On our way to Amsterdam, with a few hiccups July 9th 2008

Wallet Experiment: Day 4
Jeans & Sweatshirt: Day 6

We went out pretty hard last night, and as a result woke up around 11. Check out was at noon so we had to hustle to get going. We barely got out of the room in time and headed straight for the train station, about a 10 minute walk away. The difference in the weight of our packs is evident already. We understood that the process we needed to go through was to go get our Eurail tickets validated and then use up 1 of the 15 days we had purchased. As we entered the ticketing area, the ticket agent grabbed Loyd's pass, stamped it and then filled in the date of expiration for 2 weeks from today. The only problem with that was we were planning on staying the Amsterdam for 3-4 days. Turns out we purchased the incorrect passes, we bought passes for 15 consecutive days of travel, not 15 days of travel within 2 months. It complicates things, to say the least.

Understandably confused and frustrated, we managed to have the train station manager reissue Loyd's pass to him with the pass beginning on the 13th of July, allowing us time to spend in Amsterdam without wasting our passes. This issue is clearly going to add a layer of complexity - as every day we do not travel on the train is a day lost. I honestly feel that its not too big of a problem though - I am sure we will make it work.

After the 2 hours in the ticketing office was completely, we had our tickets to Amsterdam that we paid for ourselves. We boarded the train and Loyd immediately lightened the mood by climbing up onto the luggage rack on top of the seats and laying there. Hilarious.

The train departed right on time and a few stops in a couple of young guys came on the train. Loyd spotted one of them wearing a Northeastern Sweatshirt so we called them over. Turns out they are brothers from Minnesota and Tony, the younger brother is an incoming freshman. To say the least, Loyd and I turned right back into Freshman Mentors, like last summer. The conversation was great. Tony and his brother Justin are doing two weeks and seem a little rushed for time. In my mind it was nice to realize I had 2 months to do this trip, we can take our time and never feel like we have to be somewhere RIGHT NOW.

We arrived in Amsterdam and walked to our Hostel. It is located eight in the middle of the Red Light District, a really young and crazy part of town. This city has an incredibly cool vibe to it, I can already feel it. Aside from the cafe's which offer their obvious allure, I am looking forward to seeing some of the cool spots this city has to offer.

We headed out for the night and met us with some cool people throughout it; a brother and sister for Georgia and a girl from Puyallup. Crazy how small this world is. So to sum it up, so far so good in Amsterdam. More to come in the next few days...