During the Christmas season my wife and I – together with a couple friends of ours – visited Amsterdam.

We toured the city, visited museums, went on a boat trip along the canals and travelled to Delft, Leiden, The Hague, Utrecht, Haarlem and the village of Kinderedijk – a Unesco World Heritage site with a unique collection of 19 authentic windmills, considered a Dutch icon throughout the entire world.

On the day we went to Kinderdijk it was exceptionally cold. Arriva runs the service from outside Amsterdam Central Station. We were a little bit early but, as soon as bus number 90 arrived, the driver opened the door and asked us and the people waiting alongside to find shelter in the bus.

Some minutes before departure, everybody approached the driver to pay for the tickets, which cost €8 per person. My friend and I asked the driver for tickets for four people. He gave us two tickets and asked for €16. I immediately told him we had asked for four tickets; our wives were with us on the seats at the back.

He looked at us and said: “I admire your sincerity and for that you will have a discount of €2 on each of your wives’ tickets.” And we were given two tickets of €6 each. “Moreover, I’m giving you this voucher which will entitle you to another discount on your return tickets to Amsterdam,” he added.

In an hour-and-a-half, we reached Kinderdijk, where we enjoyed a long walk near the large windmills, along the two main canals. The only disappointment we had was that the only windmill usually open for tourists was closed.

At 3.30pm, we found ourselves on the bus stop where, precisely on time, bus no 90 arrived to pick us up. As soon as we got on the bus, I showed the driver the voucher I had been given earlier on the day.

“You are four?” the driver asked. “Yes,” I told him, and he charged us just €8 for four tickets to Amsterdam. What a discount! But of course this took place on the service offered by Arriva in the Netherlands and the drivers are Dutch.