Publié: 19.07.2017
Hello good person!
It's quarter to 11 right now and I'm in Amsterdam. You can find out how I got here, where I am, and what my plan is here.
10 minutes later than planned, I got on my Flixbus last night and headed to Amsterdam without a place to stay. I was really lucky because I managed to snag one of the last available seats on the bus and I could spread out comfortably. The only downside was that the bus didn't really have power outlets (which Flixbus actually advertises, along with the great Wi-Fi that's not even close to being great) and the bus driver was in a bad mood. Well, then I uploaded the pictures to my post Heidelberg and fell asleep pretty quickly. Every now and then I had to somehow turn around and reconstruct my sleeping nest, but even though it's not a comfortable place to sleep, I slept pretty well. When I woke up around 6 o'clock, I unfortunately had to find out that my desired hostel no longer has a place for me, so my search for accommodation began. But that was my lesser evil. Much worse was that the next possible bus to Copenhagen doesn't leave Amsterdam until Sunday evening - which means I actually have to stay in Amsterdam until Sunday evening, even though I had mentally prepared myself for a shorter stay. Well, it is what it is, and after a lot of back and forth, I decided to secure and book the seat on the bus for Sunday for sure, so that I don't have to stay in Amsterdam for another night. Not that Amsterdam isn't beautiful, but such a long stay really adds up and I didn't budget for it. I already picked out my hostel on the bus, but I wanted to check it out and book it on site. I got off the bus in Amsterdam right on time at 8:15am and made my way to the train station information desk. The woman there was absolutely nice and really helpful and sold me my 3-day ticket for €26 and explained the way to the bus. I took that bus to the main station where I asked again for directions. My questioning revealed that I have to take the metro again for a stretch, so I rushed to the metro. There, a middle-aged man offered me his seat and since he also had to get off where I was getting off, he accompanied me on the short walk to the exit and explained to me that I'm definitely in the right place and just have to walk a little further. The man was really nice and then said goodbye to me with a "have a nice day and good luck". However, the hostel was still quite far away and I asked 3 Amsterdamers who all showed me a different way. So, I walked back and forth for about 20 minutes until a woman finally told me that I have to take the tram for two stops. Two tram stations later, I approached a young lady who kindly looked up the way to the hostel for me on Google maps. On the way, I already met two other backpack boys who happened to want to go to the same hostel and like me hadn't booked anything yet. So, we went on the search together and found something after about 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, I found out that the two of them are from Australia and are only here to go to the famous music festival Tomorrowland in 4-5 days. Crazy, right? Anyway, we all got a bed and I found accommodation until Sunday. Now I'm waiting here until 2pm, then I can check into my bed, take a shower, and start my exploration of Amsterdam. So, that's the current situation. What I've seen of Amsterdam so far (which is not little with all the commuting) I really liked a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.
See you later, my friend!