[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 17 July 2016]
For my final trip of 2015, the destination was Europe. This trip was a long time coming. My sis and I had been talking about going overseas together for the longest time and finally, the opportunity arose and we made it happen. Together with sis’ friend, SJ, the three of us discussed the itinerary and picked the places that each of us wanted to go.
Sis has been a lifelong Manchester United fan, and she really wanted to catch a match at Old Trafford, so Manchester would be one of the priority places we had to go. She was also very keen to visit The Netherlands and see the windmills, so we added the capital Amsterdam to our list too. SJ was interested to visit Germany in general, so we picked the two biggest cities, Berlin and Munich.
As for myself, I was lucky enough to have visited Manchester two times in the past six years. I also managed to take a short walk in the Amsterdam city area during a brief stopover in 2014. However, it was only for a couple of hours so I didn’t get to explore Amsterdam in depth. I had also never visited Germany before so I was keen to go there too.
I then proposed adding London to the list because I rather enjoyed it the last time round, and it also seemed a shame not to stop by London when we were already going to Manchester. Sis and SJ had no objections, since they had never been there either. As for Prague, it wasn’t in our initial plans but I added it in later as I discovered that it was located somewhat midway between Berlin and Munich. I had heard good things about the Czech Republic capital so I felt that it was worth a visit too.
After doing the necessary research about the places of interest to visit in each city and best/cheapest way to travel between each city, our itinerary was set – Amsterdam, London, Manchester, Berlin, Prague and finally Munich. It would be a 14-day trip in all, meaning we would spend an average of two to three nights per city.
For flights, we chose Singapore Airlines because it was a non-stop flight and the timing was good. It has been a while since I flew on SQ (because of the price), but for this trip, we felt that we should pamper ourselves a bit and travel in comfort. The return air ticket cost a bomb though – S$1,901.68, mainly because we were travelling during the peak holiday season (end November), and also because we were flying in and out from different cities (SIN – AMS; MUC – SIN).
We even went one step further and purchased Preferred Seats for the return flight from Munich to Singapore. These Preferred Seats came with additional legroom and they cost an additional S$84.53 each. So the total price of the SQ flight was a whopping S$1,986.21. That’s the most I have ever paid for air tickets. I figure I will not be flying on SQ for a while now. Comfort (and safety) comes at a high price.
Exorbitant air tickets aside, we really wanted this trip to be a relaxed and enjoyable one. We split the load to research each city’s places of interest to visit, so that each one of us has a vested interest in the trip. We also browsed the Airbnb website individually and shortlisted the apartments that we each fancied before coming to a consensus and making the bookings.
We originally envisioned renting a car and driving from city to city, but eventually decided against it as it was slower and not necessarily cheaper than travelling by train or bus. After months of planning and discussions, it was finally time to set off!
27 November 2015, Friday / 28 November 2015, Saturday
On 27 November 2015, Friday, we checked in at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and boarded our SQ flight 324 to Amsterdam. We departed Singapore at 11:55pm and touched down at Schiphol Airport at 5:53am local time, almost one hour ahead of schedule. Amsterdam is six hours behind Singapore.
After retrieving our luggage, we purchased train tickets (€5.10, one way) from the airport to Centraal Station. It was a short 14-minute ride, and we arrived in the city at 7:35am. It was still very early in the morning and the sun was only just beginning to rise. We would not be able to check in to our Airbnb apartment until much later. But we had already made plans to pass time, of course.
We rented a locker each at the train station to deposit our big suitcases (€10 per locker) so that we would be free to explore the immediate city area on foot unencumbered. After taking some photos outside the train station, we strolled along the main street. Most of the shops were still shuttered. We spotted a nice-looking café called Stock and popped in for some breakfast.
Just to give you a sensing of prices in Amsterdam, I ordered a cup of hot chai latte for €3.25 and a Stroop (Dutch sugar syrup) pancake for €5.50. At the time of the trip, the exchange rate was €1 = S$1.517. The pancake was more like a crêpe and it tasted fine.
After we were done with breakfast, we continued to explore the surrounding area on foot. The sun was fully up now and the city was fast awakening from its slumber. We walked east of Centraal station, along Oosterdokskade, and ended up at the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, which is the public library. We arrived just a few minutes shy of 10am, so we hung around the entrance waiting for the library to open its doors and welcome its first visitors of the day.
At seven stories, the Amsterdam branch is the largest public library not just in the country, but in the whole of Europe. Besides housing books, it also contains a theatre, radio station, conference rooms, exhibition spaces and a restaurant on the top level that provides a panoramic view of the city. The décor is like our Esplanade building and Library @ Orchard in Singapore, but way cooler and much more spacious. It is so conducive for reading and doing work and you can easily spend a few hours in there. We went to the top floor to access the viewing platform but unfortunately, it was closed. The view would have been spectacular from there.
As we were about to leave the library, it suddenly started to rain. We went back in to seek shelter for a short while before emerging again with our waterproof North Face Windstopper jackets, as the rain was not too heavy. We then walked back towards Centraal train station to look for the I amsterdam Visitor Centre. It is located just opposite the main station entrance and it was already open (there is also another one at Schiphol Airport, Arrivals Hall 2).
We had already done our research beforehand and we were going to buy the I amsterdam City Card, which came with several perks, including a free canal cruise ride, unlimited free rides on public trains, trams and buses, free entry or discounts at various museums and attractions, and more. For a full list of benefits, visit the website here.
At the time of our visit in 2015, there were only three variations of the card – 24 hours (€49), 48 hours (€59) and 72 hours (€69). However, at the present time of writing (July 2016), they have introduced a new 96-hour variation, and I noticed that the prices have also increased to €55, €65, €75 and €85 for the respective cards. That is quite a significant increase of €6. Nevertheless, if you do your math right, you can maximise the use of the card and still enjoy some savings. We purchased the 48-hour card for our trip.
After getting the card, we proceeded to the harbour for the canal cruise ride. There were a few cruise companies covered under the City Card, all offering more or less the same service (1 hour ride) so we just picked a random one that was nearby (Lovers Canal Cruises) and was about to depart at 11am. The regular price for the ride is €16.
The canal cruise is one of the must-do activities in Amsterdam as the boat navigates through the numerous waterways and provides a quick introduction to most of the city’s sights. We got to see many pretty buildings and bridges up close, and also the water boat homes that were docked along the canals. It was an enjoyable ride, to say the least.
The ride took about 75 minutes in fact. After disembarking, we went back to the train station to retrieve our luggage from the lockers. We then made our way to our Airbnb apartment, which was located in the neighbourhood of Spaarndammerstraat (what a mouthful). According to Google Maps, it is 1.6km away from Centraal train station and it would take about 20 minutes on foot to get there. So we lugged our suitcases and walked, getting a little lost along the way before finally getting our bearings right. We reached the apartment at 1:10pm.
After pressing the buzzer, we were let in to the apartment, which was located on the ground floor of the building. The friendly lady host gave us a warm welcome and showed us around the apartment. She had even prepared a complimentary bottle of white wine and a packet of stroopwafels (a popular Dutch cookie, usually with a caramel filling in between two thin layers of crispy waffle) for us. The apartment was clean and spacious, and there was even a small garden area at the back. I especially love the wooden floorboards.
Airbnb apartment
Address: Spaarndammerstraat 22A, Amsterdam, North Holland 1013
Host: Regina
Cost: S$725 for 3 nights
After freshening ourselves up, we decided it was time for lunch. We retraced our steps back towards the train station and shortly after, found ourselves in the Haarlemmerdijk shopping street, which is located in the hip Jordaan district. There are many shops and restaurants lining both sides of the street. We settled on San Pedro Argentine steakhouse, which seemed reasonably priced. I ordered a steak (€9.95) and a bottle of Coke (€2.50).
After that, we went back to Centraal station and took the Metro train M54 to Bijlmer ArenA (no, that capital “A” in “ArenA” is not a typo) station for a stadium tour of Amsterdam Arena, home ground of Ajax Football Club. We were not fans of Ajax, but since the stadium tour was included in the I amsterdam City Card, why not? The regular price for the guided stadium tour is €14.50 and it lasts 70 minutes.
The train ride took just 15 minutes and we arrived at Bijlmer ArenA at 3:51pm. From there, it was a short 10-minute walk to Amsterdam Arena. No prior reservation is required so we just walked in and booked ourselves for the 4:30pm slot, which was the last session for the day.
As we waited for the tour to commence, we visited the Ajax megastore, which was not as big as Manchester United’s, and there weren’t many people inside either. The turnout for the stadium tour was quite good though, with about 25 of us. I wonder how many of them actually paid for the tour, or were most of them there because it was included in the I amsterdam City Card, like us?
The tour was conducted in English and the guide brought us to all the usual places – the press conference room, dressing rooms, media broadcast area, the stands and also the grounds. We learned about the history of the club and the legends who had donned the Ajax shirt, including Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank de Boer and Man Utd luminaries Edwin van der Sar and Jaap Staam. That’s quite an impressive roster.
By the time the tour ended at 5:45pm, the skies were dark and it was chilly and drizzling once again. Just beside Amsterdam Arena, there was a huge Decathlon store. Having missed the opportunity to visit the store in Chengdu earlier in the year, I was keen to visit it this time. It was really huge and carried a large range of products for almost every sport you can think of. It’s like a Toys ‘R Us for sports. However, we exercised restraint and did not go crazy in there, and I only bought a pair of gloves (€3.95) and a beanie hat (€1.95).
We then took the train back to Centraal and had dinner in an Italian restaurant, where I had risotto (€9.90) and it was yummy. By the time we reached our apartment, it was past 8pm, which was really 2am Singapore time. It had been a long day and it didn’t take long for us to sink into our beds and fall asleep. End of Day 1!
