📍Netherlands, Part II 🇳🇱

This blog is extra fun because two things happened: Emily came to visit and we were allowed back in the Schengen Area of Europe. These Schengen days are practically gold so we specifically saved them for a special occasion: J’s birthday. Our avid followers will know we made some Dutch friends while traveling through Vietnam. If you’re new here (welcome) or only read our blogs when they seem interesting and short enough for you, we made Dutch friends in Vietnam named Selina and Matthijs. Now that everyone is up to speed, I can now proceed. Conveniently, Selina and Matthijs were free for J’s birthday weekend, so our decision was easy. We flew from London to Amsterdam to meet Emily, one of my close childhood friends. Side note: around New Year’s, Emily called me and said “your travels look fun, I wanna visit” and within about one hour her flight was booked. This is the spontaneity I’m here for.

Day 1: When we arrived, we made our way to the Avocado Show where everything on their menu was made with copious amounts of avocado. Please notice the bowl of this masterpiece is made from avocado.

Anyway, since it was the day before J’s birthday, I sent him to get a massage (boujee birthday boy) and Em and I explored a bit. Our exploring went from wholesome to red light district real quick, but we were in Amsterdam, so there is no better way to do it.

We ended up going to the A’DAM Lookout and hopped on the swing that overlooks the entire city. The building itself has a nice bar in it too…although I’d recommend swinging and then drinking, but that’s just my unsolicited advice.

We met back up with J, shared some pizza in the hotel, and went to bed since we had an early train to meet up with S & M.

Day 2: HAPPY BIRTHDAY J!!! For the record, J’s birthday is January 28th so thank you to everyone who wished him a happy birthday and for anyone who didn’t, it’s best you just add that to your calendar while reading this.

Anyway, we took the train a few stops where S & M kindly picked us up. Reunited at last! They live in a town called Den Oever, which is a fisherman’s town not too far from Amsterdam. We put our bags down and began celebrating the birthday boy with some 11 am cake…and birthday shots. Also, shout out to the best hosts who even decorated their Dutch household with American flags for us LOL.

They had made an entire plan for the day and it was perfect. We went to Volendam and accidently found food right away (yes, right after the birthday cake we had just housed…birthday calories don’t count, look it up).

We walked around the town, went into a few shops (including yet another cheese shop with delicious free samples), and then we got real Dutch.

First step to being Dutch is knowing about cheese:

Next step is learning the traditional way to dress:

and for the final look…we zijn Nederlanders.

We changed back into our boring, regular, tourist clothes and took a 30 minute ferry to Selina’s hometown, called Marken. It’s a tiny town—so small, in fact, that their high school was not even on the island and they had to go elsewhere for school. We stopped by her childhood house and met her mom, who gave us stroopwafels, so we all loved her from the start.

We walked around a bit and somehow stumbled into a bar. This is a good time for a quick PSA: if someone from the Netherlands offers you Salmari liquor, instantly refuse. It is like black liquorice in a bottle that they claim is “good.” Besides making us take that shot, Selina’s tour guide skills were pretty good. I’d recommend her to a friend.

It was getting late and we had dinner reservations so we got on the ferry to go back to Volendam. We got to the restaurant and when I say dinner, I really mean feast. A really good feast. The plate was a sample of their best dishes and it was 👌.

We ate (a lot), we drank, and we experienced culture shock. Obviously, the amount of food was excessive (in the best way possible) and we could not finish it. Naturally, when we don’t finish food, we ask for a to-go container and take the leftovers home. Apparently, this is NOT normal in the Netherlands. Not normal to the point Matthijs hid his face when we asked for a box and Selina recorded the interactions to send to her friends. HOW DO YOU NOT TAKE LEFTOVERS!? They are my favorite things. We realized we have a few things to teach them when they visit us in America and the first thing is leftovers are the way to go.

We put of leftover differences aside and went to a few bars to complete the birthday celebration.

In Vietnam, we mentioned mac and cheese to S & M and they had not only never tried it, they had never heard of it. Emily was kind enough to bring some good ol’ Kraft mac & cheese from home, so when we got back from the bars, I brought out the blue box and we had a proper American post-drinking late night snack.

Day 3: We slept in and had a lazy morning. We were a bit hungry when we woke up, but our leftovers came in clutch. We indulged as Matthijs was disgusted by our actions. We hung out for a while and then they eventually took us back to the train station where we boarded the train and went back to Amsterdam. They had told us about a great sushi spot (that was all you can eat) called Mojo with amazing views of the city, so we obviously booked a table and ended our night there.

Our time in the Netherlands was coming to an end, for real this time. Emily, J, and I were off to Scotland! Proost! 🍻