Travelling / Backpacking /Flashpacking the World!

I'd known for over a month that Amanda was taking me away for my birthday but where? "I had no idea" I actually thought we were off to Devon for a few days! How wrong I was!

They day before we went I got one little clue "you'll need your passport" That narrowed it down a bit - not!

Thursday morning, in the car and off we went! Towards the local airport - Gatwick - we drove straight past the turn off, hmmmmm interesting! now what? Channel Tunnel Rail?? 20 minutes later we are pulling into a car park at Heathrow. I looked at Amanda and her 20th cheeky little grin of the day and she said "we're going up in the sky now" :-)

I thought hah! in 5 minutes we'll be at check in and I'll know where we are going!! - Not a chance,,, Thanks to technology you put your credit card in a machine, take your tickets and leave your luggage. Nice one!

Two hours and three brandys later I still had no idea, then the gate opened for our flight - at last - I saw the sign AMSTERDAM! wow - I'd wanted to go there for years, I did the Cheshire cat impersonation for an hour.

A great flight and fast, out of the airport, into a taxi and straight to the hotel, and what a hotel - top class, well I wouldn't expect anything less!

Didn't have time to hang about, we had to go exploring!

Click on the images for a bigger picture.

We're up in the skoy and on our way :-)

I love looking out of the window, I want to go and play in the fluffy clouds!

First sight of Amsterdam from a couple of thousand feet.

Looks good to me!

It sure is lively here!

Lots of strangers about!

What a cool shot! I took that one :-)

"I can't seem to find a pub on the river!"

"I really think it's time we stopped for a beer, I wonder if there's a floating pub?

The day after the night before!

God I felt rough!

Every day was spent strolling about the City and popping into little cafe's and the odd pub or two!

We hired a wonderful boat for a cruise along the canals, it had pedals! and we never got lost!

Coffee shops with their own brand of cigarettes that made us both feel rather unnecessary!

The red light district was a bit of a worry and so were the displays in the windows,,,

Anne Frank's house was good to see, must read the book!

Each evening was spent in a nice restaurant with great food and we had our fair share from the bar!

Birthday morning and up bright and early! opened presents :-) and off for a walk in the park, the sun was shining and everyone was out. We'd used up so much energy we then had to go for a small beer or two...

Both re-charged we paid a visit to the Van Gogh Museum, I thought we'd be in there for about half an hour or so, instead we came out three hours later, absoloutly fantastic and incredibly interesting. Well worth a visit.

Very thirsty by this stage, another pub! but they're so nice you can't stay away!

Off to our ******polski*** something hotel, our evening venue.... straight into the bar and the first drink, well for that hour. Champagne cocktails, crikey they were powerful, I could get hooked on them. Another couple of cocktails and I was felling a little tipsy to say the least. Time for dinner and in to the restaurant, what a gorgeous place. A wonderful meal and a huge amount to drink, the waiter even talked us through all the different sizes of champagne bottle. I was starting to slur, I must say Amanda was rather drunk too. Three attempts to roll a cigarette and I managed it, got to try and walk home now - yikes!

Apparently I was trying to get into every bar on the way home for a swift port but Amanda wouldn't let me, she thought I was having enough trouble walking as it was. I couldn't see the problem, she was holding me up!

Back to the hotel (finally) I still wanted a port from the bar but I was carried swiftly past it and too the lift!

Couldn't find any port in the room! "room service?" no!

What a FANTASTIC night!

Next morning. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Stop the world I want to get off! I felt awful! Amanda felt fine! ish.

Every evening previously we'd had a port or three as a nightcap and every morning I was fine. I think that maybe it was because I never had any port,,, that's why I felt so rough!

Suffice to say, I will never know how I managed to get out of bed and into the taxi. Once at the airport I had to watch people eating food.

Anyway once on the plane a quick brandy and I felt fine! :-) Almost!!

Back home and on the sofa, wicked!

I don't think either of us had a drink that evening,, well maybe a small bottle of bubbles!

Well what a wonderful time we had, it couldn't have been better.