I'm finally blogging... Only 2.5 months in!
Up at 9am to catch my shuttle back to Amsterdam, Belgium bound from there! My stay in the Netherlands has included: the first night I spent in the worst of all my hostel choices, there wasn't a lot of choice to be to had though so beggars can't be choosers-I must have been to 5 places before finally getting a yes! It was really run down, old towels on the floors & no toilet paper. Needless to say I only slept there, and even that wasn't for long. The bed was actually really comfy & clean thank god.
Day 2 I was really lucky to get myself into the Flying Pig Downtown, it's probably the most popular hostel in AMS. It was fantastic, the most social & easy to talk to anyone very chilled environment. It felt more like walking into a bar. I stayed in a 16 bed dorm the 1st & 2nd night, comfy bed & sparkling bathrooms :)
The 1st night was spent at The Bulldog Cafe, catching up with Liam & Anthony (met in Edinburgh)... We went to a massive club, Sugar Factory, that was packed & amping techno music & strobes. Needless to say I bailed soon after... As I was strolling home a bloke from France (Abdul) pulled up beside me, we chatted for a while & then he dunked me on the back of his bike back to my hostel. It was about 1.5kms.. I was pretty scared but must admit I did have quite an adrenaline rush! If you know me, you know I'm quite accident prone! But I got back all in one piece, poor Abdul had no luck in his pursuits of whisking me away! Haha..
2nd day-met a girl, Ines, at check in, next thing we went exploring together.. Hired a 'Dutch bike' with back pedal brakes- I have to highlight this as it was like learning how to ride a bike all over again... Give me hand brakes any day!!!
We rode around for 3 hrs, saw some cute canals & stuff, went to Oost Park, huge park filled with a nice lake-usual bird suspects & bikini clad women thinking they were at the beach. When in AMS.. No I didn't partake. That pretty much sums up what we saw, some more nice buildings but nothing ridiculously WOW.
That night I spent hanging out at the hostel, it was pretty much all Aussies. And 99% guys... I chummed up with Charly, she works at the hostel but she drank with me pretty much all night. That was cool, super sweet girl with odd tattoos. I also had a few puffs of a joint... They are sooo strong here!! I went to bed still giggling my head off...

The following day I was feeling pretty gross & exhausted.. I sat out in the sun out the back of the hostel, the next I got chatting to 2 Aussie guys (Warren & Ben) the next thing we were on our way to the beach!
20mins on a tram later we arrive at what appear to be a man made beach, the sand feels a bit more like dirt-we laughed & agreed we weren't there for a fantastic beach hahaha... We lazed in the sun talking rubbish all day, even had a few mushrooms. They tasted like mixed nuts.
I had been feeling quite homesick & lonely for the past week or so & this day was my worst yet... I was just really wishing I had someone enjoying the experiences with me, I mean it's great being able to do your own thing as you please but it's the little things like walking home from a bar on your own with no one to bounce off about the night/day when everyone else moves onto their next destination. It gets really exhausting having the same conversations day after day with people, and I have had a lot of people surprised I'm travelling alone-it's not as common as I first thought it was.
So, the 3rd night I dragged myself to a pub crawl... Worst. Idea. Ever. The 'pub crawl' consisted of being in a group of about 50, ushered between one black sweat box to another complete with blaring music. No culture about it. I ditched that after 2 bars, I'd made a mate in a kiwi bloke who had the same idea. We went to a cute bar & drank Leffe- bloody strong Dutch beer! I think about 9 % alc. I then went back to the hostel & partied with Ben & one of the other hostel workers. This may have involved us dancing on the bar. That was fun!
The next morn, I was every keen to get out of the big smoke (literally) So I got myself checked into the beach hostel. I spent the day drifting around the red light district & the cobbled streets. The red light district is as you expect it... Women standing in a window in next to nothing. I felt violated just looking at them.
So, to wrap it up I basically got to the beach hostel & chilled out... I was in a 20bed dorm which was surprisingly quiet. Both nights I was in bed by about 11pm. I really enjoyed watching the hawks vs swans game in the veranda with the sun peering through... Followed by sorting through some of my many photos. I strolled to the beach for half an hour, and returned for sunset - too cloudy to see much :( the beach itself is really quite nice.
It was great to completely chill out, it's hard to do that when your travelling sometimes, I feel like I need to be seeing & doing stuff all the time (even if it is just sitting in a cafe for hours) but the past 2 days I just didn't have the energy. I haven't made any real friends here, just not really my scene- everyone just smokes pot. Not my thang.
Anyways, that just about wraps up this shuttle ride & blog... I'm excited to see Antwerp today!!!