Day 2: London to Amsterdam

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Today is the first official day of Contiki. I woke up at 5.45am, got ready and headed downstairs to check out and meet the rest of the group. A lot of people had not come to the meeting last night so there were a few new faces. I met up with Steph, Emma and their room-mate frm South Korea, Lin. Eventually we saw Beau and Patrick so we went over and talked to them. We met a few other people- 3 girls from South Korea and Josh from Perth. We got our luggage weighed (mine was around 17kg) and waited around for the coach to arrive. We got on the bus at 7.30am. There was only 32 people on the tour so a lot of us sat wth a seat to ourselves. When we got moving, Greg introduced himself to everyone and told us to call him Nemo. I personaly found that pretty funny becuase I thought about that fuck head Craig back home who we call Nemo becuase he looks like a fish with his big bulgy eyes.
So we set off to Dover. It was a pretty quiet trip as everyone did not really know everyone yet. A few people slept, and Nemo told us about the tour and what to expect etc. When we got to Dover, we had to wait for a while, but we didn't have to show our passports as we were waived through. When we got on the ferr, a few of us got food, which was really expensive (like A$10 for a sandwich and a drink). We also looked at the duty free shop, but didn't buy anything, so we just sat around talking to a few people until we got to Calais, which took just over an hour. We then made our way back downstairs to the bus and continued on to Amsterdam.

We drove up through Belgium and stopped just after we cross the border into The Netherlands. It was a Dutch Maccas and nothing was in English so I orded to safest thing possible- Fries. After that we got back on the bus and continued on. It was a pretty quiet trip, and I think the high-light of the drive was looking down to a car next to us on the road and seeing the driver pulling himself off.
When we got into the outskirts of Amsterdam there was a bit of traffic so we got into the hotel a bit later than planned. We checked into the Blue Tower Hotel, which turned out to be a pretty good hotel and probably the best on the tour. I shared a room with Steph. We got ready for dinner in the hotel resturant and then back on the bus to attend a Dutch "cultural show" aka a live sex show. We walked around the red light district which was pretty surreal and like entering an alternate universe. There were red windows with half naked chicks displaying themselves to the passing men. It was sad to think they did this for a living becuase most of them could have been models. We arrived at the sex show and had to wait in line at the front..similar to a night club. The girls got penis shaped lolly pops and the guys condoms (I think) upon entry. It was like a theatre where we sat down in rows and there was a stage at the front. Admission included 2 drinks so we all orded beers. The show was funny becuase they were pretty much all unattractive. You just had to laugh at it. First there was this African guy just drilling this chick, then there was a chick doing a really choreographed strip, then a domonatrix who pulled a little Asian guy from the crowd and strapped a dildo to his head, then there was a couple having sex an the guy had a really saggy ass, then there was this guy dressed as a sailor who wanted a female volunteer to join him on stage. He just had to go to our row first, and poor Steph was on the end. She declinned, then I declinned, but Emma agreed to go up there. It was pretty funny and she was a good sport, but he didn't make her do stuff completly gross. Eventually we got a bit over it and went out, and decided to hit the bars.

I withdrew some Euros and we all headed to a bar near the centre of town. We had these massive pints of beer and got to know everyone a bit better. I met Cherie, Shell, Fiona, Andre, Hadi, Dave, Simon, James, Anthony, Mark and Damo. Steph, Emma and I started drawing our hotel room numbers on our chest as we were afraid we would forget them later in the night. The we started drawing all over Andre's abs.
Later on, a few people started to leave so we decided to head somewhere else. Hadi, Beau, Steph, Simon, Patrick and I caught a taxi to Laisersplein (sp?) which was where all the good bars and clubs where in Amsterdam. We went to some random bar, but didn't stay for long as they were closing. Steph and Simon decided to go home from there, so Hadi, Beau, Patrick and I went to another bar. They would not let us bring our coats inside which was silly so we had to check them in, which cost. We stood around the bar and had a few drinks. There was a couple standing near us that was displaying an absurd amount of affection for each other, and where practically having sex with each other right there and then, which was pretty funny. I ended up having an argument with the toilet attendent becuase I didn't know the proctocol for going to the toilet...yeah you have to pay them. There was an American band playing and they were pretty good so we danced a bit. Eventually it was getting a bit late so we decided to catch a cab back to the hotel. The cab driver was Turkish and we had a bit of fun with him becuase we were so drunk. I pretty much fell into bed when I go back to me room.

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