Last year for my 29th birthday, Keri sent me a very sweet note with a passport holder telling me that she was taking me to Europe for my 30th bday. We immediately started looking for trip ideas- we were thinking about a cruise or just a few days in a couple of difference places in Europe. When Keri found out that Keith’s company’s European conference was going to be in Amsterdam, she thought that would be a perfect location to begin our trip. Since we weren’t totally comfortable with traveling alone the whole time, this would give us a chance to see Amsterdam for CHEAP and see Keith in action.
I have to say that packing for this trip was one of the funniest things. A couple weeks before leaving on my trip I started to wonder on what all I would need to bring. I asked lots of questions and got some great feedback from friends and especially my sister. She pretty much gave me a list of what you need and don’t bring anything more than that. I knew that she had already been to Europe before, but we are also very different when it comes to “packing” light. So I got my ONE medium suitcase out to pack and needless to say was able to get everything that I needed in that suitcase. Jason came into the bedroom and asked where my other bags were and I told him that was it and he laughed out loud and said BS, you brought more than that to the Guntersville gig a month ago. Lol! I guess I do tend to over pack a little ;) So anyways, I pretty much brought what I was GOING to wear, not that I THOUGHT I may wear. I think not having to pack for Kelson made things a little easier. Overall I have to say that I did rather well with what I brought. Keri and I even shared our clothes while we were there. I still don’t see how she packed such a small bag for a month in Europe. Anyways, so I packed my bags- and did have a carry-on, but it wasn’t too big either. Just had necessities- book, blanket, pillow, etc....
I gave Kelson a BIG hug & kiss goodbye and Jason took me the airport- I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle being away from Kelson for sooo long- the longest I’d been away from her was 2 days, so 9 days was going to seem like a lifetime. With Jason I was kind of used to being away from of all the traveling he did with Heartland. I was stressing to Keri about being able to keep in touch with the family- since my Verizon phone didn’t have global capabilities- so she suggested I hooked up Skype on my home computer so Jason and Kelson could keep up with me. Not being able to text when I wanted to really sucked, but I managed to live 9 days without my cell phone. Thank GOD we had Keri’s laptop with us. We keep everyone updated on our trip using Facebook and Skype- it was great.
Well my flight from HSV to Atlanta was fast and painless. Keri and Keith came and met me at my gate so we could go meet Kyle at baggage claim. It was great seeing them again- it had been since Christmas. Kyle and Renee live in Atlanta, so he had some time to come hang out with us until we left for 9 hour flight to Amsterdam. We all went and grabbed a bite to eat and had some interesting conversations- we normally do. Lol. Keri saw a funny mural on the wall so we went and took some pics with it just for giggles.
A day with us is never boring. After we had gone through security and heading towards our gate, the guards started yelling- “freeze- everyone stop now”- so all of us did and it freaked us out. Then some of the guards started running and the lead guard asked if each entrance was secured and they replied with a YES from each station. So after a minute or so the lead guard thanked us all for partaking in their drill. Whew- we caught our breath and laughed. We weren’t sure what to think after that little stunt.
My mom’s BFF (and my godmother), “Aunty Paula”, was the lead flight attendant on our flight, so we got the total hook up.Unfortunately, first class filled up at the last second so we didn’t get upgraded, but we got every other perk you could possibly have without being in first class… including ice cream sundaes, extra biscoff cookies, and getting to actually sit in the captain’s seat! Keri and I were even invited to come and get pics in the cockpit. It looked VERY confusing up there.
The plane itself was awesome! Each chair had it’s own TV with touch screen capability. They had on-demand movies and TV shows (Keri and I watched Slumdog Millionaire (been wanting to see that) and I also watched Yes Man, Keri watched Benjamin Button, and Keith watched Frost/Nixon), games (we played trivia, poker, and some tetris-logic type game), music, and you could track exactly where the plane was graphically. Even on this overnight 9 hour flight, we hardly slept- well except for Keith. I really thought this plane ride was going to take FOREVER, but all in all it went by rather fast. I didn’t sleep at all- I think I was too excited. Keri and I did lots of talking too. Keri and I had originally been sitting by a SUPER hot Amsterdamian guy ;) but since Keith was all alone, we convinced a lady to switch seats with us so we could all sit together. I was trying to be slick and get a picture of him, but he caught on and was turning away. Haha! Our flight left Atlanta at 5pm on Saturday and arrived at 8am on Sunday in Amsterdam (due to the 6 hour time change). We met up with Keith’s co-workers, Jeremy and Jen, at the airport, then found our way to the hotel via train and foot as fast as we could. None of us really slept so we were ready for our beds by the time we got to the hotel. The walk from the train station to the hotel was madness- I then knew why Keri told me to pack lightly. Unfortunately, when we arrived at our hotel, they told us that check-in wasn’t until 3pm, so we all set up camp on their couches in the lobby. After a little sweet talking and some help from the conference coordinators, we managed to get into our rooms around 11:30am. I was sharing a room with Keri and Keith- to keep down on costs- so we had requested a room with 2 queen size beds. When we opened the door to our room, there was one king-sized bed (which was actually 2 twin-beds, but there was no way to separate them anyway). We were so exhausted that we decided we’d deal with that later, and it didn’t take 5 minutes for us to all crawl under the covers (with Keri in the middle), close the curtains, and fall asleep! We didn’t wake up until about 7pm. That was one of the most comfortable beds I’d ever slept in. We stayed there for four nights and didn’t bother to change rooms- haha. I wasn’t sure what to think of this place- the bike riders and drivers were very impatient and I always seemed to be in the way, but after a couple of days I felt like I fit right in and wasn’t scared to jump out.
Many of Keith’s colleagues from out of the country arrived on Sunday so a large group of us went out for dinner at an Indonesian restaurant that night.
I wanted a traditional Dutch meal, but we found that there really wasn’t such a thing. The guidebook told us that because of Amsterdam’s location, they’re actually known for importing food from other places so they don’t really have a food that they call their own. So… Indonesian it was! The food at the Indonesian restaurant was amazing! Keith and I split a sampler entrée that consisted of about 10 different items, and they loved every bit of it too. Kelly even got a “lemon squeezer” souvenir to take home (I swear the waiter told me to take it home when I was raving about it, but he didn’t really speak good English so I have my doubts). Ha-ha. We had the best wine too. I swear EUROPE has the best food and wine EVER! If it wasn’t for all the walking, I’d be 300lbs. Plus many of the Europeans don’t drive- they either walk or ride their bikes. I noticed how much FATTER Americans are when I returned back home- lol. One of the funny things was you had to order your water “still”- otherwise they would bring you tonic water. YUCK. So in one of the pics I’m holding “still”... Kelson loves to play the song “Hold Still” on yo gabba gabba, so I took that picture for her. Jason didn’t get it until I explained the water situation to him. We even managed to capture a picture of chicken curry sauce that had spilled into a Mickey Mouse shape- I found that one too.After dinner, everyone else was still tired so they headed to their rooms to prepare for the next day, but we hit the fair that was going on in Dam Square right in front of our hotel. We didn’t go on the rides, but we checked them out and partook in a huge bag of cotton candy. And no, cotton candy doesn’t taste the same as it does in America. It’s not quite as sweet and a little bit more cottony. :) I really liked it. We were still pretty tired from the flight and now full from dinner, so we decided to call it a night, but not before stopping by a coffeeshop Before going to bed, Keri “Skyped” with mom and the kids- and of course mom couldn’t help but hearing me laugh in the background- lol. It was only 6pm or so back in FL, so they were all awake and we were already in bed. It was nuts.
And this… is only the beginning…
Journey to Amsterdam
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