On cool aspect about TechEd Amsterdam is that it is essentially a home game for newtelligence in terms of proximity to home-base and it’s one of the very few conferences that I can drive to (I’ve spent way too much time in airports and on planes this recent half year). Saturday it took me just 1:50h to get here from my place near Düsseldorf.

Part of the fun is of course that a good part of the trip is on the not-too-busy German A3 Autobahn and therefore I could drive at a reasonable speed

Of course the real street fun sort of ends once you hit the Netherlands, but at least there were no traffic jams all the way into Amsterdam

Final approach; the RAI conference center is in sight:

Once I got to the hotel close to the RAI, my friend Goksin Bakir (Microsoft Regional Director for the Middle-East & Africa Region) and I immediately headed out for some drinks:

… and went to watch the Holland vs. Sweden game in some bar amongst the locals:

Amsterdam will be great fun.