SOLO TRAVELLING - AMSTERDAM

From Copenhagen, I went straight to Amsterdam (because I clearly hadn’t had enough of living out of a duffel bag and uncomfortable beds yet!). When I was deciding initially where to go, a lot of people suggested Amsterdam either because they had been before or because they knew how good it was for young people. Having said that, I went into the city having a pre-judgement on whether I’d enjoy it or not because I don’t do drugs or drink, so I thought it would be quite boring with not much culture. How wrong I was...

Arriving in the city from the airport it looked beautiful, and I hadn’t seen the quaint parts at that point so I was almost immediately hooked. The hostel I stayed at was the Stayokay Amsterdam Hostel Vondelpark, and it was – as you can see by the title – right beside Vondelpark. As I arrived I found out I was in a 6 bed room, single sex. This was probably the best option for me as I met some really nice girls that were staying in my room too; they were from all over – Italy, Chicago, Canada etc. On the first night I went down with an Italian girl and as I sat eating my burger there was a Brazilian that looked a little bit lost so I asked if she wanted to come and sit with us. Erin (I learnt her name later) was astounded by this, as she was sitting on her laptop observing the situation and later told me that she thought it was bizarre that I just asked the girl to sit with us.

It turns out Erin (on the left, and Emily on the right) and her friends were over from America studying all over Europe and we became really good friends (along with many of the other Americans). We went out for dinner with some Couchsurfers to have some Hotchpotch and chocolate muffins, Wagamamas and a pancake house. The girls were lovely and I am so glad that I met them as we spent quite a lot of time together in the evenings and also the Red Light District tour (more on that...).

On the first day I went on the free walking tour around Amsterdam, you learnt a lot about the different areas of Amsterdam and the history behind the city (the canals etc). It was really useful to learn about the different areas and how everything works there – it’s a really interesting city culturally and I’m really glad that I was able to go on the tour. The day was finished by reading a book along the canals and sitting in a lovely coffee shop overlooking the canals and a weed shop (inevitable really...).

Aside from that, I went to the Rijks Museum and the Stedelijk Museum on the Thursday as although they were expensive; I thought it would be worth doing as I was there. The Rijks Museum is focused on older/ancient art, so there were a lot of old paintings and figurines that told a story as you went around the museum, but it was far too big for me to go all the way around, and you become rather disorientated after a while. The Stedelijk is a modern art museum and it is very weird, I’ve never been to a modern art museum like this before, it had very strange pieces and one man was offering 2 Euro to discuss the world economy with me – it was weird.

Another museum which deserves a special mention because of how cheesy it was, is the sex museum. It was probably the most corny museum that I've ever been to, the man on the right is a flasher, and if that makes you want to go, then obviously you're in the right place...

Wondering around over the next few days was lovely, the canals were beautiful and the idea of having nowhere to be is actually a lot more freeing than I imagined it would be. As I had the girls back at the hostel and we were actively going for dinner every night it didn’t seem like everything was lonely, I was really comfortable to be walking around knowing I had friends in the city.

One of the best things I did was go on a Red Light District tour. We went with the same company that did the free walking tours except we paid 10 Euro for this one (totally worth it). The tour took us all over the district and we saw everything from the windows of the girls, to the condomerie, sex shops, porn shops etc. They talked us through how the RLD worked and how it has become what it is today, definitely something that has opened my eyes to a completely different world and one that is completely different to what I was expecting.

The condomerie window was rather interesting too...

Overall, my trip was incredible; being in Amsterdam for 4 nights is something that I want to do again. Solo travelling is amazing, and although you might think it’s lonely, I’ve proven in these posts that if you are confident enough you can meet the most amazing people, and I haven’t mentioned most of the amazing people I have met. The atmosphere in these cities is so young and incredibly energetic that I would recommend them or the hostels to anybody who wants to venture out. I’ve learnt a lot, regardless.