In the meantime of settling in, job searching/starting and accepting and going out with my boy I got the best present ever! My dad came! Oh it is the best present really when you have not seen your family for so long and then someone visits. I told dad this was better than any Christmas present. Dad flew in on 27 October. On the first day in Amsterdam on the 28 of October we spent walking around Amsterdam. Despite the long length I think dad enjoyed it. The 2nd day of dads expedition to the Netherlands we were in Amsterdam again, sight seeing and shopping for clothes for me! We even got a canal tour around Amsterdam which I enjoyed also haha it was different to the peddling boats. Have a look at the pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/dkruchkoff/AmsterdamWithDad20081029?authkey=iXL6NzfRLNs&feat=directlink ... read more

After saying the goodbyes to the earth ship crew I ended up catching the train to Arnhem (initially I was intending to ride my bike but I was a bit slow in getting everything done that day). I had decided to do couch surfing again since I had such a nice experience in Gronigen. Everyone at the Earthship had said how awesome the Kruller Muller museum was so I decided to check it out. Was met by Margreeth at the central station of Arnhem and we rode our bikes to her house. She was so friendly and her place was very gezllig -cosy. She was living in place that was rented out to people at a discount rate so that squatters didn't live there. As a result she had quite a few rooms and I got ... read more

Was perfect. It was made so because of my first virgin couch surfing experience. Yes I bit the bullet. I was debating about doing couch surfing (www.couchsurfing.com) as a few people had told me about it. I had my reservations. But I loved it. I stayed in Groningen with this girl, her name was Irina and she was from St Petersburgh. She met us at the station then showed us back to her flat. After this we had some tea and met her boyfriend John. Then we headed into the market area and had some lunch. Yummy. I tried herring for the first time and liked it and then some fritters (fries) with fritters sauce. It was amazing its mayonnaise but i swear i have never had such an orgasmic relationship with mayonnaise it was truly ... read more

9th of September 2008 I got back to Amsterdam and was greeted with memories of June 2006 where me Ryan and Jared traveled to Amsterdam (following which me and Jared went to the friendlies match of Australia versus Netherlands in Rotterdam). Only this time it was cooler, I had more stuff and I was not being met in a hostel in the red light district my Ryan.I included some top 5 photos from that trip. I checked into inner Amsterdam. Met Kris, Stuart, Allie and Alyson and Hugh. Allie and Alyson were also looking to set up base in Amsterdam. Hotel Inner Amsterdam was located at Wanningstraat 1, 1071LA Amsterdam. The email is info@innerhotel.nl and website is www.innnerhotel.nl Tel: +31(0)206625792. It was about 20euros a night and went up to 50e on a special holiday. The ... read more

After arriving in Eindhoven - I decided to check out this one horse town. I thought why not what’s the rush after all the to get to Amsterdam? I went to the tourist office and quickly asked for some suggestions where I could stay. They recommended Costa as one of the cheaper options. It wasn’t too far walking distance - which was perfect for me as I had so much crap with me - mental note stop accumulating stuff! Its so cumbersome to get around with! Costa was about 10 minutes walk from the station - probably 5 minutes if you weren’t a slow slug like me. Anyways Eindhoven is in the south of the Netherlands. About 1.5 hours away from Amsterdam Central by overland train. And tickets - full price are around 17e one way. ... read more