This is your chance to go to Amsterdam! Check out the contest tab on the Holland Facebook page (or laugh at some of the hilarious entries!). All you have to do is Go Orange for Holland and upload a picture of yourself displaying your orange spirit for the final World Cup match. The most stunning display of orange-hued flair will win two tickets to Amsterdam (from any major international airport). The contest started yesterday and ends on Tuesday at noon - the grand prize winner will then be chosen by public vote.

Temperatures keep going up over here in the Netherlands, set to hit 30C (86F), which for this part of the world is quite dramatic. Naturally with all this hot weather, people are flocking to the beaches. With so many people heading to the coastline, you're unlikely to find a beach that isn't packed. Still there are ways to find something off the beaten path, and here is one of my favorites:

From Amsterdam Central Station take the train to Alkmaar, if memory serves it is around a 40 minute ride. In Alkmaar find the bus outside the station that will take you to a town called Bergen. In Bergen what I like to do is rent a bike for the day (about 8€) and ride through the dunes. The dunes are awesome and there are a few choice spots to stop and have a drink.

Once you're through the dunes you arrive at the beach, Bergen aan Zee. A nice beach that is by no means private, but potentially with a bit more space for you and your towel. Plus this fine beach has plenty of activities and places for you to grab food and drink. All the ingredients for a great beach day on hot Holland days.

Schiphol airport is full of fun treats - museums, a casino, lots of shops and plenty of food and drink. But they're now offering a new, more educational option: the world's first airport library! From Expatica:

The project is being set-up by the ProBiblio Dutch public library organisation with money from the ministry of education, culture and science. According to project leader Dick van Tol, the collection will be very diverse. "It will be a multimedia venture and will include different aspects of Dutch culture. There won't just be books, but also films and music."

To appeal to a more global audience, most materials will be in English. And although travelers can't take away library materials (that would be tricky!) there are some digital materials available for download.

Look for the airport library to open at the beginning of July.

Greetings from Novosibirsk, Russia, where my trans-Siberian journey continues. Watching the news in between stops and cities Im traveling through, obviously I know all about the trouble with the volcanic ash and the airline industry all over Europe. Strangely enough this happens at a time when Im traveling almost everyday across Russia... except that my travels are by bus and train.

All this reminds me of the great transport network of trains and buses we have in Europe, so that even when airplanes are not an option, there are ways! Unfortunately few people travel 36 to 40 hours by train as Im about to. Busy lives and limited time does not seem to allow for it. Me, I've got a date with the Trans-Siberian... next stop.. Irkutsk and lake Beikal, the deepest lake in the world!

See you all on the other side.... of Siberia.

Ok well its not a direct connection; Greetings from Siberia! Yes we trippists aren't always in the Netherlands, like any good .NL residents, we travel. In keeping with that tradition, Im traveling through Siberia, and I wanted to share a few nuggets of wisdom regarding the process of getting from the Netherlands to Russia.

Traditionally in the travel world, people love to make jokes about Aeroflot Russian airlines. This might be because in the past there have been accidents, or because with such a large country they have to cover alot of territory and they've surely got some old planes in service.

That said, if you travel from Amsterdam or, for example, Paris on an Aeroflot plane to Moscow, you'll find yourself on a very new plane and met with extremely good service. Perhaps it is because of the bad reputation they gained since the end of the USSR, or perhaps they had a management epiphany - whatever the reason, we traveling from Europe to Russia are benefiting.

In summary, if you are someone planning a trip to Amsterdam, and then thinking to continue on to Russia.. first.. I admire your taste in travel. Second, don't ignore aeroflot, their prices might work for you and the service if definitely on the rise. Once you get into Russia and take a domestic flight.. well... Ill save that for another post!

You've heard the announcements before, it was popular in the early '00's for city's around the world to announce they were going to have free wifi citywide. Then the years went by and companies pulled out of the projects, went out of business, or they turned it into a pay-only wifi option.

This week the city of Rotterdam announced that they're getting back into the free public wifi game. As of January 2010, next month, anyone on the street in the city center, will be able to access the citywide wifi system. They haven't mentioned any limitations on this system other than the fact that for those indoors, the signal will not work or will be weak at best.

I'm especially happy about this as in previous years I've heard from tourists who have their laptops or wifi-enabled mobile devices who are looking for a specific address in Rotterdam but could not find a convenient place with open wifi. Looks like the wait is almost over, next thing you know we will all be sitting around in public parks and street corners checking our email and updating facebook.

The NS has an exciting announcement: More fast trains! Check out the screen shot from their website ("Uw reistijd vanaf Amsterdam" means "Your travel time from Amsterdam").

This is great news! Amsterdam to Paris in just over three hours? Finally a weekend in Paris is becoming more of a reality. And Brussels in less than two hours? It's great!

However, one small note of caution: The Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris train, so far, is notorious for delays and cancellations. On my journeys down south I've almost always had a major problem. Let's hope the HiSpeed can change all that, and make train travel in this part of Europe even more fast and convenient.

They're still a long way from flying a commercial airliner on only biofuel, but this week KLM did fly a commercial jet with some biofuel. Out of the 4 engines of the 747 in question, 1 was powered by a 50% biofuel mix.

With a handful of government officials, industry representatives and environmental organization leaders, the plane circled the Netherlands. KLM's CEO Peter Hartman was on board and told the press he was pleased to be taking the first steps to switching commercial flights to biofuels, but that the future of biofuels for air transport depended on finding suppliers that could handle the needs of such a large airline.

As we approach 2010, we're now just a little closer to the day where when you board a plane on your way to or from the Netherlands, your trip will be made possible by fuel made from plants. But, not yet.

Worth trying! This contest was added today on the Holland fan page on Facebook :

The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions is partnering with the Lloyd Hotel, known for its support of innovation and design, to send you to Amsterdam, but they want to know what it is worth to you!

The winning submission will be on display at the Lloyd Hotel, and you get to experience Amsterdam's stunning canals, incredible nightlife and amazing attractions firsthand.

To enter, submit a photo of a possession you are willing to trade in exchange for:
Airfare for two to Amsterdam
Three nights accommodation at the Lloyd Hotel
Dinner for two at the Lloyd Hotel
Daily breakfast at the Lloyd Hotel

If you're willing to part with something near and dear to your heart, you may be on your way to Amsterdam!

As it often does, ultimate frisbee is taking me to Nijmegen this weekend, where Ill participate in the annual Scream of the Seagull frisbee tournament.

Looking up things to do for someone NOT playing frisbee in Nijmegen, I learned about the Valkhov Museum, dedicated to Art and Archeology.

Currently the museum features an exhibit entitled: Catherine's world. Devotion, demons and daily life in the 15th century. :

the museum will now present the most important late medieval manuscript from the Northern Netherlands: the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (c. 1440). This anonymous masterpiece from The Morgan Library & Museum in New York will be disbound for the occasion so that more than 100 pages can be viewed separately in Nijmegen.

Not sure I will have enough time in between games, but at the very least its one more thing to do when in Nijmegen that eventually either you or I can look into. Opening hours can be found on their website.