Amsterdam 101

I love Amsterdam. Out of all the big cities I’ve visited, I would chose Amsterdam in a heart beat to live in. It’s beautiful, fun, safe, it has delicious food, stunning canals, great nightlife and there are endless places to visit. Can I go back yet? I left for Amsterdam Thursday afternoon from Lyon, France. I flew with Swiss Airlines, so right from the start I knew I was going to have a great weekend getaway. I love Swiss Airlines, the service is great, and who is really going to complain about getting free chocolate? Not I.

I had a layover for just under two hours in the Zurich airport, where a friend and I indulged in some delicious Swiss truffles.. when in Switzerland right? We were waiting for the line to get smaller before we got our lazy butts up to board our flight when we realized that we had made a terrible terrible mistake. There were in fact two flights leaving for Amsterdam at 5:40, and we were waiting to board the wrong one. In a complete panic, we sprinted as fast as possible hoping to catch our correct flight. All the time freaking out about what would happen if we missed our flight, we were too broke to book a new one but equally too broke to even spend one night in Switzerland. We needed to catch this flight. Thankfully, with smiles on our faces and sweat dripping down our foreheads, we made our flight!

We somehow quickly managed to get to our hostel, despite our clear lack of travel skills. Our friends had left us a hilarious note with directions on where to find them written on a roll of toilet paper, welcome to Amsterdam. Let the adventures begin.

So here’s why I fell in love with Amsterdam and The Netherlands:

I never felt unsafe. Not once. I don’t know the statistics or how safe Amsterdam actually is, but I never at any point felt uneasy.

I normally hate big cities because they’re dirty and cluttered. I didn’t find that with Amsterdam. Maybe it was because I was there during off season, but it was really easy to get away from the crowds and the city itself was absolutely stunning.

There is SO much to do. You could spend a week or more there alone just going to museums and art galleries. Or just a wander through the red light district is a cultural experience in itself.

The canals are perfect. I would like to cozy up in a big chair with a warm coffee and an interesting book in a beautiful apartment looking out on one of the many many canals in Amsterdam (adding that to my extensive bucket list).

I’ve spent the last 8 years Gluten Free. Those 8 years went out the window in Amsterdam. I seriously haven’t eaten that much gluten.. maybe ever. We had waffles on waffles on waffles, then some pancakes, sausages, sandwiches, pizzas, etc. The food in Amsterdam is phenomenal.

The nightlife was so fun! We went to a Dutch club, and the DJ was talking in Dutch and most of the people there were Dutch as well and it was A-MAY-ZING (despite the fact that literally everyone looked like an ‘effing model and we did not fall under those standards).

The cafes!!!! De-criminalized marijuana? I can live with that. They are so chill with it, and there are so many cafes with different vibes and styles. A must do when in Amsterdam!

Maybe living in France has got me thinking that everywhere I go is so cheap, but I found that things in Amsterdam were fairly well priced – tram tickets, food, drinks, etc. The only thing we spent a little bit more money on was the hostel, I paid 30 euros a night (which isn’t terrible) and my hostel was quite nice. [http://www.stayokay.com/en/hostel/amsterdam-vondelpark] It had everything possible including a free breakfast buffet which had all you could dream of and the hostel was located right in the center near almost everything.

It’s so easy to get around in Amsterdam! You can walk everywhere, and if you’re feeling lazy than the tram system is clean and easy. Or you could try biking with the locals! (which I highly recommend, just be careful not to get hit by a car – in 4 days I saw it happen twice)

Enjoy Amsterdam and watch out for those bikes,

xx,

S