If the travel gods are smiling on us we have arrived in Amsterdam.
Over Christmas Paul and I were talking about how much more difficult it will be to travel to Europe once we move west. We decided we would try and pack in one more short trip across the ocean to take advantage of that convenience. I was searching locations in Paris when Paul determined he wanted to go to Amsterdam. Amsterdam it is.
I was in Amsterdam about 6 years ago and loved it. I think Paul was a bit jealous and intrigued by the pics and stories. I was happy to go back when the dull, grey gloom of winter was gone.
We lucked out with the fights. I had enough points left that we could fly there first class. Unfortunately there was only enough for Premium Economy on the way back. 🙁 I could upgrade but it will cost $2000. Nope.
When it came time to finding a place to stay we ran into some snags. when I was there last we rented a lovely apartment on the top floor of lovely old building. Amsterdam, like many cities in Europe, as severely limited short term rentals to tourists. While I completely support the need to keep affordable housing available for locals, I sure was going to miss having room to spread out a bit in a space larger than a traditional European hotel room.
In the end we managed to find a hotel that had loft suites. It’s a bit of a hipster place. The staff are called ‘side-kicks’ which annoys me to no end for some reason. The rooms are bigger, with a kitchenette, sitting area, bed upstairs in the loft (hopefully not too claustrophobic), nice bathroom and rings hanging down in the event you wish to do your workout whilst staying there. At least I THINK that is the purpose. Regardless, I won’t be using them.
We haven’t booked a lot of things. We have things we’d like to see but no set schedule. We have a walking tour on Sunday, the Anne Frank house on Monday, the royal palace on Tuesday, a day trip out of the city on Wednesday, a cocktail experience on Thursday and the Van Gogh museum on Friday. Then we come home.
We have no restaurant reservations at all. this may be a first for us. I guess I can always have one of those side-kicks get on the phone and make some reservations at nice places.
Let the fun begin!