Tagged with: location:Amsterdam

  • Day 3

    We woke up at about 0940, and just made the checkout time. At the station our bags went into lockers. Probably the most complicated, over-engineered lockers I’ve ever seen, since in order to store an item you needed to find an empty one, stow your luggage (ok so far), close the door, wait for it to automatically lock, insert money in a nearby touchscreen terminal, and take a printed ticket which was dispensed.The problem was not so much the complexity of the system as the springyness of the doors. If they weren’t locked, they sprung open, which obviously helps people considerably when they are on the finding an empty locker stage, but becomes an issue when trying to close them, because you actually needed to HOLD the door closed while the motorised locking mechanism engaged the bolts. All over the room loud clangs could be heard where frustrated people slammed the doors with ever increasing force, only for them to spring open again immediately, because the locking mechanism hadn’t had a chance to close the lock.