So right after I went to Norway and Sweden I got to go on ANOTHER trip with some new friends to Amsterdam. And we got to do my favorite thing when we travel: walk around randomly and find cool free stuff to do. Unfortunately, the absolutely gorgeous botanical garden that we went to (Keukenhof) was pretty expensive to get into. I don’t remember exactly how much it was but it was at least 30 euros for the bus trip there and the ticket to get in. It honestly might have been as high as 50 euros. I honestly don’t remember I just wanted to get on the bus and not have to wait for an hour for the next bus to come and potentially be late for my flight. But the garden itself was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. And it was huge. I probably could have spent the entire day there but I had a flight to catch so I ended up leaving early. I had actual strawberries and cream there. Overpriced but oh my goodness it was amazing. I just figured that I wasn’t going to go back to that garden ever since like I said it was pretty expensive to get there, but the experience was totally worth it. That’s just me. The first time I traveled I told the people I was with what I liked and they didn’t really like the same things (I said I wanted to go visit and sit in a big park and just exist in the space but the one park we went to they wanted to leave after about 15 minutes) so it was really nice to have people that enjoyed buying experiences rather than things. Not to say I don’t like souvenirs, but I’d much rather spend my money on something I’ll remember, like a nice walk around an enormous garden with all kinds of plant life, than something that can break or be lost. I think that’s something people should understand about themselves before traveling. 1) do you like buying experiences (and if so what kind of experiences) and 2) do you have space to buy things that aren’t experience related? Generally, the people I have been hanging around like buying experiences which I’m all for, but it would have certainly been nice if I had packed less things and could actually afford some space for some cool souvenirs. If I had traveled more and planned better, I would have collected transport cards from each of the countries I went to. To me, that’s the best souvenir because I absolutely love the public transport systems I’ve been on in Europe. I guess I just assumed that every country would have a similar system to Denmark. I should explain, Denmark’s public transport system is run on both tickets, and with something called Resjekort (pronounce that how you will). The Resjekort can either be bought anonymously, or purchased and connected to a Danish CPR number. I just opted for the anonymous card but the benefit of the Resjekort being connected to your CPR number is that you can then reload it online. For people like me that bought a card anonymously, I have to reload at metro stations which honestly isn’t that bad, it would just have been more convenient to have connected it to my ID. I just think it’s unnecessary at this point since I’m leaving soon. Anyway, I assumed that most countries would have that kind of system, where you purchase a physical card and can then reload it but I think for the most part you buy digital tickets or single use tickets (Denmark does digital tickets as well but I really like having a cool resjekort to hold onto as a souvenir). I’ve been doing my best to collect the single use tickets but they’re so fragile that it’s hard to keep them safe, especially since I have nowhere to put them where they won’t get bent.
Getting back to Amsterdam, I think the experience, while it was a bit expensive, was completely worth it at the moment. I’m never going back and it was great to spend more time with my friends. Also, just the experience of seeing something so massive I think was valuable because nothing like that exists in Hawaii. Not to mention the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I know I say “absolutely gorgeous” a lot now but that’s the only way I can describe things. The beauty in Europe is so amazing and diverse. And because like I said Hawaii just doesn’t have the space for a huge botanical garden, the square footage of the garden is truly a sight to behold.
I also heard the day after I left that there were HUGE delays at the airport (Schipol Airport) due to a worker strike. That was pure luck but thankfully my friends didn’t get delayed at all. I will say, I wish I stayed but I had some work to do back in Copenhagen. The train ride back was a bit lonely, but the memories of hanging out with my friends made it go away. It’s not a long metro ride either, maybe 30 minutes. And honestly, it was nice to be back in my own room. Don’t get me wrong, I do like hostels. Generally, the hostels I’ve been in have been very nice so I can’t complain. But having my own space is really nice. Not to mention I did put down a sizable payment for my housing. That was a short trip, only three days and two nights but I think that’s about my limit since my backpack can’t hold much clothes and supplies so I would’ve either needed to wash or buy clean clothes to wear. Granted, I did have my huge winter coat which I regret bringing since the weather was gorgeous and was generally around 15 degrees celsius (60’s in fahrenheit I think) so it was very cool and on top of that there was a breeze pretty consistently. All told, this was a great little excursion. It’s so amazing that with a less than two hour plane ride, you can be in a totally different country, with a completely different government, language, and culture. Absolutely amazing.
I have a slight pollen allergy but powering through was totally worth it.
(A bit blurry) but once again my friends are the best view in the area. Thank you to the lovely Dutch person who took this photo.
The strawberries and cream unfortunately did not last long enough to be captured but I assure you they were beautiful while they lasted.