Thea, down to earth company in Oud-Zuid

"We can walk, it is only twenty minutes and the canals are better than the taxi." Thea says this with total confidence in most weathers, and she is nearly always right. At 29 she has the cheerfulness of somebody who spends her weekends outdoors, hiking when she can get out of the country and cycling when she cannot, which in Amsterdam is most of the time.

She is 165 centimetres and curvy, with long caramel blonde hair and green eyes, and a sunlit natural glamour to the way she looks, warm rather than polished. Down to earth is the phrase guests keep using, usually with some relief. There is no performance to her, no carefully maintained mystique, just a very good evening with somebody who is easy to be around.

Japanese food is the fixation. She knows where the ramen is honest and where the sushi is worth the money, and she and Nancy have been conducting a long friendly dispute about the ranking for years.

Cycling is the daily habit, shared with Vanessa, and the reason she can tell you which bridge to avoid at rush hour. Hiking is the version she saves up for, a week in real mountains once a year, described afterwards in unnecessary detail.

Her district is Oud-Zuid, near the museum quarter and the hotels around it, with a clean run down to the airport when your night ends by the terminal. She speaks English cheerfully and without any formality at all. Thea is the companion for an evening that feels like a good night with somebody you already know, rather than an occasion that has to be lived up to. At 29 she has worked out exactly what she enjoys, and an evening spent in her company is unusually free of effort on everybody's part.

Walk it, she will say, and she is nearly always right. Twenty minutes beside the canals beats a taxi in most weathers, and Thea makes the case with enough cheerfulness that people who arrived exhausted find themselves agreeing.

Ramen or sushi is where dinner lands, because Japanese food is the fixation and she knows which kitchens here are honest about it and which are not. There is no mystique to maintain and no occasion to live up to, which is exactly the relief travellers want after four days of being handled professionally. She cycles everywhere and will tell you which bridge is a mistake at six in the evening. Ask about the mountains and you get a week of hiking described in unnecessary detail, which is far better entertainment than it sounds.