This weekend I went to explore Amsterdam, Holland, on my own. It was awesome!
But before I can talk about the holiday itself, I must describe my transport pangs first.I rocked up at Stansted Airport bright and early on Saturday morning. Somehow I could not find my flight on the screen. I soon realized that I had gone to the wrong airport! What a blunder. My flight was actually from Luton Airport, departing in an hour's time. Needless to say, I missed my flight.
I was feeling rotten, especially since this was the weekend that I had 2 sets of free unused return Europe flights. (My tickets to Milan came with a free return flight to Hamburg, but I didn't know about the free Hamburg flight so I paid for my Hamburg flight. The tickets to Hamburg were also under the buy-one-get-one-free promotion, resulting in me ending up with 2 sets of free flights wasted.)I booked the very next flight to Amsterdam from Stansted for a whopping £78. What a waste. But at least I got to Amsterdam.Total single flights unused: 5Total worth of flights wasted: £140
But wait, there's more!
On the way back from Amsterdam, my flight got delayed by an hour. Once I got to London, my train was delayed by half an hour. I missed the last tube home and had to take a night bus. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the night bus, waking up at the end of the line! I took a minicab from there, reaching home at about 2am.
How lovely huh.
OK, on to the holiday itself.
Highlights:
- Incredible live jazz at the Alto Cafe
- Tour of a windmill (Molen van Sloten)
- Fantastic fresh extra cold beer from Heineken brewery
- Extensive art collections, especially Van Gogh Museum and Rembrandt House
- Diamond tour at Gassan Diamonds
- Canal boat tour
- Picturesque city with its numerous canals
- Serene suburbs with their small houses, calm and greenery
FOOD FOOD FOOD Highlights:
On Saturday I had 3 Heinekens for breakfast on an empty stomach. I went red as a lobster instantly! In the evening, the mexican restaurant I had dinner at made a mistake with my order, serving my ribs without chips and salad. They were apologetic and gave me a whole second plate of ribs, chips and salad! On top of that I had an appetizer and dessert. I was full to the top!
In Amsterdam they take
public toilets very literally. There are male urinals on the streets, out in the open!
At night I went to Malaysian Night with Lydia and Zun Hui, a UCL Malaysian Student Union drama production. We took some crazy pictures!
