Tuesday 29 April 2014

Amsterdam 2014

So I am home from Amsterdam now and I'm feeling rough. I can honestly say, never in my life have I craved a shower and sleep so badly. I was wondering if you could get jet lag from a coach trip? I have really bad travel fatigue. The 10+ hour coach ride from London Victoria to Amsterdam didn't feel as bad as I though it would, it could have been a lot worse. I guess doing a 'red eye' trip means you sleep and don't notice as much but each stop the lights would come on and wake everyone up.
It is messy/dirty due to it being King's Day.



We left London around 21:30 on Thursday and arrived around 10:30 on Friday due to delays on the ferry at Dover. We got to our hotel which was a stone throw away from Amsterdam Sloterdijk. The hotel is a hostel and hotel, we stayed in the private hotel side and it was beautiful! It was stylish, modern and very clean. We couldn't check in till 15:00 so paid our 5.5% city tax, left our luggage in the locked luggage room and took a train into town where we walked around the canals and took a trip towards Anne Frank House before coming back for 15:00 to shower and sleep a little. We were very lucky and had 2/3 days with loads of sunny, hot weather.
 
First night


We walked around the red light district which wasn't how I expected it. It had loads of BEAUTIFUL (and some not so beautiful) women in their sexy lingerie in a box looking room with a red light, some of the rooms you can see the beds. I saw a man leave the room and the woman was instantly back at the door, she didn't even have time to use the bathroom. As we walked past a peep show brothel I assumed he was a pimp or body guard unsettled me a little. He randomly said 'Nice tits!' I smiled and said thanks while crossing my arms to cover myself, he then went on to bargain with my friend on how much he'd take me for. €2000 for me to work for him and the four girls got a free peep show. I'm not sure if I should be honored or worried. Other than hen parties I felt like we were the only female only group around De Wellen (RLD). It is so easy to get lost in but could easily be the safest part of Amsterdam with loads of police, body guards and people looking after the women.  

Second night in a local nightclub/bar

Amsterdam is honestly a beautiful city but my hair and clothes are glad to be back in the UK. With the law being that you're allowed to smoke weed (cannabis) pretty much anywhere my clothes and hair smell of it, I was shocked I didn't get stopped at the UK border haha.


On the Saturday it was King's Day (Koningsdag) in Amsterdam which is a national festival. King's day was celebrated for the first time this year as it was formally Queen's Day. King's day meant 99% of people were in orange dancing to music, smoking, drinking and having fun walking around the markets, having boat parties on the canal and pretty much just living life. A few years back a law kicked in that you can only buy one alcoholic drink per person, which I fully understood after seeing a man fall over drunk who scared me enough into thinking he was dead! You don't see people acting like that from the drugs.



Picture Bomb
Sexmuseum

Sexmuseum - Before he shows all!

Where we played pool



Condomerie - the World's First Condom Specialist








Now I am home I am back to reality, back to university work with three assignments to write in little over two weeks, a group presentation and work. Wish me luck!
Have you ever been Amsterdam?
I'd love to read posts about what you got up to.

| Facebook | Twitter | GFC | Bloglovin' | Youtube |

30 comments:

  1. I visited Amsterdam in 2012 and I can honestly say I've never been in so much pain in my whole life. Ha. We were getting in a stupid times in the morning as we were always out, spent the mornings hungover and then back on the booze, ha. The only touristy thing we did was go to the Anne Frank house, which was amazing!

    Corinne x
    www.skinnedcartree.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like us haha! We are tourism students so couldn't not to tourist things. xD
      x

      Delete
  2. Fab pictures, I've never been to Amsterdam but it has always been on my list! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Omg!! Now i definitely want to visit amsterdam now. So cool!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh dear, I've always wanted to visit Amsterdam, but your photos just showed me what I've been missing out on all this while! Look like you had a fab time hun! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like an amazing trip! In all my European adventures I've never made it to Amsterdam, I definitely need to make it a priority next time I head abroad. Great pictures! <3 GIGLove

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've never been to Amsterdam before! Seeing your photos and reading your writeup got me curious about the country even more :_

    ReplyDelete
  7. looks like a fun experience.. but i dont know if i could handle what you experience on red light district.. it would really freak me out if it would happen to me especially im from a conservative country. hehe but Amsterdam will always on my list to visit in the future. :)

    - from gig
    www.swirlsandscribbles.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love Amsterdam. I used to live just 30 km outside of Amsterdam for a while and it was always our weekend destination.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What is the pink? bellow the spaghetti picture? Amsterdam in my list to visit one day. In my school day
    7 -8 ago,there a novel that talk about Amsterdam. she explain very well that make me falling love with Amsterdam.
    GIG love

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a waffle type thing with raspberry icing, sprinkles and smarties. It was so yummy but could easily be about 1000 calories haha

      Delete
  10. What an interesting trip! Though your experience in the red light district was kinda creepy. They can just easily greet you with "hey nice t*ts!"??? Wow. I'm glad you got to experience it, even with those creepy moments. At least you have stories to share! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. What an interesting trip! Though your experience in the red light district was kinda creepy. They can just easily greet you with "hey nice t*ts!"??? Wow. I'm glad you got to experience it, even with those creepy moments. At least you have stories to share! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This looked fun, That coach journey is one am taking soon so am scared now but cant wait. I really like the pictures makes Amsterdam looks awesome

    ReplyDelete
  13. seems really fun,shocked after seeing the picture bomb lol
    hope i can go ther someday
    nice post
    gig
    angiebeautydiaries.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. i still need to go to amsterdam! your photos are amazing

    ReplyDelete
  15. My friend and I have just booked to go to Amserdam in June! How great to read this to get me in the mood, looks such a stunning city, I can't wait! thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love the photos! Looks like an interesting trip. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love the photos! Looks like an interesting trip. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've never been to Amsterdam, but it is on my wish list. I'm sure I'm going very soon.
    xxx
    mari

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sounds like you had fun, albeit a long ride. I can relate with a coach travel giving a sort of jet lag. And wow, I think I experienced the same thing when I went to two red light districts in Thailand. I was most definitely culture-shocked!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Awww so jealous! How I wish I can fly to Amsterdam now :( more updates about Amsterdam pls :p

    ReplyDelete
  21. I have never been to Amsterdam. But I hope someday I can visit there.


    www.nellanelwan.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. I want to go to Amsterdam too! It seems like such a crazy, fun place to go to and I'd love to hit it up with some friends one day :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. hmm now you've made me want to book a trip to Amsterdam...looks like you had a blast :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Looks like a great place ! Anyway good luck in your presentation... :)
    www.smallnhot.com

    ReplyDelete