Contiki - AMSTERDAM

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Well I think its about time that I start to fill you all in on our Contiki trip!! Sorry I haven’t done anything so far, we are still exhausted and recovering from the HUGE 16days worth of sightseeing, eating and drinking!

Our Contiki experience started with an orientation Meeting at 6pm the night before our departure where we met our tour manager and driver (Lucky and Ben) and basically just got our passports/tickets checked out and were told to meet at the bus at 6:45 the next morning. We were also told there would be strict weight limits on all baggage so to make sure we were under the 20kgs otherwise we would be leaving stuff behind for £5 a day in the hotel storage facility! Ouch!

So after our little meet and greet where everyone seemed to be a lot older than us, we were a little worried about what the trip was going to be like. We were expecting there to be a lot more younger people and a lot more aussies! As far as we could tell there was only one other guy our age and he had already got on our nerves just by overhearing him talking to some other people.. and unfortunately he was an Aussie so there was no way we could get out of talking to him!

Anyways we got all our bags and brought them down to ‘the basement’ to get weighed and luckily we were both under so didn’t have to worry about leaving my hair straightener behind or something like that… in fact I was so under the limit I could have packed that extra pair of shoes.. damn it!! Haha..

So all was set for the next morning, we headed off down the road for some dinner at a really good Indian restaurant and were getting pretty excited about the next 16days to come.

6am and the alarm goes off, little did we know this would be the norm for the next couple of weeks of our lives… We head down stairs out into the cold and huddle around the coffee shop with all the other Contiki travelers. There were a lot more people downstairs this morning, and to our delight a lot of younger people! Apparently they hadn’t all known about eh meeting, or they couldn’t all get there for the night before. So for the next half hour we were all standing around scooping out the other people and secretly picking who we would like to be on the tour.. well that’s what I was doing anyway! Haha.. We checked in, got our bags weighed and stepped foot onto our home for the next 16days - The Coach. It had a lot more leg room than we were expecting and Byron was atually able to sit straight (well almost) so that was a bonus (although somehow in the latter parts of the trip he ‘couldn’t fit’ so had to take up half my seat as well..mmm).

We are sitting on the bus and checking out all the other people that get on, there was a good mix of singles and couples and youngens and oldens (old being like 29 oh my gosh! Haha). The first thing we notice is all the LOUD, ANNOYING Aussies sitting on the back seat!! Haha there was a group of them that had met the night before and had already started a little ‘click’ and at 7 in the morning it becomes pretty irritating! A great start to the trip hey!! Haha it wasn’t really that bad but you can tell why they call Aussies the worst tourists in the world in Europe! Anyway so we head off and start to get to know Lucky our tour manager. He is a little ‘asian’ (as he calls him self’ who is actually Aussie, and is very funny and knows his stuff. He tells us that we will be crossing over on the ferry to France then thru Belgium and Germany before arriving in Amsterdam some 8hours later.

The first couple of hours on the bus were mostly filled with people chattering amongst themselves, not really mingling as we were all fresh and shy kinda like the first day of highschool or something! We got to the Ferry and had our passports checked (and stamped, well everyone else did BUT me as I have a UK passport… so crap!) and then drove on to the Ferry. We had 1.5hrs to kill which turned out to be pretty easy as these ferry’s are massive and have a duty free shop and a food court, games room and a top deck with great views to the White Cliffs of Dover (apparently pretty amazing...they just look like cliffs to me! Haha)

Anyway so we got a full cooked breakfast in the International Food Court and sat down and enjoyed the ride. The ferry ride went pretty quickly and we were soon back on the bus. We were now officially outside of the UK and on our way through Europe! Its funny I think when you go to a new country you expect everything to look different to home and be completely backwards or something, but we go on the bus headed out onto the road and were greeted with the same crappy fog as we had just left!! Although this time it was French fog..oohh! hahah so the next few hours we drove through France and through the fog and didn’t see much except the road and a couple of meters either side, Suddenly we were in Belgium and then Germany and then Amsterdam! We had a couple of road stops and had our first experience using the euro and were pretty amazed by the standard of the service areas. Basically you go around and pick everything you want from a whole range of foods and then pay at the til at the end! Very cool and most of the time was really decent food.

We arrive at the Hotel Ibis in Amsterdam and are told that usually we stay at a much rapier place but for some reason were able to get into the Ibis. (we find out later that a lot of stuff was ‘usually crapper and we were really lucky’ just before we were told about the tips that the tour manager and bus driver ‘usually’ get) We drop our bags off at the hotel have some dinner there and get ready for our River Cruise through the canals of Amsterdam with as much alcohol as you can drink in 1.5hrs. (Welcome to Contiki!) the river cruise was pretty cool and a great way for everyone to meet as there is no escape, you have no choice but to talk to everyone! And as you know after a few wines it becomes a lot easier to talk to anyone and everyone! We met another couple, Brett and Debi who are both south African but live and work in London now. They were pretty cool and we ended up hanging out with them a lot on the trip.

After the river cruise and a fair bit of wine and beer we decide there is no choice but to head out into the city and see the nightlife of Amsterdam. Unfortunately it was a Tuesday so there wasn’t much happening… but we made our own party and went to a ‘Coffee Shop’ to try the local ‘brew’. We were obviously to sensible to have a smoke so just stuck to a ‘muffin’ (well half, have to watch the waistline!) Cinnamon I think, quite tasty! ;o)

We get over the coffee shop pretty quickly and head back out to see what else is going on in the City of Amsterdam, turns out not a lot so decide to call it a night and try and catch a train home. Everything was written in dutch (obviously0 so luckily Brett (Saffa) could kind of understand it as it is very similar to Afrikaans, and could work out the ticket machines for us. We figure out later that we had actually all bought children’s tickets for the wrong direction but the guard just smiled and laughed as he waved us through, I think he might have had a few too many brownies before his shift… Anyway so we get on the train to the airport and then catch the free shuttle to the hotel. 1 night down, 15 to go!


DAY 2:

Up at 7am leave on the coach at 7:30am for a drive to the Cheese and Clog factory. So a quick breakfast in the hotel then off to our excursion then full Free day in Amsterdam.

We see some cheese and clogs being made (pretty cool actually, they are all hand made using some really old school looking tools - basically just a long blade and a drill bit) We are then dropped off in town, its 9am and we are getting picked up at 5:15pm..mmm what to do.. So we decide to kick the day off in true Contiki style and head straight to the Heineken factory. We are told you get 3 free beers along the way, so what better way to start the day! Besides the fact that I don’t drink beer, but Byron got my share so was pretty happy!
The factory is pretty cool and has heaps of different rooms with lots of cool activities to do, kind of reminds me of the Charlie and the chocolate factory movie now that I think about it! So we walk the timeline of Heineken, have a drink at the first stop, and then make a karaoke film clip to email back home (im sure most of you have seen it by now, I was too busy laughing at Byron to really do anything myself!). We then went on a virtual horse and carriage ride through Amsterdam delivering kegs of Heineken where the carriage actually shook and dipped like a real one, we were then ushered into another little room where we became a Heineken Beer bottle. We had to stand on a special platform in a room with a massive screen that showed the view of a beer bottle as it goes through the all the steps from being cleaned to arriving at a party in someones backyard. As this is happening the platform you stand on is moving and schaking around so you really feel like you’re going through the factory! Well sort of.. Haha pretty awesome.. Then we are DJ’s in the Heineken disco, I beat Byron at Table soccer (whats it called again? cant remember right now..) mm anyways then we have a nap on these space age chairs with TV’s in them, then its off for another beer and into the souvenir shop!

A very cool factory and a good way to score a few beers for all you boys!

We then spent the next few hours wondering the streets of Amsterdam. We grabbed a bite to eat at a small supermarket place then kept on wondering the streets/shops. We were soooo tired after about 5hrs of walking we deiced to head to the shopping mall and have a rest on the chairs outside the toilets.

OH AND while we are on the subject of toilets, in Europe, nearly every single public toilet you go to has a fee! YEP YOU HAVE TO PAY TO USE THE TOILET!!! Can you believe it!! Crazy! Its not much, like only 50c but still.. that is ridiculous!!! Can you see I am still amazed that people can actually charge for the use of a toilet??? CRAZY EUROPEANS… ;o)

Anyways so we had a little break in the department store but soon decided we had to move on as Byron was actually falling asleep and starting to snore and drool and I was getting pretty embarrassed as we were sitting next to the line for the layby counter and being a couple of days before Christmas, it was pretty busy!! So I eventually woke Byron and we headed back out into the cold and in search of something else to do.

We end up finding an Internet café and wasting an hour or so checking email and just enjoying the long sit down. Our time was soon up and we still had an hour and a half to kill, we decide that Amsterdam is only really fun at night time, but we still had a good day exporing the city, although 8hrs of walking is HEAPS and really tires you out!! Anyway we head to the souvenir shops as I am on a mission to get postcards from every country for Helena as she baked me cookies before I left and that was what she requested in return! (YEY I DID IT HELENA! They should be in your letterbox any day now!)

Finally the bus shows up and we are taken to the hotel to freshen up before we head out to smallish fishing town not far from the city center for a lovely 3 course meal. It was also another good opportunity to get to know people a bit more, we end up sitting with those loud Aussie boys and get to know them and they are all pretty cool.

After dinner we are taken for a walk through the Red Light District and venture down Fat and Skinny streets, Old street, Black street, the list goes on and on!! It really is just how people say, there are girls standing in booths that have a window to the street. They just stand there having a smoke, or doing there nails, chatting to the girl next door etc until a man knocks on the door. Then the curtain closes and they are at work… so strange! I don’t know how they do it! But over in Amsterdam it is an actual ‘profession’ and they pay taxes on there earnings and they have to rent out the booths etc… very strange…

After a walk down the streets we are then taken to a real live Sex Show… very interesting… not too much to say about it, except that it was pretty boring after a while and I don’t know how these people do it!! Apparently they do up to 6 shows a night! Crazy… If you want more details about that one, you can ask Byron!!

So after the show we called it a night as it was still only Wednesday and not much was happening outside the Red Light district, which I can tell you has some very shady characters roaming around...scary! We get back to the hotel and set the alarm for another early morning before leaving for Germany!

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Photos

Leaving Englang
The White Cliffs of Dover..ahhh

Amsterdam
Cheese and Clog Factory

Amsterdam
So Many Clogs!!

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory - 1st beer at 9:24am

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory - space age chairs, mmm soooo comfy!!

Amsterdam
Heinekin Factory - Another Bar

Amsterdam
A Canal..

Amsterdam
A Big Erection

Amsterdam
Lucky - tour manager

Amsterdam
Danger Dave on the booze already

Comments

[Dad]

a little man is missing.
hey Em did you remember to take your little 'mate' with you on the Contiki tour. haven't seen him in any photos for a while, is it to cold ??? hope and Byron had a wonderful time on the tour, and will be able to give us all a thorough debrief on all the different countries!! take care

[Taylor Odell]

Little Man...
Hey Dad, dont worry Danger Dave is out and about throughout Europe, you have to keep a keen eye out for him!! Danger Dave doesnt get too cold, he is a tough little guy!!