Dispatches - Amsterdam

Date: 25 May 2015
Location: The Flying Pig Uptown, Amsterdam
Status: Alive
Trip: Europe Summer 2015

It's always a good sign when a trip begins by losing just one shoe the day before leaving. Armed with what I'm rapidly realising are a not so serviceable pair from Tesco's for a bargain £12, it continued none the less.

Lesson's were learned almost immediately. Who knew you were supposed to check in for a coach?

Luckily, the emergency "we need to to check in incredibly quickly because the [insert transport method] we're aiming for is pulling away/ taking off/ sinking" queue is where all of the interesting people are. Here, along with a boarding pass (for a coach? really?), I found a Polish man who shared my love of Aldous Huxley and tepid wine. This promised to be a good journey.

We eventually reached the channel for the ferry crossing and I assembled my customary "bed" out of bar stools, purchased what I'm promised started as a sausage roll and settled in to nap and watch Mash.

Exactly what transpired while I was napping is unclear but I understand it involved my new Polish friend and a litre bottle of Jagermeister. It seems even the Polish can't drink a litre of Jagermeister emerge unscathed. I believe the remainder of his trip was completed with some assistance from the emergency services. But he did know his Huxley.

One glorious visit to a closed service station later and we made it to Amsterdam. Well somewhere about 30km outside of Amsterdam but beggars and choosers.

I'm now perched in the hostel overlooking Vondelpark, surrounded by Germans, and suitably impressed with the wine list: