Day 5 began with a truly satisfying event - Daniel realised that it was a real d*** move to Gerald me the other day when he discovered over a thousand photos I took on his phone from last night when he'd passed out totally exhausted. That'll teach you p**** After yesterday's massive itinerary we were completely worn out, so we all decided a bit of a sleep in was on the cards. Plus, as we'd already seen a man in clogs (holy **** WOW), that excitement had dissipated and it actually allowed us to sleep in. We had no real plans for today, but for my massive tax break really. Prior to me leaving, I had a chat to VicRoads who put me onto a bloke, who put me onto another bloke who is a leader in road safety here in The Netherlands, and me being the budding road safety engineer that I am (stop s******ing at that everybody), I decided that it would be good for my taxes, err I mean my 'professional development', to meet him! So today was devoted to heading to Den Haag (The Hague) to talk road safety. Originally we were all going to jump on the train, and Daniel and Dad were going to explore the city while I earned my tax credits (accomplished professional development). However, after such a big day yesterday, we all decided it would be good to have a lazyish day, and in the end Dad and Daniel decided to stay in Amsterdam to relax while I went and made a considerable write off on my taxes (accomplished professional development). Plus Dad offered to do some washing for us, which will ensure fresh jocks into next week. Thanks Dad, hero! After a relatively late start, I jumped on the tram and headed into town to Amsterdam Centraal to catch a train to Den Haag. It was the first time we'd been away that I'd found myself on my own in the country, which was a tad overwhelming, but I managed to get on the right train, and it managed to get me to the right station. Close to an hour after I left Amsterdam, I found myself in Den Haag, which actually had these things called skyscrapers, you know, those things that capital cities usually seem to have. Except Amsterdam, and judging by the lean on their 3 storey towers, it's probably a good thing. Once the train arrived, I deployed my considerable navigation skills (I'm good with maps), and found my way to the offices of SWOV, which is the institute for road safety research in The Netherlands. I bet if I found out what SWOV stood for, there'd be a heap of ridiculously spelled words (schlaucheijkn like) that would just confuse the story, so I won't bother. I met a gentleman called Govert Schermers, who was nice enough to accept my request a couple of weeks ago to help me earn my tax break, or as far as he was concerned, talk road safety with a bloke avidly interested in the subject. In all seriousness though, I was genuinely interested in hearing his thoughts on road safety, on the Dutch way of approaching it, and his passion for it. And I found it incredibly beneficial and was really appreciative that he took the time to host me and give me that opportunity. Thanks Govert, and I apologise if I mispronounced your name. Don't feel disrespected, people call me Gerald all the time, and I love it (they're pretty awesome people, I miss them!) After a couple of hours chatting, I bid farewell to Govert and headed in to explore Den Haag while I was there. It was really different to the rest of Holland I'd seen so far, and not just the fact it had skyscrapers. There were basically no dykes, which was weird! But that didn't make it any less beautiful, with a really historic centre and some really old buildings making me appreciate its history, even if I couldn't read what all the buildings were for. I wandered around its old centre, with its myriad of old buildings, and found somewhere to have some lunch, which took a bit of time. One thing really sprang to mind at the time - despite knowing that the vast majority of people spoke English, when you're on your own and everybody speaks a first language you can't understand, and for me I don't expect that they should understand me (even if they do), the world can be an incredibly lonely place, and I felt it a little today. After lunch I continued to walk around exploring a little, before making my way back to the station to catch the next train back to Amsterdam Centraal. Once back in Amsterdam, I caught a tram back out and made my way to the apartment, and found Dad and Daniel were out. This gave me the perfect opportunity to rest and call and say hi to some friends back at home, before Dad and Daniel arrived back at around 5:30. Turns out they'd been touring the Amsterdam Arena for the afternoon to fill in a bit of their day. We rested for a little bit, and then made our way along the canals to find some dinner. After dinner, we went home via a supermarket to buy some cheeses and beer, to consume when we got home that night and have a relaxing night in, where we could also start to get our bags ready because we're heading off tomorrow. Wow, we discovered that buying beer at the supermarket is ridiculously cheap, like less than 1€ for a half litre can!!! Wish we'd discovered that earlier, but I think my liver is probably glad I didn't! Plus we probably didn't want to sit and drink at home, no prospect at all of seeing anybody in clogs there (but we saw one yesterday, AMAZING!!) We sat and had our cheese, drank our beer, packed our bags, and when 10:30 rolled around we have Mum a buzz to check in on her (Maggie really) and see how they were, before heading off to bed. Day 5, and pretty much this time in Amsterdam, done!