Destination #10-Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Day 5 of this Topdeck tour began early as we made our way over to The Netherlands, which would prove to be a long journey. Our first stop worth talking about was at a random farm owned by a crazy Dutchman. This crazy Dutchman gave us a tour of his family business of making cheese and clogs. To be honest, it was actually interesting and the Dutchman provided some great comedy along the way. At the end, I bought a block of pepper flavoured cheese because the stuff was legit my friends. I have brought it home with me and I can’t wait to crack it open. After the demo, we made our way to Amsterdam.

We checked into the hostel that night and uhhh, it was interesting. A few years back, the hostel was named the worst hostel in Europe, or at least I heard it was. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't spectacular. After we got settled in, our Topdeck leader, Chris, gave us a small walking tour of Amsterdam and the Red Light District. I was actually quite shocked at how attractive and beautiful the girls were in the windows. For some reason, I was expecting Hastings Street Vancouver type quality, but I understand now that it is a legitimate profession in Amsterdam and somewhat respected industry. After walking around, the crew went to a sex show. I will not go into detail about what happened but let’s just say everyone, including me, left with a wide-eyed expression and confused look on their face.

Now, it’s Amsterdam (it’s legal Mom), I was thinking about enjoying a certain type of brownie, but at this point I was coughing, my voice was still gone, my throat still sore, and my right ear was plugged. So this night I decided to go to bed early. It’s definitely not fun being sick on a trip where you have limited time to see everything and all you want to do is sleep!

The next day started with a bike tour of Amsterdam and I was kind of nervous. I had not rode a bike in years and even then, I didn't ride a bike a whole lot as a kid! It was also raining so that put a damper on the day….anyone? I have to say, after it was all said and done, this was actually probably my highlight of the trip. If you don’t know, riding a bike in Amsterdam is probably more popular than walking. Amsterdam is also a really a cool sight with all the canals and bikes everywhere. After the bike tour, the gang headed over to the Anne Frank Huis to see what the line was like. The gang was disappointed. The line was massive and as we were on limited time, we decided to skip it. Instead, we went out for lunch. After this, we decided to make our way over to the Heineken Brewery, except we ended up just going around in a circle and ended up back at Anne Frank Huis where the line was still just as big. We then corrected our path and made our way over to the brewery. The tour was pretty mediocre but hey, you get 2 beers at the end plus a free glass. Later on that night, we had a group dinner at a Chinese restaurant that floats on the canal. It was perfect timing as well because the Liang family back home was celebrating Chinese New Year the same weekend. The meal was amazing because there was so much food and everyone stuffed their face. Afterwards, we went on a canal cruise that was a little disappointing. I think because it was our last night, I was hoping it would be more like a party boat. However, it was small and had tables so we were all sitting down the whole time. We also couldn't see anything out the windows because it was raining. It was open bar though so that was good. After the cruise, we all went for a few drinks and some dancing.

On the last day of our trip, we made the journey back to London. We made a small stop in Bruges, in which I have visited before. I made sure I got some fries and chocolate before we left again. We arrived in London around dinner time and it was time to say goodbye to everyone. The Gang shared some hugs but it was sweet sorrow because all 6 of us actually live in or around London! So I'm sure the Gang will reunite someday. By the end of this trip, I had fit the profile of “Coughdeck”, which is not a good thing.

Amsterdam was another city that I don’t believe I got a fulfilling amount of time in. So I would love to go back, especially in the summer time. The trip itself was a lot of fun filled with great people, lots of laughs, and amazing sights. I'm thinking about doing at least one more of these types of trips because travelling with 45 people rather than just by yourself can be a lot more fun. The only downfall is the limited amount of time you get in each city. I don’t have a favourite out of the 3 cities as they’re all unique in their own way but I loved all of them.