There are some people who will take this to another level and consider it a game. Let me introduce you to the Dutch way of saving money. There are only three rules to this game: 1.do not smile 2.do not hesitate and 3.be bold.
Coffee for free: Walk into a lunchroom or restaurant, sit down at a recently used table. Find a left over coffee cup and spill it over the table. Call the waitress; ask her to clean the table. Hold your cup in your hand, and when she is finished politely ask for a new coffee.
Chocolate fingers: Find a really expensive chocolaterie. Go in and ask the price for two pound of their best chocolates for a birthday party. Be very choosy, and taste one. Ask for another kind and inform the price for three pound then taste some more. Turn to the lady, look her in the eyes and say, don’t you know chocolate is really bad for children?
Eat and Cheat: The trick is very simple really, and only works at certain restaurants where they use plastic cards for payment. When you walk in you will receive a payment card. Order a tasty pasta or pizza, and perhaps a bottle of prosecco to go with. Before you have received your food you go outside and smoke a cigarette, or walk a little. Then come back and you will receive another card! With the second card you order a coffee and maybe little dessert. Finally you pay at the register for the coffee and leave. Voila a free meal. (don’t mix up the cards)
Park & Drive: I must admit we have never paid a parking fee in Scheveningen. We always visit the nice beach clubs in the summer at het zwarte pad. The only down side here the parking is ridiculously expensive. We enjoy the beach for some hours or half a day. When we finally leave, and the kids are in the car it is always a thrill, to drive slowly up behind the car in front of you. Just act natural, stay with it really close and when the gate opens you pull up together, do not hesitate the gate won’t close or damage your roof, it is full proof.
Swim &gym: When you travel a lot in the world, you must have seen some pretty nice hotels. Of course each hotel wants to be more luxurious and exclusive than the other. They all compete for the big bucks while trying to hide their outrageous prices. Hotels do so in offering swimming pools, Spa, Health clubs, Gym studio etcetera. If you are travelling with your lovely family don’t go the fun park again, just take them to the nearest fancy hotel. Walk in with your head up high. Ignore the reception completely and head straight for the elevator. Find out on what floor the pool is, take the most luxurious beds, and grab a big hotel towel. Turn the children loose at the pool, order coffee tea, lunch, have a massage. Make yourself comfortable, enjoy your day you are living the life of a millionaire.
Free ride: take a taxi/train to Heemstede, ask the driver a few times if he is going to Heemstede. Of course you speak with a very bad accent today. When you are almost there at the boundary of the town you show him the printed copy of an Hotel in Haamstede in the opposite direction. Make sure he stops in the centre, grab your bag, shout at him that he is ignorant and stupid and should go back to school. Leave the taxi rapidly and don’t look back. Do not use heavy bags and do not bring your wife (only for the experienced cheap)
Welcome to Holland
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