We are back from Amsterdam. It was a great trip which started with a bad morning. Firstly leaving the house at 3AM is hard enough, but being met with a huge Scottish storm on the drive to the airport, and faulty petrol pumps whilst trying to fill up in said storm at 3AM is less than ideal.
Once at the airport we parked up, cleared security super quick in Edinburgh and had a nice breakfast as the sun came up over the airfield. The flight was perfect & our first view of Amsterdam was the amazing Schipol airport. We where helped by a friendly train guard to buy tickets and find our train into the city, and this set the tone for the entire trip. Everyone in Amsterdam is friendly & they all speak better english than most Natives of the UK.
We got into Amsterdam Central station and bought the?Ǭ†OV-chipkaart. Don’t fall for the expensive tourist cards, buy one of these?Ǭ†OV-chipkaart and use the public transport like a local. The card is?Ǭ†?Ǭ†?¢‚Äö¬¨ 7,50 to buy, and you can top it up with anything over?Ǭ†?Ǭ†?¢‚Äö¬¨ 5,00. The card then means you can swipe it when you get on or off a tram or bus without needing to pay for the trip with cash & most tram journeys cost around 1 euro.
The day we arrived was so wet & rainy that we had to fight our way around the city with the Umbrella. We managed to see loads, found a few cute places to eat & drink but headed home early after being awake for around 18 hours. The hotel was great (Amsterdam Eden Manor Hotel) and whilst not in a city centre location, I would much rather stay a few tramstops away from the tourist areas and mingle with the locals. You get a much better feel for a city staying where the locals stay, away from the usual tourist traps.
