My first ever travel experience was long ago back in May of 2009 at the age of 19. I will point out here that this will not be as informative as future posts as I did not have the mindset I do now as well as it was too long ago to remember helpful information. So apologies in advance but I hope you enjoy it all the same.
I had woken up one day and decided I wanted to go to Amsterdam whilst eating my morning toast, I was and still am rather impulsive, as well as a few other traits that will likely become clear the more you read from our blogs.
My father being… who… he was, had decided that, after I told him I wanted to go, a 14 stone 5′ 10″ 19 year old that was built like a brick sh…ed shouldn’t go alone, he suggested I take my 7 stone 5′ 2″ sister with me. At this I asked what length the string ought to be, should she blow away.
So it was decided me and my sister would go to Amsterdam for 3 days, by coach as this was so long ago flights were out of reach for poor people still, so away we went, departing from Essex at the crack of dawn only to arrive at Dover to enjoy a 7 hour delay, where us lucky travellers got to spend each second of which, on the sweltering coach. So far so go…d awful.
But it was an adventure! So we endured. The ferry ride was nothing to sing about I generally didn’t enjoy most parts aside from the disembarking and a rather large antique map displayed in one of the stairwells.
The coach took us directly to the hotel which we decided was too late, so after some sinnesapplesap and toast, we retired.
The next day after looking at local maps and quides* that ended up strewn across the room in desperation as to not lose anymore adventuring time, we decided we were none the wiser and left in the general direction of Amsterdam City centre.
*I did not at this time have the resourcefulness or knowledge of online tools that’s could have made this archaic reduced to mere moments
Near on 2 miles later, after marvelling at how lazy these people must be as offices lay empty or at best sparcly populated at 10am on a Tuesday we assumed most people probably smoked away their motivation to get up. After all when in Amsterdam….
I literally always have and always will be a shutter bug, this later turned out to be super useful later on but we will get to that part. I photographically documented our walk in whether it was tiny cars, old bridges, boat houses or even a peculiar post box because they use TNT as their Royal Mail and that’s clearly an exciting thing. Finally arriving in the city we saw that something was going on, pop up tables lined virtually every street and at intervals of about 20 feet, upon those tables were self service, tapped beer kegs. Now if I gave a flip for beer or lager this would have been great but after a quick “hmm” whilst effecting that weird upside down smile thing some people do when puzzled, I paid it no more mind. Ladies getting naked in the streets into what looked like party gear and men in their 50s with T-shirts emblazoned with “Free Hugs” clearly not with the intention of just feeling people up. Heaven forbid. After a little while we realised it was the fabulous spectacle that was the Gay Pride festival. Obviously an amazing celebration but I would say that Amsterdam took it a little further than normal and there a huge amount of bare fallous on display, I had the feeling that this was just because they can in Amsterdam. This is where I ceased to be a shutter bug for now. Once passed we perused and mosied our way past and into new and exciting looking shops with loud and edgy designs in all manner of medium, clothing, figurines, toys, furniture, you name it, all of which was out of our ordinary and it was amazing. Highly priced but still amazing. One shop that does stick out for me however was Sissy Boy which was next to a shop called Wanko, which in turn was next to a shop called Wood. You can imagine the hours of entertainment we had with these names which we presumed must have been done on purpose.
The architecture along with famous bridges and waterway were just as beautiful at night as you see in all the photos. Here however after dark I did not feel as safe as I would in my future travels, but this may have been because it was my first time away from home. Any drunken shouting you hear, you can guarantee will be either from Germans or British. Either shouting at each other, or themselves.
As it was all new at the time we didn’t really explore more than where our feet could take us, the food in general was good, and during the day you get a much nicer vibe than at night but still either way it’s a recommended experience either for your first time travelling as a close easy destination. Or even for a seasoned traveller that overlooked it because it is possibly too close. Since going I have found they have a few highly recommended museums, the Anne Frank House being one of them but I am unsure whether that is purely because it was featured in a movie, or those people actually enjoyed the place for what it was. On top of all this I was only offered drugs once after being bombarded with claims I would get offered at least 6,234.213 times a day. The prices were as you would expect for such a travelled- to city, and we did not use public transport so the pricing for that I cannot help with.
Aside from the shops and professional street personnel. We were amused by buskers, drunks trying to get a 1 Euro coin up off the floor that someone had superglue there. The beautiful open air cafes and pubs and pedal powered 8 man bar on wheels flitting through the streets as we sat beside the water having an ice cold drink on the gorgeous May evening with just enough soft cool breeze to put you to sleep.
Looping back to my useful shutterbug activity, after getting hopelessly lost on our first day after the sun had gone down, we used the photos* to find our way back to the hotel in reverse order that I took them. Using the landmarks and features I’d captured as way points which made for a fun game that I in emted to make it look like we weren’t lost one bit.
*when I say photos it was more a pictorial homage to every nook and cranny that looked even the slightest bit intriguing, within the confines of the entire city.
The coach drive back through Belgium was piteresque enough to alay the disappointment that soon I will be back in the UK doing the same boring useless things I did before I left for this first abroad adventure. We stopped off in a Belgium chocolate factory where we saconded the obligatory back-home presents. As well as the first place I ever witnessed a 500ml bottle of drink at the equivalent of £1, to which I audibly scoffed and walked out, whilst of course hoping the chocolate empire would crumble without my coinage adorning their till draw.
Luckily no delays on this crossing and we were home before 11pm the hyperactivity slowly wearing off the next day as Amsterdam seemed to fade quickly into a distant but fond memory.
It is still a fond memory, as me, my father and 3 sisters had never been abroad together and this trip was the first and last time I went away with any of my relatives.
But after a trip abroad on my own soon after this one, once Amsterdam had fuelled my love of travel and confirmed that I found it hard to be confined and happy within the everyday grind. Dating a new and now very special girl would turn out to be very good for my travel bug, very good indeed!
Just Trustworthy Travel 