Our bags were packed and we were ready to head out on our first adventure. First stop Amsterdam. We hadn’t traveled to continental Europe in three years, and we were excited to feel the excitement of travel and to be in awe of the history.
We had been to Amsterdam before, but the short flight from Manchester made it the perfect starting point for our 11 day tour. So, let’s go! First stop, Amsterdam.
We had done our best at estimating what we would need to pack into our carry on bags; we use forty liter Pacsafe backpacks and compression packing cubes to organize our clothes. We also had the necessary travel items such as toothpaste tabs, dry shampoo powder and laundry soap.
It was a short trip to Sheffield station where we caught the train to Manchester Airport. It took just over an hour with one connection. With an online check-in and no bags to check, we passed through security with ease and proceeded to wait for our flight.
One thing that was noteworthy;
The departure gates are not announced until shortly before the flight board, so there was a steady procession of passengers, once posted. Our flight to Amsterdam was delayed once we had boarded due to closed runways at Schiphol Airport for maintenance. We watched Netflix for almost two hours on the plane before we were able to take flight.
The one hour flight was without incident. We passed through Dutch customs with ease and caught the train to Amsterdam Centraal. Although slightly later than expected, the walk from Centraal was short and we quickly checked in to our hotel room.
The hotel library is a quaint hotel with old ornate walls and a small library in the front. The hotel staff were very friendly and the room was very clean and modern. It gave off a truly relaxed feel in a busy city. We ventured off to have a drink and visit a coffee shop (not to be confused with a cafe, which serves coffee).
We walked around and took in the sights of the Red Light district.
These days it’s less red lights and more a tourist trap. There still are red lights in the windows, but the area is mostly souvenir shops and overpriced bars. Although there are some people standing in the street trying to sell you things that you can’t find in the stores, the area feels safe to walk about. It was refreshing to be around so many people after feeling so isolated over the last two years.
It is easy to lose your bearings while wandering through the streets full of people and over the many bridges. The old, crooked buildings lining the canals look very similar from street to street. We stayed out rather late and returned to our room ready for sleep.
As we prepared for bed we realized that we were missing some things from our luggage.
It turns out that in our haste to make it through security in Manchester we had left some things in one of the x-ray bins. It took several days before we had a full list of the things left behind, but it became immediately apparent that there were a few necessities that we could not proceed without!
At the top of the list was a hair straightener for Hayley and a couple other “must have” hair care products. The discovery left Hayley in a temporary state of panic. I assured her that our first order of business in the morning would be to procure said items.
The next morning we found a department store and pharmacy and all was well again (we also now own a hair straightener with an EU plug but need to get another one with a U.K. plug).
We spent the day walking to parts of the city we hadn’t previously seen.
Beautiful pictures were taken at one of the best views of the city atop the NEMO Science Museum. We then enjoyed some craft beer at Brouwerij ‘tIJ, a brewery in a windmill from 1814. We ate haring broodje (pickled herring and pickles on a bun) for the first time, a must try food. The haring was very salty and slightly slimy but almost melted in your mouth. There were a few stops at more coffee shops, a visit to the Sex Museum and then we commemorated our visit with tattoos (they make for very light souvenirs).
- Click here to read more about the food and drink in Amsterdam.
- Click here to read more about what we saw and did in Amsterdam.
Several cocktails were then enjoyed and we ate a late dinner at a very nice Mediterranean restaurant. There really was no plan in mind with this short stop in Amsterdam. We had spent a few days there previously as mentioned, but we enjoyed the feeling of wonder that travel can bring. Our first stop, Amsterdam was a great success.
It was another late night out and we returned to our hotel ready to leave the hustle of Amsterdam. We were ready to take on the next city of our journey; Utrecht.