Day 22 part 4
We arrived in Schiphol and got to the luggage pick up area flight bag turned up and two bike boxes. On unpacking the bikes it first seemed as if all was well until I tried to wheel my bike around. The back wheel had been badly damaged. What 1100+ km of the NSCR in Norway had failed to do, the combination of Gardemoen/KLM/Schiphol airports had achieved in 3 hrs. After the initial disappointment we realised that we were glad that this had happened on the homeward journey than on the outward. That would certainly have put the damper on the beginning of the holiday.
We spent time filling in the required forms which in the end turned out to be a complete waste of our time. Our travel insurance from our bank did not pay out on the claim. The bikes were classed as baggage so a own risk of Eur90 came into play. If it had been classed as transport then we would have got our money back. Fortunately a new wheel came out at Eur45 so it didn't exactly break the bank.
So an irritable trip with the train home instead of the last 45 km by bike. Facing the prospect of having to wheel our bikes the half hour walk home from the station we phoned a neighbour who came and picked us up. Thanks Haka!
When everything was processed we discovered that our extra travel costs to get home were not paid for either. The moral of the story is use a different insurer next time, not the Postbank. If any Dutch residents know of a cycle friendly insurer that does a doorlopendreisverzekering then let us know.
This set back combined with the weather which was cold and cloudy and wet, meant that the summer holiday feeling ended abruptly. It was fortunate that the holiday itself had been so wonderful, and we were able to hold onto those feelings as autumn drew closer. Also boring our neighbours and friends senseless with hundreds of photos helped.