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Published: December 31st 2011
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Us in front of Amsterdam Centraal So we got this kooky idea to go to Amsterdam for almost a day! My girlfriend and I thought it would be fun to take our kids over Christmas break. Now, I didn't research how long of a flight it would be from MSP before I told my youngest our plan. So we really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. But I thought it would be a fun adventure! We had yet to use our passport and had no stamps yet. So off we went!
We decided to leave on Tuesday December 27th on the 3:15pm flight. We had all agreed that if we could not fly business class, we were heading home. I knew that we would not be able to make the trip in coach. And this was our first international trip, so we had to do it in style!
I packed the backpack and we headed out. Loved that we were able to leave in the afternoon so there was no getting up early to catch the flight. After having some difficulties in checking in via the kiosk, we went to an agent and we were cleared to head to security.
Since we
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Crooked house fly standby, we waited in anticipation on whether or not we would get seats. And if we did get seats, would we be together? Oh the stress! It is like waiting to see if you have the winning lottery ticket!
We are cleared for take-off! And our seats are together! Whew!
Business class was pretty cool with food, drinks and movies. We had the pod seats that made out into a bed with a nice fluffy pillow and comforter.
We arrived into AMS at about 5:30am. After deplaning we went to check in for our return flight later that day. From there we went to find the train.
The airport is huge!!! It is more like a mall. I could see myself coming back just to wander through all the shops and hit the casino. There are also some nice tours you can take from the airport.
We learned that you can only purchase your train ticket with euros and they do not accept credit cards. The exchange was to be open at 7am which of course, they decided to open up when they felt like it. More like 7:30am. So after getting the money
exchanged and tickets bought, we headed down to platform 3.
Boy that train came and went quick! We wound up missing the train to Amsterdam Centraal and had to wait about 45 minutes for the next one!
After finally getting on the train and arriving at Amsterdam Centraal (which is absolutely beautiful!) we headed for the Anne Frank house. But first we stopped off at a tour office to warm up. It was really cold and windy that day. We got directions to the house, and bought a ticket for the hop on hop off tour.
It was only about a 20 minute walk to the Anne Frank house. We saw some beautiful architecture! Once we arrived, the line was so long, we decided not to tour the house. That was pretty disappointing, but we did not have 2 hours to wait in line.
We walked back to the tour office to catch our bus tour. One thing about this tour, they make you stop at a diamond factory/business and you have to get off and take their tour. I felt like I was in Mexico. It wasn't even really a tour, they got you into a room and talking about their business. They try to get you to buy their diamonds at such a 'great discount'. That was the most disappointing part of that tour. Not to mention, that the bus that came to pick us up, didn't fit us all so we had to wait for another!! So our 1/5 hour tour took almost 3 hours!!! Our canal trip we wanted to do, was out.
So now it is just after 1pm and time to head back to the airport. The city was now alive with so many people. It was awesome! I loved hearing all the different languages! But we were ready to head back for our 3:10pm flight.
We slept most of the way home since we had only slept maybe 3 hours on the way to Amsterdam. We arrived back into MSP around 6pm.
It was such an awesome day~trip! Memories to last a lifetime and I am so glad that I could share it with my son!!
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faouriteplacestogo
mus bos
A great post about Amsterdam.
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