A taxi driver on the square in front of Schiphol charges 40 euros per person for a ride to Leiden, about thirty kilometers away. It can accommodate eight people. The taxi is immediately full. At the airport it is announced that only official taxis should be used. A long line of stranded travelers is waiting outside – nothing compared to the queues in Efteling.
Train traffic in the Netherlands was seriously affected by the winter weather on Monday. There will also be no trains running to and from Schiphol for hours, although the NS reports that the first trains will start running again carefully in the course of the afternoon. Most flights from Schiphol have been cancelled. Stranded travelers would be taken by bus to Haarlem and Leiden, among others. No bus has left Schiphol yet, one sees NRCeditor on site.
It is also busy inside, in the arrival hall. Almost every electrical outlet in the airport is occupied. People need power for their laptop or phone. All tables in the restaurants are full. Here and there someone is sent away who doesn’t order anything. They keep places occupied for people who want to buy food or drinks, it sounds.
Several snowmen have been made outside. The price of that one expensive taxi has now been reduced to 50 euros per person.
Travelers wait for a taxi at Schiphol.
Photo Raffaella Huizinga/NRC
One reads a book, the other checks the phone or listens to music while waiting.
Photo Raffaella Huizinga/NRC
A snowman on the square in front of Schiphol.
Photo Raffaella Huizinga/NRC
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Code orange in large parts of the country due to snow and slippery conditions, train traffic around Amsterdam has come to a standstill
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