About us

Who is KingThomas ?

In the summer of 2013, we decided to pursue our dream and move to Amsterdam for 3 months, buy brand new Dutch touring bikes, and spend the summer exploring The Netherlands on two wheels. We rented a canal apartment in the Jordaan neighborhood in pursuit of a local living experience. Our lives were changed forever and the love affair began!  Now, we return to The Netherlands every few years for extended visits with our Dutch bikes and continue where we left off, discovering new places and meeting new people.

 

During our initial three month visit to the Netherlands, we encountered many challenges as visiting North Americans.  How do we map out and navigate our travels?  What are the best resources for weather forecasting?  Which venues accept which kinds of payment?  Where can we safely store our bikes when not in use?  These and numerous other issues required extensive research and time.  But we realized not every visiting bicycle tourist will have the three months we had to figure these things out.

 

This website was created not only to encourage you to enjoy a Dutch bicycling holiday, but to share what we have learned.  We will help guide you through the planning process and warn you about possible issues you may encounter once you arrive.  Ultimately, our goal is to help you to arrive prepared and ready to have fun.

 

Diane Thomas is retired from a career in public policy and minority venture capital in Washington D.C. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University. During Diane's years as a working professional in Washington DC, you would typically find her commuting by bicycle in and out of the city each day along the C&O Canal bike path.

Diane is a resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she enjoys the benefits of a progressive bike path system in and around Grand Teton National Park. She has a keen eye for spotting and identifying North American wildlife and never hikes without her bear spray!

Mike

King

Mike King, a native of Palo Alto, California, is retired from a 25 year career with Hewlett-Packard as a mechanical designer. While living in the Pacific Northwest, it was common to find Mike bicycle touring through Oregon's Willamette Valley and along the beautiful Oregon coast. But discovering the Canadian Rockies by bicycle was a game changer and touring took on a whole new meaning after that.

Mike is a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina where he is active in advocating for more bicycle pathways. His inspiration for travel writing came from the "Lets Go Europe" series while youth hosteling and hopping around Europe with a Eurail pass in his youth.

Contact Us:

hello@kingthomas.nl

It is our intention to grow this website in order for it to become a useful resource for American bicycle tourists who want to travel to The Netherlands with or without their bikes. We have made every effort to carefully research all the information that we've published. If you would like to offer any corrections or comments, we would love to hear from you!   - Mike and Diane