Travel Companion, the Old Quarter Packs a Suitcase

The simplest is a day in another city: Utrecht for its sunken wharves and its towering Dom, Den Haag for the Mauritshuis and the sea air at Scheveningen, or Rotterdam for bold architecture, the Maas and dinner with a skyline. Longer trips combine work with leisure, such as a congress in one city followed by a slower weekend somewhere quieter. Destinations further afield can be discussed as well, with generous notice, and every such plan is considered individually.

A good travel companion knows when to talk and when to watch the flat green polders slide past the window. She is at home in a first class carriage, a hotel breakfast room or a museum queue, and she understands that some parts of a trip belong to you alone: the meeting, the phone call, the early swim. Tell us about those moments in advance and she plans around them with good grace.

She packs light, dresses for every setting you describe, from a formal hotel restaurant to a windswept walk through the dunes, and arrives with everything she needs for the whole journey.

Some temperaments are made for travel. Laura is adventurous and energetic, happiest with a change of scenery and a keen traveller in Italy whenever she can manage it. Nancy has a sunny, easygoing nature and a soft spot for road trips and a swim, so a detour to the coast is a gift rather than an inconvenience. Cindy, cheerful and sporty, brings a photographer's eye and a love of sailing, ideal for the lakes and waterways beyond the city. Violetta, elegant and confident, is the traveller with a novel from a favourite bookshop in her bag who still wants to explore the town the moment the train pulls in. Nancy and Cindy are both part of our blonde companions.

Travel bookings are quoted individually on request, with every detail settled on WhatsApp, as no two trips share the same length, distance or pace. Send the dates, the destinations, how you plan to travel and the kind of accommodation you have in mind, and we come back with availability and a clear figure before anything is fixed. Give as much notice as you can: for a journey of several days, a week ahead is ideal, though shorter trips can come together faster.

Most trips begin in the capital, where she meets you at your hotel or on the concourse of Centraal Station. You can also set off from Schiphol, or have her meet you in another city if your journey is already under way. For the principle behind quotes on longer formats, see rates.

Not every journey needs a skyline. Haarlem lies a short train ride west, with its great market square and almshouse courtyards; the beach at Zandvoort and the dunes behind it offer sea air within the hour; and Naarden, a star-shaped fortress town ringed by moats, makes a peaceful stop for lunch. Further east, the forests and palace gardens of the Veluwe suit a slow weekend in a country hotel. She is as content on a windy beach as in a grand dining room, and just as good company in both.