This is to start discussion of options and tips for travel to the 2025 conference in Zwolle, especially for those crossing time zones.
Jet Lag
The best strategy? Tricking yourself into a new rhythm, even in the days before travel. There are apps to help with this, of course. Timeshifter, developed by a neuroscientist and his team, suggests a personalized schedule for light exposure and sleep based on flight itineraries. For my recent trip from Mexico to Switzerland, the app advised wearing sunglasses at the airport before departure, sleeping through dinner on the flight, and going straight to bed upon arrival. If only I had known before takeoff.
(How to Beat Jet Lag, Sabrina Weiss, Wired 21 June 2025)
Plane and Train
I see quite a bit of advice to fly to an EU destination and then use the train. The most direct way to do that seems to be to fly into Amsterdam (AMS). Rome2rio says
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) operates a train from Amsterdam Centraal to Zwolle every 4 hours. Tickets cost $19–65 and the journey takes 1h 2m. Arriva NL also services this route twice a week. Alternatively, you can take a bus from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Zwolle, Katwolderplein/Centrum via Apeldoorn train station and Apeldoorn, Station in around 2h 22m.
The ‘Visit Zwolle’ website has more information.
Depending on your starting place, it may be less expensive to fly to some other destination first and go from there to Amsterdam by a short-haul flight or overland. In discussion (for example here), the less expensive EU destinations for flights from the US are said to be
- Frankfurt am Main (FRA)
- London Gatwick (LGW)
- Paris (CDG)
So, perhaps surprisingly, Paris might turn out to be a good option. Denmark is also mentioned. Dag is flying to Stockholm with a good price from Scandinavian Air, but most of us don’t have relatives to visit in Sweden. Flying from South America, Lisbon or Barcelona may be less expensive. Of course, the usual sources are your best guides, e.g.
There is some discussion of trains vs. planes in Reddit here.
A comparison of average fares such as this one might be misleading because the fare difference between planes and trains varies by country. Airfare is artificially reduced in the UK by subsidies. More fundamentally, the apparently higher speed and lower price of the airline may both be illusory:
Budget carriers often fly out of secondary airports, which are much farther from the city center. For example, I had to take a train to and from Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport, which took nearly an hour and cost extra money. It was a bit of a hassle after my flight, and I found it stressful when I had a tight connection.
There are some good tips in Reddit here, which includes a link to The Man in Seat 61, with a lot of excellent information and resources. He says:
When booking train tickets, it is almost always cheaper to book through the rail provider in your country of departure rather than through a third-party website. This is e.g. the SNCF in France, NS in the Netherlands, SNCB in Belgium, Deutsche Bahn in Germany, ÖBB in Austria, České dráhy in the Czech Republic, and so on. Most national rail providers in Europe have well-functioning English websites.
Discussion on Tripadvisor concurs:
When you book rail tickets, don’t use a third party agent like RailEurope or thetrainline.com, but book directly with the train operating company. Third party websites may not have all fares loaded and will almost certainly charge booking fees. Rail tickets go on sale from about 12 weeks to 120 days in advance of travel dates; some fares are best booked well in advance, some are the same price for walkup tickets on the day.