And so it begins

*Deep Sigh*

I feel like I have more to tell you then you would ever want to read. I'll try to keep it simple but detailed as I know I have some hardcore fans, well not of the blog but of me and of knowing what I'm up to.

Wednesday the 26th at around 9pm (mst) I boarded a flight to London. Total flying time was just under 9 hours. I used to enjoy flying, I think I liked that it meant I was going somewhere, or doing something, or maybe I was just young and naïve (stupid). I do enjoy traveling very much and flights under 3 hours are reasonable but these awful long flights are just... awful. I digress.

On this long flight I was fortunate as the plane was not very full, I moved to a middle row of three open seats, this allowed me to stretch out (read: lay across the three seats to sleep). Sadly I am not very good at sleeping in uncomfortable positions so as good as it wasn't I probably didn't get more than 2 hours. I did finish my book "Never Let Me Go" which I followed up by watching the movie on the planes on demand movie system. They were similar and both were good but I feel like the movie altered a few of the characters to much more one dimensional ways that really sell the story short. It was a quick and intriguing read.

I arrived at London Heathrow and was made to wait about 4 hours to board my next flight to Amsterdam. This was generally fine except for the lack of wifi at Heathrow - shocking! And the fact that my stomach was having a fit. I boarded the next flight and slept for the majority of the short flight.

Anecdotally, when arriving in Amsterdam you are not required to fill out any paperwork, no immigration business, nothing. All you do is show them your passport, he asked what I was doing and then stamped my passport. They also had an express lane where people had some version of a travel card and did a retina scan. How fancy.

At this point in my journey I was rather exhausted at this point and my mental state was starting to slip into stressed mess.

I got directions to my hotel from the information desk, bought a train ticket, and made my way to the train. This was kind of a mess. I got off before I was supposed to, had to wait about half an hour in the cold for a second train, I was then supposed to catch a bus but at that point my toe had gone numb (this happens often) I was freezing and tired. I found a very nice cab driver who took me to my hotel.

Upon arriving at my very adorable "art hotel" I was given a room key. By the time I made it to my room I was ready to collapse. I had a very hot shower and got settled. I begrudgingly ordered room service - a giant not-so-great burger which I ordered WELL DONE (who orders a burger medium?!). It was weird because I was exhausted due to lack of sleep and not because of what hour of the day my body thought it was. In an attempt to switch time zones effectively I tried to stay up until a reasonably late bedtime so that I would sleep through the night. This was a rather large failure. I slept for about 4 hours and woke up sometime around 3 or 4. I think around 4 I got up as I wasn't tired at all. I did some research about what I could do the next day. Around 6am I figured I should try and go back to bed. This time I slept quite solidly. I had set an alarm for 9am but when it went off I shut it off and slept until at least 11:30 when housekeeping knocked on my door.

At this point I was a little sad I slept so long but also glad. I slowly made my way to the city centre - about 15minute bus ride. I kind of wish my hotel was a little closer but I got such a great deal on it that I don't even care.

The first this I noticed about Amsterdam is that it is confusing! Well all new cities take a while to grasp but often there are key features to pick out that can help orient you. Well here every canal looks the same, at least to me. I didn't have a problem telling which way I came from and which way I should be going but I found it very difficult to figure out what street was what and where I could go to see different things. Most places that I went today were by accident or sheer luck. That said I got a better handle on things as the day carried on.

My first goal was to find a shopping area of town. When I packed I left out a few key items that I intended to purchase here such as a hair dryer and straightener because these can be a hassle with the difference in voltage. It took me quite a while to find a store that actually carried these but I found 'em.

At 2:30 I boarded a canal cruise. It was a 1.5 hour ride through the canals on the "museum line." It stopped by a number of museums so it was kind of like a hop-on hop-off bus. I decided to just go for the ride as it was already afternoon and I was hungry. The canals are quite beautiful. Here is a fun fact: there are over 2000 people in Amsterdam living permanently in houseboats. I also found out that their central train station is the largest in the country and supported by some outrageous number of blocks of wood, that's right, it floats. Wild.

After the lovely cruise I made it my goal to find something warmer to wear as I clearly did not pack for the soul cracking wind that makes you want to find shelter and never leave it. Ha.

From here I decided the best thing I could do was grab a bite to eat at a convenience store and take in the Heineken Experience - the Heineken brewery tour. It was a great tour and very long which meant it was great bang for your buck. They teach you how to do a proper beer tasting and then give you two glasses of beer at the end. I am pretty sure this is actually the first time I had ever had Heineken. Because my food for the day consisted of a muffin, coffee, and a croissant sandwich I only had one glass of beer in addition to the "tasting" glass. I met some friendly Americans who have a friend playing professional basketball in Groningen - crazy right.

My last event of the day was dinner at the Hard Rock cafe. It was great because the lounge side, where I sat, is right on the canal level so you see boats going by as you eat. After dinner I took a tram and a bus and made my way back to the hotel. I'm quite tired. I hope I can sleep through the night.

Sorry this was so lengthy but it was two days worth :)

As a general observation I can say that I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't speak English and I am often treated like a lost puppy - gentle smiles and kind word to the young English girl here all alone. I'm okay with this. Everyone here is very friendly and I never get the feeling like I am a worse person for not speaking the local language which is often the impression locals seem to give off in other countries.

Right now my camera battery is dead and I'm charging it. I might upload some pictures later.