I recently travelled to the Netherlands on an official visit. It was my first International visit after the pandemic. The earlier visit was in Feb-Mar 2020 when I visited the US a few days before lockdown. Overall, I must say that things are almost getting back to normal. In this post, let me share some experiences.
Visa
Schengen visa has a long waiting period this year. People have been facing a lot of difficulties in getting a Schengen visa. Since I went through the corporate program, I could get the Schengen visa in less than 15 days. I had to get my booster shot as my second vaccination had passed the 270-day timeline.
Onward journey
It was a smooth journey. I took the Emirates flight via Dubai. During check-in, I had to show my vaccine certificate. I saw a lot of students travelling for higher studies. It was surprising to see many heading to European universities.
Transit in Dubai was a breeze. It took less than a minute to cross security. They have advanced scanners that do not require people to put their laptops and other electronic devices separately. Indian security is light years behind on such modern stuff. Anyway, Dubai airport was always efficient in handling transit passengers.
We had to wear masks during our flight journey between Bengaluru-Dubai-Amsterdam. It was an inconvenience on long flights.
Immigration at Amsterdam airport was quick, but I had to wait more than an hour for my baggage. It was an Airbus A380 flight with 500+ passengers!
At Netherlands
Nobody in the Netherlands wears masks outside the airport. It is also not mandated anywhere. Everything is back to normal. Restaurants were full of diners, hotels were busy with tourists, and public transport was normal. Train workers were also calling for strikes!!
I observed a few new changes in the last few years.
- Many places do not accept cash and have moved to various forms of digital payment. India also has made giant leaps in digital payment, but cash is still accepted. Life will be difficult in the Netherlands if someone goes with loads of hard money and not debit/credit cards!!
- I saw many people on the road with online food delivery. It looks like it has picked up big time.
- Electric vehicles are a common sight in Amsterdam. Many parking lots have dedicated EV charging.
Return journey
I had heard about the long waiting queues at the Schiphol Airport. Airlines Asked people to arrive at the airport four hours before the flight. Things were better on the day I travelled back. I had to wait for30 minutes for check-in as many people had arrived four hours before the flights causing a spike in check-in. The security check took another 30 minutes. While Schiphol airport has modern equipment, a lack of manpower causes delays. Out of 16 security lines, seven of them were closed due to the shortage of staff. Naturally, it caused a pileup.
India has this requirement to fill up Air Suvidha (Online form available). Emirates staff asked for this form along with the vaccine certificate during check-in.
I had to show the Air Suvidha form at the counter in Bengaluru. The person did not even look at it properly before putting the stamp on the passport! The rest of the process was standard.
Summary
Overall, it was a good experience. I hope we get back to the normal days of travel in the coming days without having to worry about masks, vaccine certificates etc.
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