I'm going to blame my experience in Amsterdam largely on one of my sisters. She suggested I take a bus from London to Amsterdam instead of flying and then crash in a hostel the first couple nights. I'd never consider a hostel but I was getting in late and trying to make the reservation for the same day. I'm always interested in saving cash so I took her advice.
The bus trip was about 12 hours which is longer than it sounds I assure you. I got in just after midnight and was assigned to a room which was 4 young Spanish guys. Everyone was already in bed with lights out when I arrived but they started talking after I was safely tucked into my top bunk. The only thing I piped in was "where are you from?"
One guy said "Spain"
I was then confident that if they wanted to cross the line then they knew I would shame their country for the rest of my life.
I went to sleep clutching my laptop in my pillow case and sleeping with one eye open.
The guys were up early eating beans out of cans (gross) and then the cleaner came in. I guess it was incorrectly noted that everyone was checking out that day but I was staying one more night. I unfortunately had to dress and exit the room with very few hours of sleep.
I wandered out into the streets and hopped on the metro to the downtown area. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of pastry shops lining the street that were already packed full with people. I immediately got a waffle with whipping cream and chocolate. I ate it walking down the streets exploring.
Here's a few images of what I saw in windows
I had 3 older ladies check into the hostel for the second night I was there. I checked out the following morning and headed straight to my hotel which to my sisters credit was much more reasonably priced cause I didn't book it the same day or 1 day ahead.
The elevator up to my room was standard but trying to take the stairs back down was crazy!
Once I was settled in the neighborhood and the room I passed out immediately and didn't wake up until night fall. Walking through Amsterdam at night has become a wonderful memory.
