A Student's Trip Report
 

I would like to share my experiences with everyone, because I wouldn’t have been able to successfully travel throughout Europe without your help. I ended up having the best time of my life. For that I Thank You.
I’m a collage student who just graduated and went on a one month trip throughout Europe on a solo adventure. I started by flighting from MPLS, MN to Toronto, Canada and then to Amsterdam. I leaned my first lesson of traveling within a few hours. You can’t get upset or frustrated, keep your cool and think thinks through. My luggage wasn’t put on the next plane, like everyone I talked to said it would. So when I stood in the long line to get my boarding pass, the lady said that it didn’t go through. So I had to literally run back to get my big backpack that weighted over thirty pounds. I only had 45 minutes before the plane departed and I still had to go through security. After running a few laps around the airport I finally got my luggage. I went and stood in the long and slow line for security. People were looking at me funny, because I was completely out of breath and sweat was dripping off my brow. I only had 20 minutes before the plane left and was still in line. I got past security and of course my gate was the last one in the section. So I ran the last leg of the section bumping in to people and almost knocking them over. While I was running to the gate I hear the loud speaker say last call for my light number. I picked up the pace and made it with a few minutes to go. That was the only time I slept well on a plane.
In Amsterdam I reserved 6 nights, but only ended up spending 4. You have to remember that I’m a collage student and I spent my time a little different then most tourist. The Fist two days I spent in coffee shops and at the RED Light District. (If you have any questions just ask) On the third day I woke up early and had planed to see a museum. I took the rail that almost hit me the day before to the Museum district. I wanted to see the Van Gogh Museum, but there was a two hour wait, so I decided to go to the Rijksmuseum. It was my first art Museum in Europe and was blown away by Rembrandts paintings. The Night Watch was my favorite. I didn’t know it was that big. All the people in the paint are life size. When I left I decided that I would go back to the Van Gogh museum the next day but during an off time. Back in the main square I got some Pizza and relaxed. I took some great Pics and walked around some more and hit a few more coffee shops. I wanted to see the museums with a clear head so I waited until after. I failed to mention that it had been raining this whole time and it was coming down really hard, so I ducked into a bar that was near by. I ended up having a few beers and getting some great food. The best places are the ones that you find by accident.
The next day I woke up really again hoping that the line to the Van Gogh Museum wouldn’t be long. I got there around 9:30 and to my surprise the line was twice as long (4 hours) and was raining even harder. My first thought was, why didn’t I go yesterday? But you can’t dwell on the what ifs or on the regrets. So I ended up not going to the Van Gogh museum. But the museum isn’t going anywhere and I’m sure I’ll be back some time in the future. I went back to the main square and plan my next move. I hadn’t bought anything so I went to that main shopping area and to the sex museum. Next I went to the Jordan neighborhood to find Ann Frank house. I finally found it and the line was long, but after the Van Gogh museum I stuck with it. I’m Jewish so I really wanted to see it. I haven’t read the book in a long time, but I started to remember thinks and got very emotional. I left the house and took a few pics of the church and the clock by her house. I have to say my favorite neighborhood was the Jordan neighborhood. It’s away from the main attractions and very peaceful. I had to take a train to Belgium the next day around 9:00 so I didn’t want to drink and party too much. I found a quiet bar and met some nice couple from the Australia. We had a few drinks and I headed for bed, but on my way back I decided I had to see the Red Light District one last time.

I found the red light district very fascinating too. It gave the words "window shopping" a new meaning.

Schuler, when I was a younger man I also took abreast of The Red Light District, but I just looked, so it was all just tit for tat. What a boob I was?!

((H))

OK, I can see that I am going to enjoy this trip report - sort of like eavesdropping on my sons!

I enjoy this trip report. It is so natural.

Keep it coming!

Love your trip report, but could you possibly employ an occasional paragraph? Makes the report much easier to read.

Thanks.

:-)

I love it when people are honest about what they do when traveling. You missed the Van Gogh Museum but got in some quality time relaxing and visiting the city. You learned to keep your cool. You got high. All in the first installment! Keep it coming!

Great report so far. My first trip overseas was when I was in college( a long time ago 1986) and I also spent the majority of the time in coffee houses. Don't have alot of recollection from that trip. It wasn't until I went back in 2003 that I saw the museums.

Love the report so far! Thanks for the total honesty. I especially like the part about going to the sex museum followed by the Anne Frank Haus.

I can't wait to hear the rest of the adventures - it sounds as if you really had a chance to immerse yourself in the culture.
Susannah

Hey even some older people spend their time differently than most tourists in Amsterdam! Great report... keep it coming.

gawr0008...My son is graduating college in 2 years.This is the type of trip he wants to do.While he is sitting at a 8 hour a day job, I will copy and paste your trip and send it to him by e-mail.
Your trip sounds wonderful.Good for you.

Amsterdam...
Gotta love it...
Good to hear you enjoyed your time there. I will be in Amsterdam for 4 days at the end of Sept. It is always a hoot.
I will book my tickets at Van Gogh museum ahead so I dont have to wait in line.

Hi there gawr, my 20 year old grandson who has a few more years of college can hardly wait to travel to Europe! I feel like I might be possibly reading a trip report from him..although instead it is yours!

I love your natural style of writing and your sharing your trip..thank you!
I imagine you will have a lot of people here waiting for the next installment.

gawr: Thanks for this. My daughter, who's 19 and just finished freshman year at U Cal Berkeley, is traveling to Amsterdam and Paris this summer and then meeting me in Italy for a week. I told her she has to read this. She's a seasoned European traveler, but has never backpacked around by herself before, so this will be a kind of test for her in a sense. I'm sure she'll be fine, but that there will be challenges for her. Her dad thinks it's "scary" that she's going to Amsterdam by herself. I say she's already spent a year in Berkeley for goodness' sake, go for it, girl, and figure it out for yourself. Don't do anything rash or stupid. Call me on the cell if there's a problem. I didn't bring you up in a bubble, and you're 19 and on your own. Keep mental and written notes on your experiences and share them with people. Explore the world, explore your senses, be open always to new experiences. Some will be good, some won't...and some won't mean much to you until much later in life but will kick in when you least expect them to...

You sound like a really good, honest, open kid....looking forward to hearing more from you...

Thank you so much for sharing this with us. My 22 year old daughter was in Europe for 6 months and her last stop was Amsterdam and of course the coffee houses. We had just been there a few months prior, so I gave her the addresses of the good ones to go to. :D

Sorry you misses the Van Gogh, but you're right--it will still be there and you'll be back, I'm sure!

You think it's been a long time since YOU read The Diary of Anne Frank!

I’m glade you all enjoyed my first installment, When I submitted it I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually read it. I’m sorry I used a 35mm camera and don’t have any pics on a CD yet. I don’t have a job right now, so as you can imagine I have a lot of time on my hands. If you like my first installment, I will keep them coming. I kept a journal during my trip, and was glade I did, because when reading it back home. I have a lot of memories I probably wouldn’t have remembered. As you may guess I left out some experiences and stories that my parents didn’t even hear about. Those stories are for my friends.
StCirg- that is an attitude all patents should have. Most parents in older generations didn’t have the resources or technology to travel and see the world. Why deny your children the experiences that weren’t available to you at there age. Trust me they will never forget it.

I went to bed hoping I would wake up really in the morning because I didn’t have an alarm clock and this time it was important for me to get up. The other mornings I wanted to get up early, but if I didn’t who cares. To my luck someone came into my hostel room and made a lot of noise and woke me up. He said sorry but I told him he did me a favor. I was taking a train to Brussels, Belgium. It would be my first time taking a train and was excited and a little nervous because I had no idea what I was doing. From reading and asking questions on this site I knew I needed to get to Brussels Gare du Midi station. I went to the place to by tickets and I got in line. After waiting in line I noticed that people were holding tickets in their hand. So I got a tickets and got back into line. I asked for a ticket to Brussels Midi station. I asked the lady twice, “so this train goes to Midi?” After a stern look I got the idea that it did. I went to the main broad and looked for my platform. I got on the train and sat down. I noticed that it was very coverable and not may people were sitting next to me. When the ticket man came by and stamped my ticket he told me I was on the wrong train. A sharp pain shot down my back. Then I realized that I was sitting in first class and I bought a 2nd class ticket. I packed my things and headed for the back of the train. When I got there it was completely full. The people already in the train looked at me like there’s no way you can fit the big ass bag in this compartment and I was thinking the something. For most of the train ride I stood with my bag in a cramped space in the second class. Everyone in the train was giving me a bad look because I made their uncomfortable train ride even more uncomfortable. When we got to Brussels the train had cleared out and I got a seat. I noticed that people were saying that the next stop was Midi so I got my stuff ready. When we pulled up I saw that it said Central. I thought for a second this isn’t the right stop, but I saw the people who said it was Midi getting off, so did to. When we all got off they noticed that is was wrong. I looked at them and thought to my self, You Mother Fu_ker. That was the last time I listen to others on the train. I went to the big broad and asked some which train goes to Midi. They pointed it out to me and I got on the train and headed for Midi. To my surprises the trains are very easy to read and well marked. So I became a master train rider within a few hours.
From Belgium I was taking a train to Brugge. After reading a lot of positive experiences from others on this website I decided to go. You have to remember that I went to Brugges with only a few addresses of Hostels. I didn’t have a reservation or an idea where they were. I wasn’t even sure if they had any rooms available. So I when I got there I bought a map and started to map out my route. After about 20 minutes of I found the first hostel on my list. I was very lucky and they had rooms. So I reserved three nights, but I wasn’t sure if I would stay that long. I headed out to the city looking for a bar that had all the great beer I heard so much about. It didn’t take me long because a block away from my hostel I found one. I needed to rest and have a few beers. A few beers had turned into about five and I was out of money. So after being in the city for about 4 hours I hadn’t seen a think. I went to the main square and sat on the statue and was completely memorized by the beauty of the city. I really liked the tall tower with the clock at the main square. I was getting hungry because I really hadn’t had anything to eat all day. Since I spent all my money at the bar I went to find an ATM. I swear you can never find an ATM when you need one. Finally I found one right by the post office where I had started my hunt. After trying to work it a few unsuccessful times some local said that all the ATM’s were out of money. I thought how can that be. This is a tourist destination; they can’t be out of money. I found another ATM and my fears were confirmed. There was no money anywhere and I had spent all my money on beer. But it was alright because I had saved a joint I bought from Amsterdam in case of an emergency like this. So I went back to my hostel got a few hours of sleep and went out looking for a good night. I went to the main square and found a few teenagers playing Frisbee. I knew that these guys smoked so I went up to them and my assumptions were correct. We smoked it at the main square and played Frisbee. Which just made my hunger for food more intense. Later they invited me to a local bar that one of their friend’s parents owned. So I got free beer all night and made a lot of friends. We talked politics and football. I wish I could show you pictures there early great and it makes the story more funny.

Disregard that last post

I’m sorry I’m computer isn’t working well, that last post (disregard the last post) is wrong!
Here are the next few days after the funny story.

The next day I ventured out in the city, but remembered I still didn’t have any money. I went to an ATM hoping that they were working. It worked and I took out two hundred Euros. I wanted to try those famous waffles; I was really hungry and bought four waffles. The salesman looking at me funny, like I was crazy, while he handed me a tall stack of waffles. I really liked the canals from Amsterdam so I went looking for the canals in Brugge. I’m not sure if there’s a carnival year round but went I was there a carnival was coning with rides and games. I didn’t trust any of the rides safety so I played a few games and won a small teddy bear. I gave it to a little girl who didn’t win next to be, because there isn’t any extra room in my bag. Plus what guy wants to travel Europe with a teddy bear in their bag. I remembered reading about the statue Lady of our Church. I didn’t know what church it was in so I went to every church there was in the city. The statue was very beautiful and I took a picture. I normally don’t take pictures in churches because I find it disrespectful to those trying to pray. You have to remember were only tourist and you wouldn’t want people coming into your church or synagogue and taking pictures and disrupting you. Now with that said, I was tried and went to the main square to relax. I like just sitting there and watching all the people walk by. After an hour I heard music playing and walking towards it. There were locals dressed in their traditional Belgium or Flemish, clothes. They were dancing and singing. While crowds of people gathered around them. It was getting dark so I went back to my hostel and took a nap. During the night I trying to find that bar I went too yesterday but had no idea where it was. Sitting at the main square drinking a beer I saw a group of girls walking to which had to be a bar. I followed them to a bar and walked in a minute later pretending I didn’t follow them there. But they had noticed me and invited me to sit next to them. We talked all night and I had another great night in brugges. It important to always have a map because I left my map at the bar and my drunk ass got lost for about 20 minutes. I needed up by the windmills which was no where near by my hostel. Besides that it was a good night. Everything looks different during the night. Thank god for the tall towers and churches those where by guiding points.
The next day I decided to stay another day instead of going to Brussels for a day. I heard about a brewery in the city, I can’t remember the name of it, I think it had to do with a Joker. Anyways I had a few beers and wrote a couple of postcards, which I never ended up sending. I wanted to go up to the roof but wasn’t willing to buy a ticket. For lunch I wanted to sit at the main square for a bite to eat. My goal was to eat at the main square at every place I visited. I got a great meal which ended up spending most of my money I had left. But since the ATMs were working I didn’t sweat it. I walked back to the Windmill to take pictures since I knew were they were from being there last night. I decided that I would walk around the outside of the city in that tree covered walkway because it started to rain. It started to really come down and I headed back to my hostel for a clean change of clothes, well maybe I wouldn’t say clean, but at least they were dry. I took a nap and later headed out of for the night. I was leaving for England on the Eruostar the next day, but not until 13:00. So I didn’t have to head home early. I took my nice camera with me to get some night shots. So I kept reminding myself not to lose my camera. I went to a bar and ordered something. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to get. The bartender brought out this huge glass that was connected to a piece of wood. I thought to myself “I hope I didn’t order that.” And sure enough he walks over to me and puts the glass in front of me. I knew I could drink it but the question was how much would it cost. I wasn’t sure I could pay for it. While I’m thinking this to myself the bartender gets my attention and orders me to take off my left shoes. I say what, You want my left shoe. Without thinking I give him my shoe and the walks away with it. The whole bar is looking at me and I have no idea what’s going on. The person sitting next to me can see the worried look on my face and points up the ceiling. I look up and there are hundreds of shoes tied to the ceiling. What have I go my self into? I only brought one pair of shoes and I can’t walk around the rest of my trip with one shoe. The man told me that if I didn’t finish my beer I wouldn’t get my shoe back, but if I did I could get it back. I thought that that was pretty cool because I knew that wouldn’t be a problem. The only problem was how much did it cost. I drank it all and everyone in the bar clapped and yelled when I got my shoe back. I wanted to stay longer but didn’t have enough money to buy another beer. I went to the ATM to take out a little amount. Of course it didn’t work. This time it said that my pin number was wrong. I think I know my own pin number. After a few tries and gave up. There wouldn’t be anymore drinking or smoking tonight. I go some good night shots and when to bed.

I am so enjoying reading this trip report. Please keep it going, and don't stop until you've written about the entire trip!