Amsterdam Windmills Help!

We have been all over Europe and the only place we had a bad experience was in Vatican City. We were being followed and then I realized my husband had put his knit hat in his pocket. I guess the guy thought it was a stuffed wallet. Without letting him know, I asked him to take the hat out and the guy walked away. Milan was full of pickpockets and in Prague you can see them everywhere. Portugal's trams are full of them posing as tourists. Pickpockets are not only Europeans, also South and Central Americans.

I bought a purse that has a clip at the end of each zipper. It's made by Travelon. I bought it on Amazon, but there are a lot of different options, colors and styles.

Be aware of your surroundings. Happy Travels!!

From Dam take any tram to Centraal Station, there change to tramnr 26 which stops close to the Movenpick and cruise terminal. Of course a cab will be the quickest way. Walking all the way might take about 30 minutes,

Still it will be doable either way. Cab from the cruiseterminal to the other terminal at VCK Waterland Terminal, Elbaweg 10, 1044 AD, Amsterdam will be another 20/25 minutes. This terminal is in an industrial area in the western section of town.

You know, I have to say I'm a bit nervous about taking trains/trams etc. I'm sure this seems odd to people in Europe who do it all the time, but where I live there is no public transportation to speak of and we just drive everywhere.

Let me ask... to use a tram/train, etc I just go into the station and buy a pass with my credit card at a kiosk type place? Do you have to buy a pass for the specific train you want to be on, or is it just a general pass that allows you to get on any train? Is it a fast process, or should I allow extra time?

Sorry, I know this is lame (I really need to get out more). I hope to walk most places because I need the exercise, but I know in some instances where time is an issue we will need to take the train.

There is a difference between trains and trams.

Trains run all over The Netherlands (and Europe). At the large stations like e.g. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Schiphol airport (and in more cities) there is a window where you can buy tickets with a small surcharge, be it a single ticket or day return 2nd or 1 st class. There will be machines too, most of them take creditcards and cash.

Often you need that ticket to open gates which give access to the platforms.

At the smaller stations you can only use machines, which sometimes donot take creditcards, only dutch bankcard and often also cash - coins. From time to time shops and NS (dutch railways) have special day tickets which are cheaper for longer stretches. Only if you travel more often it is worth to buy a OV chipcard. More of all this here: http://www.ns.nl/en

Trams run within a city. In Amsterdam you can buy single tickets at the "conducteur"- the man often in the middle of the tram and also in machines. There are special daytickets if you use the tram or bus more often that day.

Apart from that there are also special (one or more day) tickets incl. transportation like to Zaanse Schans, and unlimited travel in Amsterdam on bus and tram. More about that on this website: https://en.gvb.nl/

In other cities like Rotterdam, Urecht, The Hague etc. there can be some differences in and how/where to buy tickets. Most people speak english, so ask around when in doubt.

In your case maybe better to store your luggage at Centraal Station to make the trip between terminals a bit easier. Where ever you go, pay attention to all your belongings, pickpockers travel too.