Travel: Visiting Amsterdam

In January I realised I had some holiday left to take at work. My friends were going to Amsterdam and there was a space left, so I decided to do something spontaneous and book my flights to Amsterdam two weeks before my friends were supposed to fly.

It was my best friends (Arron/ginge) first time flying, so I explained to him that we needed to be at the airport two hours before our flight. This meant we had to get up at 4am, ready to set off for the airport at 5am and our flight was at 7am-ish. Everything went pretty smoothly, although I have major issues with my ears when I fly so I was in quite a lot of pain whilst we were in the air. Flying wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated because the Netherlands isn’t far from the UK. By the time the plane was fully in the air, it was coming back down again.

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we needed to find our way to central Amsterdam. I’m shocked we even managed this part haha. Firstly we needed to get a double decker train to central Amsterdam and then the tram to the area where our hotel was. I thought I was clever by remembering our hotel was near a canal, but I quickly realised Amsterdam is covered in so many canals!

We had a pain au chocolat in a café next to our hotel, but we were really early for check-in so we were allowed to leave our bags securely at the hotel. We headed out into Amsterdam and found a bar. I was a little tired from flying and getting up so early, but I noticed an offer on jagerbombs – I decided to have three to wake me up.

So many places in Amsterdam were obsessed with nutella. Once we all felt hungry, we went to a place which sold all kinds of sweet treats. From nutella, to waffles, pancakes, ice cream etc. The photo below shows what I bought, it was far too much for me, I couldn’t even finish it. It tasted so amazing though.

We headed to a variety of museums throughout the day, including the sex museum and the museum of prostitution. It was actually quite interesting and it helped you to understand things a bit more. We also had a real giggle at certain parts of the museums.

As it began to get later into the day, I was getting more cold and felt gross from travelling/having such a busy day. We headed back to the hotel, checked in and we freshened up ready for dinner.

We walked back into the main bit of Amsterdam and selected a restaurant which did something everyone wanted. I was craving pasta so I had this very cheesy (but amazingly tasty) meal.

Later we headed to a variety of coffee shops and bars. I finally got to have a glass of prosecco, which I’d been craving all day.

Once we’d finished our drinks, we took a walk through Amsterdam back to the hotel. Amsterdam at night is so unbelievably pretty!

One of the things I most wanted to do during my visit was the canal boat tour. It was really nice and relaxing. I saw bits of Amsterdam that I wouldn’t have got to see if I hadn’t got on the canal boat. It was also an opportunity to get some more photos of Amsterdam. You also find out some pretty cool facts, such as where the mansions are.

We had a bit of a late lunch and we’d seen a place called Wok To Walk all over Amsterdam. It’s a bit like Subway, you choose which ingredients you want and then collect it at the end counter. I’m extremely happy we went because it was so tasty and really filling. This meal set me up for the rest of the day.

We tried to go play some glow in the dark crazy golf before we left for the airport, but we didn’t realise you had to book in advance. We found a cocktail bar nearby which was fairly priced.

On our flight back home to the UK, we got a little snack box on the plane and a choice of wine, beer or juice. Of course, Jo and I chose wine. It was actually nice and helped me relax during the flight home.

I’m so glad I’ve finally visited Amsterdam, I’d heard lots about it from friends. There is so much to see and do. We did a lot to say we stayed for one night (but two full days). I’d definitely like to go back and stay an extra day, which I’m currently planning with some blogging friends – so watch this space.

Have you visited Amsterdam before? What did you get up to?