Today I was at the Google office in Amsterdam, to shadow a training session directed to some of my users (aka, the users of the project I work on). Even though the training wasn’t directed at me, I learned an important lesson. Use the trains!

To give a simple example:

• Taxi from Schiphol Airport to the Google office (near the WTC): 40 minutes in a traffic jam along the highway and 35.60 euros.
• Train from the Google office to Schiphol : 10 minutes and 2.60 euros, plus 5 minutes walking from the office to the station.

WTF?

For the next time: remember to stay at least one night… sunny day, warm temperature, beatyful city … and less than 10 hours between the arrival and the departure flight. Definitely not the way to go.