Amsterdam

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This trip was a long time coming. Darcy and planned this and booked our flights months ago. We wanted to do something really cool for New Years Eve, and rumor had it, Amsterdam was the place to be.

When I visited Noah in Toulon in October, I was yelling at him for not traveling more. Then I invited him to spend NYE in Amsterdam with us. Darcy invited her friend Adam from when she worked at Verizon.

Adam booked us a flat to stay in for 5 nights. I was getting there one day early. Three weeks before my trip, I started looking for places to stay for one night on Couchsurfing.com. Unfortunately, every hostel was booked up or had a minimum 3-6-night stay. Plus, couchsurfing is my favorite thing. I sent requests to about 30 people in 3 weeks and only heard bad news. People were already hosting or traveling. Right before I left America (which was wonderful, and I loved getting to spend a ton of time with my dogs and family), I put out a request on the Amsterdam last-minute group.

When I got back to Budapest, I had a few prospects. I gave my number and flight time to 3 people, saying that I would give them a call once I landed if nothing was set in stone anywhere else. One woman had told me she wouldn’t know until I landed, so I told the two guys I would use them as back-ups.

After 19 whole hours in Budapest, I flew to Amsterdam. I called Jo at baggage claim and she said she could, in fact, host me. On her houseboat. Because that’s real. She gave me directions, and hung up the phone. I then got another call from…someone.

It was a guy. This was (essentially) the conversation:

Him: “Hi, is this Kate?”

Me: “Yes…who are you?”

Him: “We’re Max’s friends. We’re here to pick you up from the airport.”

Me: “…who’s Max.” (SO CONFUSED. WHAT IS HAPPENING)

Him: “I think you’re staying with him tonight?”

Me: “…is it Johnny? (one of the guys I had given my information to) Are you from couchsurfing?”

Him: “We’re from couchsurfing. Who’s Johnny?” (CONFUSEDCONFUSEDCONFUSED)

Me: “Well, I’m really sorry about the miscommunication, but I already told this lady that I would be staying with her tonight. I just need to get my bag and go to her boat.”

Him: “Well we’re already here. Do you need a ride into the city?”

Me: “To her boat? Sure!”

Then I got hopelessly lost trying to find him. But eventually that happened. Turns out that Max is the guy who I had given my information to that morning wicked early right before I left for the airport. Didn’t even remember. Oops. These guys were wicked nice, took me on a little driving tour of Amsterdam, and dropped me off right in front of her boat. And that’s the story of how I accidentally got picked up from the airport.

Jo’s boat was adorable, and Jo is the nicest woman EVER. She’s Welsh, works for Greenpeace International, and moved to Amsterdam 18 months ago. We drank tea and ate cheese and talked for a long time. My favorite things. While she made dinner, I walked around the city by myself. I had a map but didn’t look at it once. Just made some turns, got lost, and had a great time. There were Coffee shops everywhere. That’s real. And people on bikes everywhere is real too. I went back to her boat an hour and a half later and we had a delicious Indonesian dinner. I went to bed right after dinner because I had been traveling for days.

The next morning I woke up, had some tea and cheese for breakfast with Jo, and ventured off on my own. I had a wonderful day of exploring the city with my camera. I walked around, went into shops, and realized how small and beautiful Amsterdam is. I returned to the boat around 2, grabbed my backpack, and walked around half the city to the flat Adam had rented. HEAVY BACKPACK. UGH. I met Adam at the flat, and we went and bonded over some delicious pork sausage and honey mustard sandwiches. We walked around for a while, and then Jo texted me to tell me I had left my toothbrush on her boat. Oops. She was at her boyfriend’s flat, which was right by ours, so we popped over to get it. We sat and talked to her and her boyfriend for a while. Then we left and went on a whole adventure around west Amsterdam, getting hopelessly lost. By the time we looked at a map, we had no idea where we had even been or how we had gotten there. I love adventures.

Adam and I met Darcy at the bus stop, and lugged her bag back to the flat. We sat around and rested and ate food until Noah showed up around 1 am. Then we all went out. We had a blast going out in the Red Light District. Hookers everywhere. You’re walking down an alley, and BOOM hookers. Crazy. We got back to the flat around 4:30 am, and OOPS. KATE LOCKED US OUT OF THE FLAT. GO KATE.

Adam is on the phone with the flat owner, and she can’t come until 8 am. Thankfully it’s a relatively warm night, but Darcy doesn’t have a jacket. We saw that our neighbors’ lights were on, so we buzzed them. These two Welsh guys opened the front door and let us in. We were so happy to be inside. Noah and I tried to sleep on the stairs, and Darcy and Adam were hanging out with our new Welsh friends. They eventually let us crash in their flat for a few hours. Their friends were all really confused when they came home around 7 am. We got let back into our flat at 9, and no one let me have keys ever again (rightfully so). We slept until 2.

We spent NYE roaming around the city, stopping in cafes when we were cold, and seeing all the sites. More importantly, NYE was like a freaking war zone in Amsterdam. And probably the rest of Europe. Since fireworks are legal, it literally just sounded like bombs were going off all over the city all day. Some booms were jump-worthy, some were ground shaking, some set car alarms off. We went out that night to a bar, but we spent midnight in Dam Square. It was drizzling and chilly, but it was packed with people and super fun. We stood right underneath the National Monument when the clock struck midnight. Fireworks were going off everywhere. Sometimes we would see something bright right near our feet and have to side-step fireworks and flares. Casual. When we got home, we hung out with our new Welsh friends (all of them were there, and they all knew about us already, so we were basically celebrities), and we went to bed around 3.

The next morning we got up and Darcy, Adam, and I got delicious Dutch pancakes while Noah slept. We parted ways on the 1st. While Darcy and Adam went to the Anne Frank House, Noah and I explored the city without a map. We got hopelessly lost, but found some really cool quiet parts of Amsterdam. We watched the sun set and the street lamps light up. Eventually we made our way back to the flat and the four of us spent the night playing Hearts.

On the 2nd-3rd we did our big road trip. More on that later.

On our last day in Amsterdam, Noah and I got up wicked early and went to the Anne Frank House. It was pretty cool, but then we went through the door hidden by a bookcase. The air immediately changed, and you could just tell that so much history had happened. It was an incredibly powerful and amazing experience, and anyone who is ever in Amsterdam absolutely NEEDS to go to the Anne Frank House. By the time we got back, Adam had left to catch his flight. Darcy, Noah, and I packed up our stuff and left the flat. We spent the day at Nieumarkt and had a delicious lunch with pretty hysterical bartenders. We wandered around the Red Light District for a while, and then it was time for Darcy and me to catch our flight back to Budapest.

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Comments

[michael]

people talk bad about amsterdam is this true?
i see on national geographic a bad story on Amsterdam is this true? http://www.iaminamsterdam.com/scam-city-amsterdam/