Recently, we travelled to the Netherlands for Technivorm Moccamaster's 55th birthday celebrations. 
On the Friday afternoon, we were given a warm welcome at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam by the founder and inventor's grandchildren, Floortje and Rob van Cooten. Two coach loads of us from all around the world headed off to North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. Beautiful lush green fields, thick forests, quaint villages, innovatively built houses both old and new, manicured gardens, and many large churches in the Dutch country-side were a sight to behold.
We arrived at the hotel to perfect weather conditions, blue skies and around 23 degrees C. We were greeted by Technivorm's managing director, Ina ten Donkelaar and Frans van Cooten, director/owner of Moccamaster Sales Eu. It was a welcoming sight to see the Technivorm flags at the entrance of the hotel grounds, a reminder that whenever you visit the factory in Amerongen, they always raise the Australian flag for us - it's a Technivorm tradition.
The first evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner with an address from managing director, Ina, followed by Frans and Jan-Fredrik Hagen from Moccamaster Nordic. Music and dancing followed dinner.
After a hearty breakfast the next day we all met up in the grounds along with 30 Volkswagen vintage cabriolet cars, we then discovered we were all to compete in a car rally. We teamed up with the guys from Moccamaster France, however and unfortunately, we got off to a shaky start because somebody lost their phone and we had to return to base to look for it. From then on things did not really improve as we got lost and because we all had phones with low batteries we could not employ Google maps. Much laughter throughout the day, though, with us trying to work out where we were supposed to be. We eventually arrived at the cafe for lunch. Our strategy from here was that we could make up time and follow the leader and then overtake when we were sure we knew the way back to base.
The whole group took off in convoy and all was going to plan until we came to the first round-about and we took the wrong turn off onto the motorway. “Oh là là, oh là là, non, mon Dieu” was the general comment with more English and French expletives and peels of laughter! Eventually, we found our way back to base. We caught up with the crew and shared our comical experiences with lots of laughs all round. Unfortunately, we did not win but ten out of ten to Lars for being a patient and safe driver - it was such a fun day.
In the evening, we dressed in formal attire and were treated to a magical evening with a sumptuous dinner followed by music and dancing. Think some of us were still celebrating at 3am! Well, it's not every day you are in the Netherlands with the Moccamaster Family!
After breakfast on the Sunday, the coaches had arrived to transport us on our one and a half hour journey back to Amsterdam where we all farewelled to board planes and trains to many different countries around the world.
We take this opportunity to thank Technivorm Moccamaster for their hospitality, generosity and kindness, the weekend of celebrations was truly memorable. Happy 55th Birthday!