I love travelling. Who doesn't? What on earth!
As you know, the Netherlands is a pretty small country (with the tallest inhabitants in the world), so it is easier to travel in the country. And here, we can travel cheaply to any places in the Netherlands by subscribing Weekend Vrij! So what is weekend vrij actually?
The Netherlands train system is served by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). Basically, almost all towns and city, or other places here has train station. NS connects all of them so it is easier for us to travel around. NS offers various type of subscriptions/abonnement, one of them is Weekend Vrij. With weekend vrij, the subscriber can travel for free from Friday 18.30 to Monday 04.00. We can choose whether we want to travel in 1st class (€39/month) or 2nd class (€32/month). I choose the 1st class, though, I mean.. it's only €7 difference, and plus, I get more seat options! For subscribing weekend vrij, you need to pay it with dutch bank account (online payment), and you have to subscribe for a full year before cancelling in any month. That's why it is good for people who lives here at least for one year.
At this point you might think: €32 is too expensive for me. I might choose to buy train tickets when I want to go anywhere, instead! LET OP! (PAY ATTENTION!) I'll give you several reasons that might change your mind:
If you live in Groningen, like me, one way ride to Amsterdam will spend you roughly €25, one way! For return ticket, you do the math and the gasp.
If you are interested in subscribing this offer and you happen don't have a personal OV-Chipkaart yet, it's a great offer! Because if you subscribe this, automatically you will get free personal OV-Chipkaart which worth €7.50. I got my card first then subscribing weekend vrij, and let me tell you, I got no korting :(
You can also use Arriva or other trains for free in the same hours, so not only NS.
You live in the Netherlands for at least one year, I am sure you want to travel to other cities, and the only free time you have as a student is on the weekend, so, why not subscribing?
I know that there is group ticket where you need to find 4-10 persons going to the same route, and if you have 10 persons, you just have to pay €7 return tickets. But if you don't really like finding people for the group ticket as me, subscribing is better option. (Unless I travel during weekdays, well I need to find group tickets then).
Okay, so where I have been with this offer? Well, I started subscribing this month and I travel twice so far. My goal is to travel at least twice a month :)
My first trip was to Amsterdam for going to Hillsong Young and Free Youth Revival Tour 2017 at AFAS Live. It was Saturday, 7 October 2017. My route was: Groningen - Amsterdam Zuid (direct); Amsterdam Centraal - Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA; Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA - Amsterdam Zuid; Amsterdam Zuid - Groningen. Seems a lot? Yeah, I think so too. I can't afford going with NS this much without Weekend Vrij.
I went to Utrecht on 14 October! My route was Groningen - Utrecht Centraal; Utrecht Centraal - Amsterdam Centraal (yes, going to Amsterdam again..); Amsterdam Centraal - Groningen (1 stop).
I did a lot of traveling on November: Utrecht on 11 November, Amsterdam on 18 November, and Maastricht on 25 November.
My trip alone will spend me more than €100, but I am able to save money with subscribing, plus I get to travel! I can travel every weekend though, but for now, twice a month is more than enough. All for the
sake of #travelling
I travel, therefore I am happy.