Blogs from Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe

Not having had children, I would think that flying must be similar to giving birth. You endure 30 hours of being a pretzel in every imaginable position to try to find comfort, there’s little sleep to be found, we wonder why we’re putting ourselves through this and noting not to do it again any time soon. And yet, the pain quickly fades once it’s all over and before you know it, you’re planning the next arrival. That’s how this journey felt. Garuda were good between Sydney and Jakarta with a new plane and most of it empty. They also provided complimentary lounge access in Jakarta for our 4hr stopover, which was most appreciated. We also discovered that you could enter for $11 if you don’t have complimentary access, which I think is more than reasonable. I’ve ... read more

Day 1: The journey: Tucson - Philadelphia - Amsterdam I joined my travel friends to celebrate New Year 2009. My journey began from Tucson; I drove to Phoenix on the Arizona Shuttle as early as 7:00 am. even though my flight was not scheduled to leave until 13:00 hrs. I really do not like waking up early since I'm a night person. Nonetheless I settled for the early morning shuttle since the later options would not suit my departure of 12:59 pm. MT. As we drove past Chandler towards Sky Harbor International Airport, my only worry was how cold it was going to be in Amsterdam. It had been five years since I actually traveled during winter to Europe. My friend Toon had kindly advised that I go shopping for warm clothing at a ski shop ... read more

My home exchange with Helen and Enrique on the German Dutch border was lovely and on Friday I set off to drive to Amsterdam. Negotiating the very busy roads - mostly motorways was easier than it would have been since I had Sally Satnav to guide my way. I even managed to get off the motorways and cross a large parkland area The Hoge Veluwe National Park (a bit like driving through the New Forest) . In the middle there is the Kroller Muller Museum - a sculpture park and collection of many Van Gogh paintings as well as other artworks - so I spent some time there including time for a nice cup of coffee and Dutch apple cake. Japanese visitors galore seem to like having their photos taken beside a famous artwork....I prefer to ... read more

An unsuspecting train ride from Paris to Amsterdam results in a stolen backpack while taking an international train through Belgium. As a relatively unsuspecting tourist I assumed my travel backpack would be safe directly above my head on an international train, but obviously not, and I had the majority of my clothes, credit cards, Danish identification, house key and several other non-essential but rather useful items including my phone and camera chargers and Danish transportation pass. Luckily I survived, and retrospectively things could have been a lot worse. I still had my wallet, passport, and phone. I had a hotel to stay in, friend with money, extra clothes, etc and was able to get a train ticket back to Copenhagen before cancelling all of my credit cards. Amsterdam was enjoyable, a bit over-hyped and not all ... read more

Hallo! Spreekt u Engels? This morning we arrived to Amsterdam. After spending a lot of time in museums and palaces in Spain and France, we thought we had spent enough time being "cultured" and decided to learn a little about the cuisine...and their specialty drinks : ) Our last day in France we spent in Epernay (Champagne) touring the champagne processing plant and vinyard Mercier. And tasting...of course! Today, in the Amsterdam, we went to the Heineken brewery to learn about the beer making process, and had plenty of taste testing there, too! The canals and leaning houses are adorable, and the language is a blast to try and pick up! It's an odd mix of Spanish, German, and English. It's also refreshing to be outside of Southern Europe which leaned on the traditional, history-rich yet ... read more

By the time I woke up it was in the morning I didn't know what time I was still on Netherlands time. I knew the plane was landing soon though because of the announcment that woke me up. There wasn't much to do I was to restless to get anything out of my bag. Theresa was on her phone playing some game. I got up to go to the toilet. When I got back Theresa was still on her phone but since we were landing I told her to turn it off unless she wanted the plane to crash. She, without even thinking turned the phone off. She was afraid of flights and heights. The plane reached Malaysia very soon and we got of the plane without any hassle. Theresa and I then got hashbrowns but ... read more

From 16/02 to 26/02... read more