Thank you.

Picking up and dropping off the car at AMS is a possible option.

I may stay with my current plan, though. I'm not uncomfortable driving in large cities...we live near LA...and I have driven in other parts of Europe as well. I'm not interested in driving in Amsterdam central city, per se, but I believe I can make it out of and back into the city fairly well.

The rental car is on Prins Hendrikkade across from the Centraal Station. I would anticipate driving north/west on the main streets and connecting with Haarlemmerweg/S103 to head towards Haarlem and the Lisse area. In Haarlem, I had anticipated parking at the Centraal Station and walking from there to avoid driving in the central city.

Returning to Amsterdam after visiting Zaandam, I would anticipate taking the N203 heading south and connecting to the Nieuwe Hemweg/S203 back to the Centraal Station and the car drop-off.

This appears to be a fairly direct way with minimum city driving.

Am I correct in my thinking? Am I missing something and underestimating how bad the driving will be given the route I'm thinking about?

Thank you for your help.