuttles. The flight from Amsterdam was about to arrive and I was told that the shuttle leaves around 19:00 (when all the passengers have arrived). So I went out again and walked to the bus stop on main road right where all the traffic from the airport passes. I got a ride from a local guy returning from the airport to Paramaribo. He asked for 100 SRD and I accepted it; I was so lucky just to get away. I could have probably picked a tourist bus returning from a national park but I was to slow to react.

About the local minibus I got mixed reports. Some one said it should leave at 17:30 and another at 18:00.

It' s a very long way to Paramaribo and if you do this trip at this time of the early evening it is also a rush hour. In a local minibus it would have taken ages!

So, from what I learned it is risky to rely on the local minibus. The shuttle buses leave when the airports have landed and there are not many arrivals. So if you miss the shuttle after your flight you may need to wait long for another shuttle. (In my case it would have been almost three hours.)

What is you check in time for the Amsterdam flight? If it is two hours and the Norwegian Airlines flight is late arriving this could be tight. I am assuming they are two completely separate bookings and Easy Jet won't wait for you if you are delayed.

Like richiavo, I would play safe and either get a flight the day before OR book a later flight to Amsterdam.

I think you should re-read the original post.You are going in the reverse direction.

What is you check in time for the Amsterdam flight? If it is two hours and the Norwegian Airlines flight is late arriving this could be tight. I am assuming they are two completely separate bookings and Easy Jet won't wait for you if you are delayed.

Like richiavo, I would play safe and either get a flight the day before OR book a later flight to Amsterdam.

Land in Schipol airport and go to Leiden
Relax and walk around Leiden. Stay overnight in Leiden (any suggestions for places of stay?We prefer home stays/ bed and breakfast so that we get to meet local people and interact with them)
Day 2
Take a bus to Keukenhof. Come back to Leiden and take train to Kinderdjik
(can we carry our luggage and leave it somewhere in the bus station in keukenhof ? so that we don't have to go back to Leiden)
Overnight stay in Kinderdjik
Day 3
Explore Rotterdam . Come back to Kinderdjik
Day 4
Take a guided tour to The Hague and Delft (would there be guided tours from Kinderdjik ? or so we have to go and stay else where? ) Overnight stay in either Kinderdjik or as you may suggest
Day 5
We can either go to Monnikendam or Edam (or you can suggest any quaint villages nearby)
Day 6
Take train from Kinderdjik or where ever we stay previous day and go to Maastricht. Explore that area , perhaps Aachen
Day 7

Take the 7 hour train to Black forest. Stay overnight in Black forest (is there any alternative to reach black Forest area faster?)
Day 8 , 9
Black forest , explore black Forest.
Day 10
Take 6 and half hours train from Black forest area to Zwolle (or to Deventer? one of the two)
Stay overnight in Zwolle/ Deventer (is this is a good idea? or where else can we stay as a stop over before going to Geithooorn?)
Day 11
Explore Zwolle / Deventer and then take train to Geithoorn. Overnight stay in Geithoorn
Day 12
Explore Geithoorn. Also go to Vehuwe and come back. Stay one more night in Geithoorn
Day 13
Go to Orchideeen Hoeve.Spend the day there.
Take train to Utrecht. Meet with friends there. Overnight stay in Utrecht
Day 14
Explore Amsterdam
Overnight stay in Utrecht
Day 15

Explore some more of Amsterdam and take flight back to Hyderabad

Oh - and be very careful out in the streets. It's like a warzone with drunk and sober people lighting their own fireworks, and self-made bombs. Accidents do happen to the users and to bystanders, with hundreds of people nationwide ending up in hospitals every year with lost eyes and hands and such, and usually also at least one dead. I avoid going outside during the racket. A few years ago a stray rocket also
got lodges in the scarf of a friend and she was able to remove it just on time before it exploded. But she did come back inside with a black smear on her cheek.

Better celebrate NYE in a whole other country than the Netherlands... I love Amsterdam but 31 Dec is the worst day of the year to be here in my opinion.

#1. I've never bought a RTW ticket before, just point to point and cars/buses/trains in between. Kayak has some creative routeings I'd never thought of, e.g., Brisbane to Nadi, to San Francisco to Vancouver, and on some leg using RyanAir (ugh). I was looking for more major/comfortable airlines, so then KLM, Virgin, Lufthansa, etc come into the mix, but of course you usually have to go via their hub city, Amsterdam or somewhere which lengthens the travel time.

If nervous about travelling, especially alone, the best way to overcome this is to become familiar with a particular town or region and not have to deal with different languages, customs, ticketing systems, transport systems, etc, too frequently. In your circumstances, as you will likely have about 12 nights on the ground, I would select three places within the same broad geographic area (say max 2-3 hours by train apart). Europe is chock full of wonderful places to visit without crossing the continent. The stress from travel comes from travelling from A to B, finding your hotel, figuring out the logistics, when you're not familiar. Reduce those things and you have a much better time. It is a myth that you'll experience more if you move on constantly - you just experience differently. In fact you are more likely to learn more about where you are visiting if you slow down. Amsterdam to Rome in two weeks is crazy in my view.

So start with the place which appeals to you the most and work from there. Maybe that's Rome? Then pick two other places that aren't too far away. And stay in the city that you are departing for home from, last.

As for booking in advance, I would. Use a site like hostelworld or booking.com. Not having to worry about where you'll sleep will be easier. And the best places sell first. It doesn't sounds to me that you're aiming for the sort of holiday where you will just roam from place to place without at least a rough plan. Although having said that, if travelling in February/March there should be less competition for a place to stay, assuming you don't hit some sort of festival.

If you conclude that you'd prefer to travel with others, you may find a place on a tour but choose carefully. Set your criteria on what would make a good tour for you and seek one out with those factors in mind. Above all, I personally would choose a tour with a maximum of around 12-14 people and preferably travelling by public transport. If you would like some suggestions, we can do that, although most people on this forum travel independently.

Hi all,
Please excuse me if this is a silly question or if this has been asked before.
In September, I am planning to go to China for three weeks, flying from Amsterdam-Hong Kong-Chengdu and returning from Hong Kong directly. In my passport I have one pair of stamps from Lebanon, which I visited earlier this year for ten days. I have read that having Turkish stamps in your passport makes it harder to get a visa and that this could also apply for some countries in the Middle-East, so I am wondering: could the Lebanese stamps cause issues when applying for the Chinese visa?
Thanks!