This was the second trip that Brenda and Malcolm had made to Holland was in October 1978 to visit their friends who had moved to a nice little terraced house outside Amsterdam. Although the holiday was fun, the journey was frought with problems.

Malcolm decided to stop for a break at Colchester, believing there was an hour in hand. He and Brenda took a look around the shops where Malcolm was tempted into buying a garish orange and yellow strip 'Teddy Boy' suit. Heading back to the car they suddenly realised that there was actually no hour to spare and that they now barely had time to get to the ferry in Harwich. On reaching the main road they ran into a solid traffic jam so Malcolm tried to work his way round it on minor roads, only to come back where he started. He persevered and they arrived at the terminal car park with six minutes to spare. There were no spaces close to the terminal so they grabbed their bags and ran as best they could. The terminal was virtually empty when they reached it and they headed for ticket inspection and passport control where they were waved straight through. As they came out onto the quayside, the gangplank was just about to be hoisted but they were allowed on.

Their friends Hans and Ynskje drove Malcolm and Brenda to the ferry terminal at Hook of Holland but when they got ther ethe ferry had already gone. Malcolm had not taken account of the clocks changing whilst they were there. There was not another ferry until the evening so they all had a tour around the impressive North Sea barrage. They had altered their tickets for the night ferry and arrived back in Harwich in the early hours. They got back to the car only to find that the courtsey light had been left on and had flattened the battery so they had to wait for the AA to come and get them started.