No matter how stingily you pack, stuffing a bag pack for a month long couch surfing journey is never easy. When i finally left London on a dreary, drizzly early morning, it was bursting from all corners, and only because of my expertize in transferring weight to my carpenter cargo pants and multi pocket jacket i managed to avoid paying the excess baggage fees at my budget airline. I am mostly traveling by train now and by the time next flight is taken, i would have emptied the gifts i am taking for my hosts, so it should be ok.
What was not ok was the weather in Amsterdam and since i wasnt going to meet my host Bobby till the evening, I had to carry the load with me in the constant drizzle. Even then i managed to walk and cover a lot of ground in 24 hours including the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, the hermitage museum, the Jewish museum, Rembrandt house, a lovely canal cruise and of course the famous night life of Amsterdam. I was only possible with the help of some Singaporean tourists who had been here and i meet them standing in the line for Anne frank house. Boy, was i haopy to hear that singlish accent in that queue just when i was getting drenched and wondering if i was doing the right thing traveling alone like this!!
The art scene in the city is amazing and reflects its wealthy heritage since the 16/17 century. Every body rides a bike and distances are measured in bike time. The city is built around the canals which make it such a unique city in the world.People are generally friendly and try to help lost tourists, which is quite common i think as language and systems are confusing atleast initially
I stayed at a social housing project, not far from the center, with an architect Bobby, and finally i had the real couch surfing experience as a couch is all that i got to sleep on. It was such a tiring day that i could have slept any where. Before that though, i cooked some Indian food with the spicess i carried and it turned out to be a good hit with my host. A short one and a half days are never going to be enough for Amsterdam and i hope i will visit this wonderful city again
No matter how stingily you pack, stuffing a bag pack for a month long couch surfing journey is never easy. When i finally left London on a dreary, drizzly early morning, it was bursting from all corners, and only because of my expertize in transferring weight to my carpenter cargo pants and multi pocket jacket i managed to avoid paying the excess baggage fees at my budget airline. I am mostly traveling by train now and by the time next flight is taken, i would have emptied the gifts i am taking for my hosts, so it should be ok. 
What was not ok was the weather in Amsterdam and since i wasnt going to meet my host Bobby till the evening, I had to carry the load with me in the constant drizzle. Even then i managed to walk and cover a lot of ground in 24 hours including the Van Gogh museum, the Anne Frank house, the hermitage museum, the Jewish museum, Rembrandt house, a lovely canal cruise and of course the famous night life of Amsterdam. I was only possible with the help of some Singaporean tourists who had been here and i meet them standing in the line for Anne frank house. Boy, was i haopy to hear that singlish accent in that queue just when i was getting drenched and wondering if i was doing the right thing traveling alone like this!! 
The art scene in the city is amazing and reflects its wealthy heritage since the 16/17 century. Every body rides a bike and distances are measured in bike time. The city is built around the canals which make it such a unique city in the world.People are generally friendly and try to help lost tourists, which is quite common i think as language and systems are confusing atleast initially 
I stayed at a social housing project, not far from the center, with an architect Bobby, and finally i had the real couch surfing experience as a couch is all that i got to sleep on. It was such a tiring day that i could have slept any where. Before that though, i cooked some Indian food with the spicess i carried and it turned out to be a good hit with my host. A short one and a half days are never going to be enough for Amsterdam and i hope i will visit this wonderful city again
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