Goodbye Amsterdam

I am about to head out of Amsterdam and I wanted to recap my time here a bit more.  I have really enjoyed Amsterdam! Its such a unique and beautiful city.  There really is so much more to enjoy other than the typical drug and prostitution scene that is thought of when talking about Amsterdam.  The canals are beautiful, the people are so friendly, and the design of the city is really cool and makes walking around enjoyable.

To address the red light district...its a very interesting part of the city. A bit seedy but doesn't seem unsafe. There are many bars, clubs, and coffee shops in the red light district. The prostitutes stand in the windows in bikini type attire. They are surprisingly much more beautiful than I expected them to be.  I went on a Monday night and all of the ladies I passed were gorgeous. We went to a bar in the red light district and it was your typical bar (except with a smoking room). The red light district is overall an interesting part of Amsterdam. 

One of my favorite parts of Amsterdam is their outdoor cafes that have all the chairs facing outward for people-watching. I ate at one of those cafes each day I was here,

I hope to visit Amsterdam again someday :) 

To Amsterdam

Yesterday morning we boarded our train (our first time using the eurail pass) for Amsterdam!! (peace out Paris)  The train ride went really well. The seats were very comfortable and there was wifi. I slept most of the time. When we arrived in Amsterdam we found our hostel very easily. It was so close to Amsterdam Centraal which means it is in a GREAT location.  I love the location of the hostel and the staff is nice but I have to be honest, the rooms are Nasty...They smell and we are in a 18 bed dorm in a basement...Not loving the atmosphere...BUT the location is wonderful. So we checked in and I dropped my bags in my room and headed out to explore. I walked all around the city. I sat at an outdoor cafe and had a good lunch while people watching. I also discovered a really cute and yummy chocolate shop on one of the side streets.  I just weaved up and down the alleys around the canals.  I also visited the Anne Frank House which I had been really excited for and it definitely lived up to my expectations.  

After a long day of walking around, I came back to the hostel to wash up and get ready to go out.  We went on the Red Light District Pub Crawl which was a LOT of fun. I met this really cool Irish couple who I hung around with all night. After the pub crawl I came back to the hostel and got on the internet for a while and then headed to sleep. I was woken up at about 4:30 along with many of my other pissed off roommates because there were 19 people in the 18 person dorm and Mr. 18 and his guest were being very loud (if you know what I mean)....Seriously guy??

So I have decided that I am going to change some of my plans and reservations. I am going to be booking some hotels instead of hostels...

Tonight I plan on maybe doing an actual tour of the downtown part of the city.

I am planning on maybe leaving here tomorrow and heading somewhere else..We will see what happens. I will keep you updated

Night in Paris

I'm not tired yet so I figured I would update again. The evening started of kinda boring. I ate at the hostel and didn't really know what to do. Dustin was hanging out with a few people and they were going to go out, but I could tell by the conversations they were having that it just wasn't my idea of fun. I contemplated just getting back out my computer and chilling in my room but then I met a group of people (mostly American & Canadians which is kinda crazy because most everybody is Australian) and we started chatting. We ended up sitting beside the canal across from my hostel and chatting for a few hours with some wine. Is was a nice, funny evening. 

Paris

Sorry it has taken so long to post. The flight here was...AWFUL...Terrible plane...Terrible child in front of me...and the ceiling was dripping on me...and I was soooo sleep deprived for the first day or two. But enough of that. Lets move onto Paris...

Paris...Hmmm what to say about Paris....Its a walking city (I Hate Walking). Lots of French people can speak English...but they don't want to.   Paris doesn't have well located hostel...I have to take like 3 different trains to get anywhere decent.  Parisians love baguettes...Not Complaining...

Even though I can pretty much assure everyone that Paris will not be my favorite city, I have had some fun here.  We went to the Arc de Triomphe and took picture and looked around. I thought it was a pretty neat site. We found a beautiful flower shop nearby and looked around. From there we walk around for a few hours and finally made our way over the the Eiffel Tower.  We decided that since we are here, we need to go to the top of it.  It was great timing! We got to the top (on the elevator because our legs were dead from walking like 10 miles) just as the sun was setting. It was really pretty.  Just as we got to the bottom the lights came on which was also very pretty.  I got a picture of the tower from a street artist (hopefully I can keep it safe until the end of my trip.)  Today we took a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. It was very beautiful and we had a great guide that taught us WAY more than we would have been able to figure out alone. We were lucky enough to be there on the weekend when they turn on all of the fountains.  It was really fun but we walked for about 5 hours straight....EXHAUSTING.  Tomorrow I plan to go to Notre Dame and a few other sites. I'll update again after that.

You have to fight through some bad moments to earn the best moments of your life.

The last 24 hours has been...intense.

I got up at 6 am yesterday morning and started working.  I worked until 4 pm and then left work to go to whole foods to buy a few more things for the trip.  As the cashier at whole foods was ringing me up, I realized that my wallet wasn't in my purse.  I went back to work to see if I had left it there and when I couldn't find it, I started to panic. All of my credit cards/ bank cards were in that wallet. Both my drivers license and my student ID were in that wallet. And I was supposed to leave in 2 DAYS! Not only was I supposed to leave in 2 days but it was a Sunday and the next day was a national holiday which meant that there was no way to get my cards replaced in that period of time. After several hours of looking, I called Capital One and American Express to cancel my cards. American Express (having the wonderful customer service that they have) arranged for me to pick my card up locally but I couldn't get another Capital One before I left.  I was sooo down that these things had been lost, but then I got a phone call. . . It was whole foods and my wallet had been turned in to customer service!!! I picked it up and nothing was missing and luckily I had yet to cancel my check card, so all is good again!

Today I packed my pack and realized that when fully packed, it is slightly bigger than I had expected. I realized that I might have to check it, but after reading the horror stories about shredded packs after being checked, I decided I needed a pack duffel to put it in during air travel.  I was about to head out to REI when Dustin suggested going to Target first to see if they had anything.  We were about to leave Target but decided to look in one more section.  On our way to the luggage section. we passed a clearance end cap with a few lightweight collapsible duffel that were EXACTLY what we were looking for.  We took them home and they fit PERFECTLY!! It was meant to be!

I have been finishing up packing the last few things and I am almost READY TO GO!! I can't wait!

Reservation Hell

So I woke up at 7:30 this morning to call the Eurail Booking Center in Paris to book some of the trains that require additional mandatory reservations.  I spent 30 minutes + on hold before speaking to someone and then another 30 minutes booking the reservations.  As soon as I hung up, I realized that the final reservations that she read back to me (and I jotted down) had a mistake. The train from Rome to Venice which we had discussed needed to be on the 29th of September had been booked on the 26th of September. I didn't realize this mistake until I had already hung up...of course.  So I called back to correct this mistake and after another 30 minute hold, I was told that reservations can't be changed and I would need to book another reservation. On top of that 20 Euros down the drain, I have to make the new reservation with the first person I spoke with and she was busy so I had to leave my number for her to call me back. AHH! Frustrated!

Also I just put my pack on with my satchel just to make sure I could wear them at the same time...I can't. So I contemplated just holding the satchel in my hand during travel and using it by itself as a day pack.  Unfortunately after putting my laptop in the satchel and wear it for 30 seconds I had to take it off because it is EXTREMELY uncomfortable. So back to the store it goes and I am back on the search for a new comfortable day pack.

Even though today has been frustrating, I can't complain because I am so lucky to be able to go on this trip period.  I'm sure that these aren't the only set backs I will have in the process of this trip but the trip will be awesome enough to far outweigh the bumps along the way :)

Only 1 WEEK left!!

Packing List

Packing List:

**All of the stuff listed below is fitting into a 65L Backpack and a Satchel Day pack

Clothes:

·         4 pairs of pants (2 jeans, 2 other)

·         8 mix and match/layering shirts

·         3 T-shirts

·         3 jackets (1 heavier/ 1 black / 1 fleece)

·         Poncho

·         1-2 Dresses (both black/ 1 nice and 1 casual)

·         2 Bras

·         Underwear

·         2 pairs PJ pants

·         5 pairs of socks

·         1 pair tennis shoes

·         1 pair black boots

·         1 pair flip flops

·         1 pair flats

Toiletries and Medication:

·         Advil

·         Mucinex

·         Bonine

·         Airborne

·         Pepto

·         Tums

·         Benadryl

·         Imodium

·         Band-Aids

·         Q-Tips

·         Hand Sanitizer

·         Anti-Bacterial hand wipes

·         Tooth Paste

·         Deodorant

·         Razor

·         Tooth Brush

·         Brush

·         Hair Ties

·         Makeup (Foundation, Eyeliner, Mascara)

·         Lotion

·         Eczema medicine

·         Tweezers

Electronic:

·         Digital Camera (and Charger)

·         Flip Video Recorder (and Charger)

·         Laptop (and Charger)

·         Kindle Fire (and Charger)

·         Phone (for emergency use)

·         Webcam

·         Memory Cards

·         Power/Plug Adaptor

·         Small Hair Straighter

·         Battery Alarm Clock

·         Small Flashlight

·         Watch

Other:

·         Travel Towel

·         Travel Sheet Pocket

·         Carry on / Day Pack

·         Travel Itinerary/Plans

·         Eurail Pass

·         Passport

·         Copy of Passport

·         Credit Cards/Drivers License

·         Locker Locks and Pack Locks

·         Health Insurance Card

·         Prescribed Medications

·         Ear plugs/ Eye Mask

·         Plastic Utensils

·         Bottle Opener

·          Ziplock Baggies

·         Large Trash Bag

·         Small Notepad and Pen