Time to Go! Amsterdam on the Fly

I have been getting very antsy lately.  I had a desperate need to travel and precious little time to do it.  I was looking at my schedule and with about five days free I decided on an impulsive choice to go to Europe.  Trouble with impulses, then I had to decide where to go.  Weighing lots of pros and cons, and conferring with the internet, I settled on Amsterdam.

I have been before, once as an early 20 something exploring in the summer between school, and twice as a little kid who’s parent got transferred somewhere cool, but they were way to young to appreciate it.   So it made a lot of sense for me. It was a direct flight, airport close to the city centre, and lots to see and photograph.

In my planning, while sharing the story of my desperate need to escape, I had a friend realize she also had a desperate need to escape.  It quickly became a trip for two.  A bit unusual for me, the famous solo traveler! So we talked about our travel styles, and made the booking.

The flight was overnight, as usual for North America to Europe. We arrived about 11:00 in Amsterdam on the last day of the Tulip Festival.  There was a shuttle straight from the airport to the Keukenhof Gardens. It wasn’t quite what I had expected, though some of that is likely because it was the last day of the season.  the main tulip fields had already been culled for the year.  The gardens themselves still had many tulips, many were older, some had been culled, but there were more than a few that were still fresh and lovely. 

We had a lovely time exploring the garden before getting a bus to Amsterdam.  We then walked to our hotel to check in.  The plan after that was to get food, but everything in our area that was open was heavy food like steaks or pasta.  I was tired and cranky (I don’t sleep on planes) and just wanted something light.  We eventually decided to give up, just going back to the hotel for an early night.

Plan was to wake up Monday morning, ready to go and explore.