My Journey to Amsterdam

In 2015, a few of my girlfriends and I decided they wanted to explore Europe more and with that, we proceeded to start with Amsterdam.

We booked a low budget flight service (Ryan air or Wizzair or EasyJet), can't remember and arrived Amsterdam airport on one terribly cold morning, I honestly did not anticipate the cold for some reason, I didn't even research and I tend to underestimate the temperature of a place until reality kicks in and I'm livid.

After waiting at a cafe next to our apartment for about two- hours for our Airbnb apartment to be handed over to us, we gained access into the well furbished, chic modern apartment and settled in.

As always, we took a tour of the city. It was like nothing I've ever seen before,  the streets are quite narrow, there are bridges over the canals and boat-houses in the river, everyone got around using a bicycle  and the houses  are designed in a way that you could peer into the homes, It was weird actually because most people would prefer curtains or non-reflective windows but these people truly had nothing to hide. They were simple, happy and nice to tourists.

Of course, on our first night, we just had to walk by the notoriously famous red-light district.  We saw the beautiful women through the windows and numerous sex shops and shows, we couldn't help but satisfy our natural curiosity by venturing into one at about 50 EUR/ person.

The next day, we took a boat tour but honestly, I forgot the details of the ride probably because I was too cold with the exception of seeing the house Ann Frank had once hidden prior to her disappearance and where her diary was found, the Royal Palace and the Museum of prostitution.

However, what I do recall vividly were our frequent visits to the Coffee shops for the marijuana, brownies, and cookies and the strip bar and the clubs. Most of the time, we ordered our meal from the African restaurant which was very convenient and for me, the best thing about Amsterdam was that we went from a group of friends to sisters and it was an entirely fun and unforgettable adventure.