Does this mean that Stewie Mac didn't actually pay for the trip, since I assume the readers would be programmed to reject any cards with under EUR20?
cough, cough. I believe that I didn't. Sorry.
I'm going to AMS next week. Would the cheapest way to travel still be to pay the EUR2 fee plus 2 × 2.60 Schiphol - Zuid, and a GVB 24 hour card from there? Zuid seems to be the cheapest metro station to get to from Schiphol unless there is another way I don't know about.
I don't go to NL very often (less than once a year), so paying EUR27.50 for a card is silly. I already have about 20 transport smartcards for various cities/countries, which are inevitably not with me when I go there since I don't bring all of them around the world.
If I had known that I needed a minimum eur20 credit, then I too probably wouldn't have bothered. I go to NL more often than that, but I doubt that it's more than 3 times a year, and needing to effectively leave eur16 on it each time I leave the country is painful, for a Scotsman!