We arrived at Schiphol at around 10:30am local time and had no issues getting off the plane. All of our luggage arrived with us (awesome) and after a brief issue where Mark left Matt in customs with two bike boxes and one piece of luggage, we were on our way... To the baggage depot. We dropped all of our gear off (including the bikes) at the baggage depot, with no issues (all our credit cards still work, yeah!) and took the train to Amsterdam Zuid.

From there we got lunch, and then walked to Michiel's house where we dropped off our things and then went to go rent bikes for the day. (Because really the only way to travel through Amsterdam is by bike.) We didn't go anywhere in particular, except for the IAmAmsterdam sign, a bar Nate frequented last time he was here, and the VundelPark, but we did cover a fairly large portion of the city.

After biking around the city for 4 hours, we took a short nap, and then went to dinner with Michiel and Maureen. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was delicious, and they have been very nice to us during our stay here. Even grabbed breakfast for us for tomorrow. Thank you to both of you!

Now it's time for bed. Nate's already sleeping, like a champ:

Even when offered a mattress he still prefers his own sleeping bag and pad. Literally fell asleep in less than five minutes with all the lights on, including the sun, we're all pretty tired.

Matt has a few other pictures he may post, but tomorrow is sleep in until 9 or so, then pack up, return our rental bikes, and go to the airport for our flight to Innsbruck. It will be another long day, but hopefully by then the bikes will be out of their boxes and fully built. This will make them much easier to deal with. We do not look forward to lugging them around Schiphol tomorrow, but we'll give ourselves plenty of time to do that. For now, we're just going to try and get 10-11 hours of sleep.

Our first day of the actual trip. No majors issues. We crossed the boarder into Canada with out any issues (except a visibly nervous mom) and made it to the Windsor airport with plenty of time to spare.

Bags were already paid for, so we brought them to the counter to get baggage tags, and then brought them through security. Unfortunately, at Windsor, the security doesn't have scanners large enough for bike boxes, so we had to open the boxes for the agent to inspect. They were apologetic and very nice, and it wasn't a big issue.

The flight from Windsor to Toronto was uneventful, and they even managed to squeeze in drink service. We're waiting for our flight now in Toronto now, after eating 20 timbits (at prompting of Nate, you can't enter Canada without eating Timbits). Our planes a little delayed, but we're soon to be on our way to Amsterdam.

We're getting down to the last day before we leave for Europe all three of us spent 4+ hours boxing bikes over the last few days, and think/hope we're pretty much ready to go. Some last minute gear additions include a solar charger that Nate will bring, as we plan on using iPhone's and t-mobile's free international data for navigation, and new clipless shoes that Matt bought so he can bike and look fly at the same time.

We've spent three weekends together in pre-trips for this trip already. Mark and Matt are both going with four panniers, two in the front and two in the back. Nate has opted to remove his front rack and front panniers and instead use only two rear panniers and a frame bag.

This is a picture from our first pre-trip in 2014. Biked to Niagra falls from around Rattlesnake point. And then spent the next day climbing. Tim joined us for this trip as well.

The three of us + Tim at Niagra Falls, Canadian edition.

Matt getting ready to pull the roof at Rattlesnake point.

But for now, everything is packed, or close to packed, and we're looking forward to starting our trip.

That's all for now. We will try to post daily updates on our trip, but you might just get a few photos everyday.