Euro Trip 2014 - Amsterdam

Due to limited time spent at each place,  we didn’t manage to cover all attractions obviously. So here, I’m just going to highlight the worthy places or attractions in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris. 

The most famous place here in Amsterdam is the Keukonhof; which is the place where when it is season, it will be full of colourful tulips! Unfortunately, when we went there, it was not in season. Bummer right? 

The next interesting place in Amsterdam is of course, the Red Light District. Please remember to NEVER take pictures or videos of those *ehem* exotic people behind the glass. I’ve heard so many rumours about what could happen if you were caught taking pictures or videos; they’ll call the cops or they would take your camera and smash it and etc. When we were there, some smart ass guy decided to take picture of them using his handphone, and true to the story, the girl behind the glass actually opened up the door and called, or more like yelled out for him to come to her. I guess he’s on the lucky side as the girl just request him to delete the picture. 

Amsterdam is also commonly known for their windmill; hence it is best to go Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans is located at the outskirt of Amsterdam, and there you can see some sort of village with few huge windmills. There, you can also learn how to make clog; they no longer do it traditionally, there are machines for that. We don’t walk around much there; therefore I’m not too sure if we can actually go inside the windmill. Personally, I don’t really fancy being there but if you have time to kill while in Amsterdam, you could definitely go there. 

Iamsterdam is one of the famous and popular icons in Amsterdam. They have two of that in Amsterdam; one is at the airport and another one is at Museumplein. It is better for you to take pictures at both the places, because sometimes the one in Musemplein tends to be full with people also trying to take pictures with it. We were quite lucky as we arrived early in the morning hence we had time to take pictures at the airport and when we went at night at the Museumplein, there was not much people around so we can take nice photos of it, perhaps there would be more people in the afternoon and evening. 

Although when we went there, it was not tulip season, however in Amsterdam itself, true flower lovers can actually go to their flower market or Bloemenmarkt. You have lots of stalls there; selling more or less the same thing but omg the flowers are gorgeous! I’d definitely buy some if it weren’t for my party pooper husband who said there’s no point in buying them. They are also selling flower seeds; am so tempted to buy those tulip seeds but I doubt it’ll even grow here. Hehe. 

Other places includes the Royal Plaza, Madame Tussauds museum (we didn’t go in here, it was kind of expensive and there’s a long que for it) and Albert Cuyp market; which we didn’t manage to go since the area was being renovated at that time. 

Personally if I were given the option to come here again, I would definitely say no, that is unless it is tulips season!

Euro Trip 2014 - Accommodation

Adam is in charge for our accommodation throughout the whole trip, and basically he’s the banker too (thanks b!), so pretty much all our accommodation was booked by him, though I helped a little bit. 

Amsterdam. 

We stayed in Hotel Liberty, 15 minutes’ walk from Amsterdam Central. Overall, it is quite a strategic location as it is near the metro, the famous Amsterdam cruise are also around the area and conveniently it is quite close to the Red Light District. The hotel, we assumed for the bathroom to be inside the bedroom so imagined our surprise when we found out that it is actually located outside, but thank god it is clean. The stairs are very steep and narrow, so for those with big luggage you got to be careful when you ascend/descend the stairs. The host is a very polite lady, although as we need to check out quite early in the morning, we can’t contact her so we just placed the key inside the room. Wifi is available, although you have to connect through Facebook.

Barcelona

Here, we booked our accommodation using Airbnb. We particularly chose this location; El Gotic because it is THE place to be so it seems. And indeed it was, it was such a lively place, our house is located on the first floor and is just a 5 minutes’ walk from the nearest metro. It was easy to find food as there are a lot of cafes around it, and there are shops all around it actually. It is very near to the famous food market, Mercado de la Boqueria. There are McDonalds and shopping malls so it is actually such a convenient place to stay. The room itself is quite spacious; the toilets are downstairs, fortunately for us the owner is also having his holiday, so we don’t need to share the bathroom with anyone else. 

Madrid

Aaah, and this is definitely my most favourite hotel. We stayed in Hostel Atelier, but don’t be fooled with its surrounding; inside is definitely one comfortable room. It is quite near to the metro station (as always), and in front of the hotel you have lots of shops; food, to buy groceries and what not. It is clean, spacious with heater and proper tv and fast wifi! 

Paris

Our usual neighbourhood when we went to Paris will always be near to the Gare du Nord and Gare de Lest station. While last time, we booked through Airbnb, but for this time since we will be only 2 days here, we decided to stay at Est Hotel. One thing, it is veeeeeeery far from Gare du Nord, though thank god it’s just a straight road. Second thing, you have to pay for the wifi (and it’s not that fast anyway), and it is quite expensive actually. At that time they were renovating the hotel, so some parts of the hotel was a bit dark (no lights) and slightly cramped. Honestly I’d prefer somewhere else hahaha!

Euro Trip 2014 - Transportation

Few months prior to the trip, I started to check for flight tickets from Vueling, Easyjet and Ryan Air. I checked if it was possible to go by train or bus, and we checked the fares from one place to another. We noticed that from Barcelona to Paris is a bit expensive as compared to Paris from Madrid, and that is how we decide on the routes. 

Our finalized routes are KL – Amsterdam – Barcelona – Madrid – Paris – KL.

I’m very determined to get the cheapest rate for all the flights and this is when it gets crazy, I downloaded all the flight apps in my phone and check EVERY SINGLE DAY! Fortunately we managed to get all our flight tickets from Amsterdam to Barcelona and Madrid to Paris for less than 50 euros per person, which is quite a bargain I think. From Barcelona to Madrid, we decided to take the overnight train which costs us about 20 euros each, which I feel like a good deal as well as we got the Preferente seats (more like the business class of train).

The flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona was delayed for a few hours, for god knows why, where unfortunately we missed our trip to Parc Guell that day.  I was pretty upset but oh well, the trip goes on. Though I managed to negotiate with Parc Guell management to retime our visit, but Vueling was being a bit a bitch about the whole proof thingy so yup, we missed it all right. 

Easy Jet was alright, we went quite early to the airport and managed to check in on time and depart on time.

The only concern about all these low cost flights in Europe is that you need to buy the luggage, and it’s not cheap! The price is around 15 euros for 20 kg, and they are very strict with hand luggage, only one hand luggage per person and ladies, your handbag are considered as hand luggage. So what we do is, we put my handbag in Adam’s bag, and once we’re clear, then only we took out the bag. 

Meanwhile, from Barcelona to Madrid, we took the overnight train; it was quite alright, because the seat can be adjusted so we can sleep properly. The room leg is big. The luggage area is at the end of the carriage so it won’t bother your area so much.

All in all, I’m quite satisfied with the mode of transportation we used throughout