Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ah, Amsterdam. The city ever so famous for it’s… fault in our stars references … amongst other “legal” things … 😉

This was the first time I’ve been to the Netherlands, and having heard so much about it, I had very high expectations going. And I’ve got to say, man, it did not disappoint. The artistic heritage that the city captures, with the canals and narrow housing down every alleyway, was just like how the movies pictured it to be. Needless to say, it was truly breath-taking (even if the air smelt like weed 70% of the time).

We chose specifically to go during the month of April because the world famous tulip festival was being held then as it was the season for the tulips to be at full bloom. We had a little bit of a hiccup in the beginning as the weather forecast seemed to predict that it would be cold and gloomy for the entire 3 days we were there, so whilst planning our itinerary,  we decided to put off the tulip festival until our last day there and prayed for mother nature to miraculously change her mind.

TOP TIP #1: ALWAYS HAVE A LIST/ITINERARY OF ALL THE PLACES YOU WANT TO VISIT BEFOREHAND. Research all the main tourist attractions or places you want to hit up and list them down. If you don’t already know me, I am a VERY VERY organized freak (slight hint of OCD) so Im the type of person who NEEDS to do a ton of planning beforehand. In order to make the holiday smoother, I like to see whereabouts the attractions I want to hit up are and whether there are any other places/sights nearby. This way, you can plan to see all the ones close by each other on one day, and the ones further away on a separate day in order to save transport cost by going back and forth. AND it also save a whole ton of time!

DAY 1:

Our flight from Prague to Amsterdam arrived pretty late in the afternoon. (If you haven’t already read my Prague blog post, click here).  It took a while to find our hostel as it was quite hidden. We made the mistake of booking the cheapest hostel we could find, and although it wasn’t THAT bad, I wished we would’ve gone with an AirBnB instead. It was… quite the experience (to say the least ) to stay in a very tight, confined room with 8 people in 4 bunkbeds. AND to make it more fun, we had to share ONE shower and a bathroom with 40 other strangers on the same floor.  For me, I was very uneasy about this because sharing a shower & bathroom with COMPLETE STRANGERS and the thought of seeing dirt or hair particles on the walls or sink.. EUUGGHHH *shudders* lets move on.

TOP TIP #2: DO NOT ALWAYS PICK THE CHEAPEST OPTION WHEN IT COMES TO ACCOMODATION. CHECK THOROUGHLY FIRST. We regretted passing up the opportunity to stay in a boat house AirBnB! It was literally a house, on a boat, ON THE SIDE OF THE CANAL! It would’ve been such a cool experience, and the price was not far off from the hostel we stayed in, but for some reason we ended up going with the hostel instead. *facepalm* 

Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the streets of Amsterdam and exploring (A.K.A. getting lost) in the alleyways of canals.

How majestic is this?!

We found the fault in our stars bench! (yes it was actually on google maps as “fault in our stars bench”)

The weather was on point when we arrived!

I mean.. how is this even real life?

Looking for our Ansel Elgort

People actually left love locks on this bench, it was the cutest thing! “Maybe okay will be our always”

We also stopped to grab some famous Holland fries! It was pretty good, although I’m not a fan of thick cut fries

We also went to see the Red Light District (which I was completely unaware of its existence and refused to believe it until I saw it with my own eyes) and it was… interesting … to say the least hahaha! No photos taken for obvious reasons (:

FUN FACT: Also I found out that “coffee shops” in Amsterdam aren’t actually COFFEE SHOPS where you sit down for a nice cup of coffee. Instead, it’s a place to buy marijuana or sit down for a nice “brownie” (if you know what I mean). Since it is legal to buy marijuana in Amsterdam, these coffeeshops are legit everywhere, around every corner so you really can’t miss them (if not, just follow the smell which trust me, it’s not that pleasant).

DAY 2:

So on this day, we decided to go to Zaanse Schans which is a gorgeous Dutch windmill village on the outskirts of Amsterdam. We took a train down, and then walked a few miles until we reached. It would’ve been easier to cycle but since I am a failure in life and can’t ride a bike, it wasn’t an option for me 😦

Anyways, we underestimated the weather and for some reason didn’t take into account that it would obviously be windy and cold in a WINDmill area, so our dumb selves were freezing our butts off the entire time. But it was so worth it.

The face of regret when you realise you aren’t wearing enough layers

Despite the gloomy sky, it was a beaut sight

It was a pink house with a pink tree to I had to take a photo in front of it

Such a cute little village!

Cheesin’ through the cold

Body warmth

I still do not know what these shoes are called to this day

After that, we decided to head back to the city centre and roam around the main tourist attractions like Rijksmuseum and the infamous “IAMSTERDAM” sign. We then did a bit of souvenir shopping and went to a carnival for a bit.

Behind the scenes of climbing up and getting that right shot

The person at the counter made fun of us for the amount of sauce we asked for #oops

Chocolate covered bananas are the bomb dot com

What’s better than hot churros on a freezing cold day

I deeply regret not taking more photos of the city centre, but I was actually freezing my butt off and my hands were frozen cold so holding a camera was just a struggle 😦

TOP TIP #3: CHECK THE WEATHER FORECAST BEFOREHAND AND PACK ACCORDINGLY. 

DAY 3:

Now this was one of the main reason why we came to Amsterdam: THE TULIP FESTIVAL! We were all so so so pumped for this but the only thing worrying us was the weather! It was forecasted to be rainy and gloomy so we prayed so so hard the night before, and MOTHER NATURE CAME THROUGH! When we woke up, it was such a beautiful (yet cold) sunny day!

TOP TIP #4: BOOK TRANSPORT AND ENTRANCE TICKETS TOGETHER IF YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO KEUKENHOFF (TULIP GARDENS). We made the mistake of only booking the entrance tickets beforehand and thought we could make our own way there but it turned out to be more hassle than it was worth. We had to go all the way to the airport to buy a bus ticket to Keukenhoff, whereas we could’ve gotten the package that included transports with the tickets and it would’ve worked out cheaper and more convenient too.

It was rainbow paradise and I truly felt like I went died and went to heaven!

Yes. We did coordinate our outfits.

There was a petting zoo!! You best believe I pushed all the kids aside to pet a baby goat!

I think something bit me?

And here lies a wild Brenda trying to be artistic

What you don’t see in the photos: the behind the scene action of us all wrapped up after every photo because it was freezing!

There was legit fields and fields of tulips! I mean WOW

This was truly the highlight of my trip to Amsterdam. If you ever get a chance, I would HIGHLY recommend going to the tulip festival, its an experience you DO NOT want to miss!

So that’s about it for my trip to Amsterdam! Thanks for reading and please follow for more ❤

-Brenda