We had an honor to be a part of Indonesian Pavilion in Horecava 2019, one of the popular food exhibitions held in Amsterdam. The exhibition started on 7 January 2019 and ended on 10 January 2019. This was our first appearance in Europe and we thank the organizer for the invitation.
Horecava 2019 was held in RAI Amsterdam, a venue for international scale exhibitions located not too far from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
Although we enjoyed every moment of our time at Horecava 2019, getting there was no child's play. First, there aren't many flight options available leaving from Surabaya to Europe. So we had to figure out the best possible flight route, juggling between the time efficiency VS cost VS airline reputation for safety. It wasn't easy at all to make a decision and finally purchase the ticket, because one of the three factors above would always fall short.
With long consideration, we decided to fly from Surabaya to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific. Then we booked a separate ticket from Hong Kong to Amsterdam (transit in Doha) via Qatar Airways. The timing was supposed to be suitable for our schedule, but most unfortunately, the flight from Hong Kong to Doha was delayed and we had frozen sample which needed immediate attention, and due to this delay, our weren't going to make it to the connecting flight from Doha to Amsterdam. So Qatar Airways kindly found us an alternate route, detouring us to fly to Doha first (with delayed schedule), and from Doha to Vienna, and then from Vienna to Amsterdam. This was the best option at our hands, so we took it.
Long story short, we got on the flight to Doha from Hong Kong and we had to stay over night in Doha. The hotel was kind enough to keep our frozen samples in their freezer as well as preparing us few new ice packs for our ongoing journey to Amsterdam.
The next day, we left to Vienna. We were transiting for only a few hours so we decided to take a quick stroll around the city. No, we did not waste any opportunity to see other parts of Europe - and it turned out to be a great idea!
With all the fun and hassles, we finally arrived in Amsterdam. We took train to RAI Amsterdam right away, and set up our booth for tomorrow's big day. Because we were a part of Indonesian Pavilion, we didn't need to set up too much of our own.
The commencement of the exhibition on 7 January was marked by ribbon cutting ceremony of the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands, whom we had an honor to take a selfie together!
The rest of the exhibition for 4 days went exceptionally well. We met different prospective buyers from different regions of Europe and learned current industry trend and regulations in Europe. And since Europe applies the highest standard in food safety and all the rest, it was wonderfully valuable learning time for us.
We will do all the more to promote Indonesian sweet potato products globally through these exhibitions. We believe in the quality and future potential Indonesian agricultural industry holds so we will thrive to share its goodness with the world.
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