Part 7: Celebrating carnival in the Netherlands
Hotel: staying with family

I was happy to finally sit in the train, even though I was completely exhausted after the run through Schiphol Airport to catch my train to Rotterdam Central Station. Normally I am not a hasty person and would take it easy – but as today is Carnival Sunday I desperately wanted to be on time for the big parade. Given the delay on my inbound KLM flight and the endless taxi ride on Schiphol's Polderbaan to the gate, it would be a coin toss at best!

The train connections from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to many destinations South has made tremendous improvements since I last used it some five years ago. A special intercity train now uses the same high speed railway line towards Rotterdam which is also used by the high speed Thalys trains to Paris and the Eurostar to London. These “IC Direct Trains” as they are marketed are however hauled by a normal electric locomotive and don't reach Japanese bullet train speeds of 300kph. Still, at around 160-180kph, they shave off some 30-40 minutes of the normal travel time it took me in the past to go down south.

At Rotterdam Central Station it was an easy change of trains to take me onwards to the Southern Dutch city of Tilburg where my family lives.


The intercity train which would take me from Rotterdam to Tilburg

For those not wanting to use ineffective ticket machines (many outside Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport don't even take foreign credit cards) or wanting to queue at counters, I highly advise booking tickets online and just print the pdf file. Tickets are valid the entire day on any train you want (except for ICE/Thalys/Eurostar high speed services) as domestic Dutch trains don't have seat reservations and you can just grab any seat you want.

My family was awaiting me at the station in Tilburg for a quick swap of baggage. After a short ten-minute talk I gave them my luggage, and in return they brought me my carnival outfit so I could go straight to the parade – which by this hour was already well halfway!

I kept my arrival silent to all except my family members and one of my Dutch pals with whom I was in constant touch during the train ride, as I wanted to keep my arrival silent for the rest of my friends as a surprise. Needless to say, their reaction when I tapped them on their shoulder when I arrived at their location at one of the parade streets was priceless.

Luckily, the carnival parade was still going on when I arrived so I could catch some glimpses of it.



Carnival, traditionally a Catholic festival with pagan influences, is celebrated in winter (dates varying each year, but always in February or March) in the two southernmost Dutch provinces (Noord Brabant and Limburg). While local traditions can vary hugely from town to town and there are big differences between the two provinces, there are a few factors the festival has in common.

Some would say that carnival is all about getting drunk, flirting and partying. While for many revellers indeed these are important things and the party can be wild fun – carnival is much bigger than just this. For a total of five days (Friday until Tuesday) the cities and towns come to a standstill. But even three months before, there are run-up parties and traditions leading to the main event. Some float builders even work for an entire year on their creations. During the parade, young and old are on the streets to party, to catch up or just to admire the floats.

The idea behind carnival is a giant reversal of roles. For the duration, the Mayor symbolically hands over the keys of the town to the person elected as Prince Carnival, who heads the Council Of Eleven which organises all carnival activities (but for most also have a big symbolic function). People on the streets dress up in a wild variety of different costumes. In my region, people either dress up in an idiotic or sexy way (for example, in a duck costume or as a sexy nurse) or come with their own creation. Most locals however, dress up in a traditional blue farmer's overall and black hat, which are often fully covered with emblems from previous carnival celebrations. They also wear orange-and-green scarves or similar accessories (it being the colours of the city during carnival) to set them apart from people from different cities.

Carnival suits and parade floats are often designed to criticise society. It is the time where you can freely mock whatever you want: celebrity figures, politics and politicians or whatever else you fancy to ridicule. The image below is from a carnival float used in Dusseldorf, Germany, which was made to mock Brexit and British PM Theresa May. For those uninitiated in carnival you get the point what it is about it's all about using humour to criticise all kinds of societal issues!


A Brexit carnival float used last year at the Dusseldorf Carnival parade

At the parade in Tilburg, me and my friends were lucky to have a few crates of cold beers with us, which saved us from the need to buy overpriced (and often watered down) beer at huge queues in all the cities' pubs and outdoor stands. In between copious amounts of beer, locals in Tilburg also drink plenty of shots of “schrobbeler”, a herbal liquor, in order to stay warm (it's no Rio de Janeiro here where it's 30 degrees Celsius during carnival!).



Traditionally, the last float in the parade is one where Prince Carnival and his Council of Eleven stands on top.


The float with Prince Carnival on top

After the parade, the party really kicks in as all bars, streets and squares in the city centre fill up with revellers to drink and dance.







The nice thing about carnival time are actually the people! People living elsewhere in the country (or world) flock back to their old home town to celebrate. Thousands of visitors from the North of the Netherlands (and wider Europe) flock in to party as well. While during normal nights out everybody minds their own business, carnival is a time where everyone goes crazy and actually talks with each other. Normal barriers break as the entire city, young and old, just makes it five days of fun in a combined effort. Even those uninitiated would have an easy time making new friends or quickly get accustomed to all the small traditions and quirks.

Needless to say, me and my old pals had quite a few beers and shots that evening. Unfortunately, for me it would only be one day of partying, as already the next morning I needed to go back to Amsterdam Airport to continue my journey as due to stopover restrictions I could not take a longer stopover than 24 hours.

Next up part 8: The KLM Crown Lounge at AMS and flying with Air France in business class to Paris.