How to Spend a Day in Amsterdam (On a Budget)

Amsterdam - is it Canals and Tulips or Weed and Hookers? 

Our plan was to travel straight from England to Germany, but as we'd always wanted to go to the Netherlands and as it is kind of on the way we decided to go via Amsterdam. We got a coach from England to Amsterdam, spent nine fantastic hours there and then caught the train to Germany. Should you make that journey? That's a whole other story, find out about it here. 

This post is all about what you can do in Amsterdam and how much of it you can fit it into a day, because despite the fact that we will definitely be going back, I'm here to tell you:

Amsterdam can be done in one day (or night) 

Don't get me wrong, we absolutely loved it and didn't do everything, but in one day you can get a really good taste of Amsterdam, and we did everything that we really wanted to do (or almost).

So what did we see/do?

The Bicycles

Everyone rides a bike. It was so great to see people out on their bikes, the carbon emission must be quite low here. We'd heard before that Amsterdam was bike crazy, but we didn't know that the bikes were all so old fashioned and cute. We also didn't know that every type of person rides a bike - guys in suits, ladies in skirts, ladies in heels, parents with one or two kids on the front/back. Every new person looked less prepared for cycling, and the dutch must be really good at balancing too - there were bags and kids everywhere:

Below is a photo of a tourist group doing a bike tour. We considered doing this, but a friend who lives in Amsterdam warned me against it as the dutch are very aggressive riders. I'm glad we took her advice, I'm not a great rider at the best of times (I always get distracted looking at things and fall off). 

Walking along the Amstel 

In the morning we were dropped off at Amstel station, and after getting lost for a bit we found the Amstel and walked along it into the centre. It was our first impression of the Netherlands and we loved it! We saw more bikes, beautiful buildings and cute house boats:

There were also pretty, wild flowers everywhere. The streets seemed really clean (especially for a capital city). There weren't many people, but the ones we saw all seemed nice. I could finally understand what loads of travellers and Dutch people mean by 'the real Netherlands' and I really loved it. It was worlds apart from the touristy/red light district/ marijuana part of the centre.

Albert CUYP Markt

We walked along this market just as it was opening, it had a really weird mix of tacky and untacky stuff, or maybe that's just my opinion.. Anyway, here are the things that we liked:

they also had clog slippers!:

Museumplein

Before we went to Amsterdam the only sight we could think of (other than the canals) was the infamous 'I amsterdam' sign. So I googled where it was and found that it was in the Museumplein. We got completely lost trying to find the Museumplein, but luckily a helpful dutchman showed us the way. We were impressed by the sign, but even more so by the Rijksmuseum which lives behind it:

When I say impressed, I mean that we were impressed by the outside of the building. We didn't go in because we were already pretty tired from the journey, and museums always send us to sleep.

I'm sure it's great though, so if you have a spare 15 Euro why not go in??

We just contented ourselves with taking touristy photos of the I amsterdam sign:

I even went as far as hugging the T, because I have a lot of love for Tanbay and TravellingWeasels (both of which begin with t..) 

Right next to the Rijksmuseum on the way to the Van Gogh Museum are a few pretty (if not touristy and probably overpriced) shops: 

There was also a souvenir shop, which I can never resist. We had a look at key rings and I said 'I like this one' and the souvenir shop guy said 'ah you like me wow that's great' which was awkward. I really liked these fake Van Goghs and would definitely have bought one if I had a home to hang it in:

I love a bit of Van Gogh. 

We also didn't go in the Van Gogh museum, because again we were still tired, and again it cost 15 Euro. We would have rather gone there than the Rijks, and intend to go there once we return. 

Vondel Park

The Vondel park is named after a Dutch author and is a big park very near the Museumplein. We sat and watched the many many cyclists go by:

It was cute!

The Food

The food we had in Amsterdam was epic. So epic in fact that it deserves it's own post. 

Canal Tour

Walking around we loved looking at all the little canals and feeling like we were in 'the Venice of the north'.

We hadn't planned on doing a Canal tour (we're too snobby for touristy tours), but in the end we were so eager to sit down we decided to suck it up and just do it:

It was definitely worth it to see Amsterdam from another angle. The tour was in Dutch, English, German and French and it was fun to see how much of each bit I understood (a little bit, all, most, basically nothing - respectively).

My favourite bit was seeing Anne Frank's House. We'd planned on walking there and viewing it from the outside (apparently if you go in it's boring and you're shepherded around like a sheep) but when it came to it we were too tired to do that, so it was great to see it in the same way, but from the boat:

Church of Saint Nicholas and Amsterdam Centraal

Our journey finished at the pretty (but only from the outside) Amsterdam Centraal station. Inside was a bit minging as the cleaners were on strike so the bins were overflowing. One of the train ladies was very helpful though, if a little racist against the Germans ('you can use this ticket whenever you like in Holland we don't mind, but the Germans only allow you to use the stated times, they are very strict'  and then she pulled a strict angry face).

Just outside the station (bottom photo) is the gorgeous Church of Saint Nicholas (top photos):

What have I missed out?? Oh yea the two infamous pieces of Amsterdam:
weed and hookers. Did we go to the red light district? Yes. It was a bit weird. There were loads of explicit sex shops and every now and again (especially in the smaller alleys) there were windows with women dressed scantily and looking bored. It was kind of embarrassing. One of the weirdest things was the families walking their kids around the red light district! (What?) We walked past a peep show shop thing, and I looked (peeped) in the entrance. There were 5 boys waiting to go in, looking really excited and sheepish.. I didn't take any photos because I've heard if you do that you get your camera thrown into the canal/smashed up or something. I wasn't going to take that risk.

As for the weed? Again I felt like it was a really lame touristy thing to do... The only people that seemed to be doing it were again sheepy tourists who were so excited to be doing it in public.. I heard somewhere that Amsterdam had made weed boring (probably from Family Guy - that's where I get most of my wise thoughts from) and it's so true!

Anyway here are a couple of photos of coffee shops (easily distinct from the classic coffee shop by the smell) and a few weed like souvenirs:

But all in all we absolutely loved Amsterdam, especially me - I think I'd go as far as saying that I could actually live there. Tanbay found it a bit similar to Germany but for me that was part of the appeal.

You may have noticed that the theme of the day seemed to be 'tired' and that's definitely true. We do intend to go back to The Netherlands, and I think that time we will give ourselves a bit more time and sleep! It just worked out well for us this time to do this crazy sleep on the bus - day out in Amsterdam - train it to Germany type thingy.

The other theme of the day seemed to be a 'snobbish I'm not a tourist I'm a traveller' type thing. I'm sorry but it's true. Before we went to Amsterdam I read a lot of travel blogs for tips on what to do, and I read a lot of 'Amsterdam is more than weed and hookers, don't go there just for that see the real Holland' and I thought 'okay calm down, we get it you're not a tourist, you're a proper traveller. Well done'. But now I've been there I AGREE WITH THEM SO MUCH!! The Netherlands is excellent and so much more than weed and hookers. I mean where else can you sit in a gigantic clog?

The Netherlands is fantastic and we really love it loads! We can't wait to go back, but we are glad to be in Germany now :)

For more information on Amsterdam email us or check out  Lonely Planet ! 

Should I Take the Coach From London to Amsterdam?

As House Sitters, accommodation costs us nothing. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to blow our budget actually getting to our sits. Whilst we may lack money, we don’t lack time, thus we often choose to waste time, not money, on super long, super cheap coach journeys. Then we have the added bonus of being able to tell you if it was worth it (or not). 

Our first super long, super cheap coach journey in Europe was from London to Amsterdam - was it worth it? 

Three Things to Consider When Asking:

Should You Take the Coach From London to Amsterdam? 

1. The Price: This will probably be your biggest motivation for travelling via coach (it certainly was for us). But how much does it really cost and how does that compare to other modes of transport:

It costs £15 per person to get from London (Victoria Coach Station) to Amsterdam (Amstel Station) by coach* 

*Note, this is if you book it far enough in advance (about a month) with the right carrier. 

So how much do the other modes of transport cost:

• Train: Prices start from about £75 per person
• Car: For petrol and the ferry it's going to cost at least £78. That's not even taking into account the cost of insuring car and the cost of the car itself.
• Plane: Flying starts at about £20, if booked early enough and with the 'right' carrier. We would have opted for flying if we hadn't taken the coach. 

But whilst flying is only £5 more than the coach, there are lots of other additional costs to think about - On the coach you can take as much luggage as you like (weight wise), you can take fragile things and you can take as much liquid as you like (within reason). As opposed to flights, which suck you in with cheap cheap prices and then charge you for your suitcase and don't let you take liquids in your hand luggage. 

Furthermore, you have to factor in the cost of actually getting to/from the airport. The coach, on the other hand, takes you from the centre of London right into the centre of Amsterdam at no extra cost. 

Conclusion: Basically, other than hitchhiking, taking the coach is the cheapest way to get from London to Amsterdam - and has no nasty hidden costs. 

2. The Timing: This is where trains, flights, driving and even hitchhiking win. Coaches always take ages because they have to stop to pick up passengers/swap drivers. But how long does the coach actually take? 

We left London at 21:00 and arrived in Amsterdam the next day at 09:00. 
Thus the journey took 11 hours. (No my maths isn't wrong, there's an hour's time difference between the UK and the Netherlands.)

Now taking the train or driving take about 5 hours. The flight itself only takes about an hour but you've got to factor in the two hours (or so) that you've got to spend in the airport, plus the time getting there. 

Furthermore, getting into Amsterdam at 9am was the perfect time for us. All the cheap flights we looked at got in too early (6am) or too late (9pm). 

Finally, the majority of our 11 hours were spent sleeping, not exactly the best sleep ever, but certainly more relaxing than going through customs/driving down the motorway.

Conclusion: whilst 11 hours on a bus sounds awful, most of it was spent unconscious, and we arrived at an agreeable time. 

3. What's the journey like?: Who cares how cheap a journey is: if you're not able to use a toilet for 11 hours and the other passengers stick needles in your eyes, it is not worth it. So read on to hear about our first-hand account of what it is actually like taking the coach from London to Amsterdam:

The coach left from London Victoria Station, I don't know if you've ever been there, but it is pretty vile: it's overcrowded, everyone always seems to be in a foul mood and there are pigeons everywhere!! 

We had to queue up and show our passports - this is worth noting because generally in Europe if you don't board a plane you don't need a passport, but apparently you do in this situation - so don't forget yours!

Anyway, we then queued to get on the coach. This was actually pretty horrible. Everyone wanted to be the first on the coach, so when the doors opened there was a gigantic horrible push to get through. No one was crushed to death this time, but it was a close thing I think.. But then I have agoraphobia, for more adventurous travellers this probably would not have been a big deal.

Once we'd made it through, we got on the coach and sat down. It was relatively empty (it turned out that there were two coaches and no need for pushing). Then three minutes before the coach was due to leave, ten Americans got on. Turned out that they'd been sitting in the station, thinking that they were the first there and expecting the driver to come and tell them to get on the coach (lol).

Our driver was Dutch and actually hilarious, he didn't care about anything and gave a funny speech. 

After the Americans finished telling the rest of the coach (well one couple, but it carried) about their amazingly uninteresting plans, everyone settled down to sleep. 

Two hours later we had to get out in Dover, which we didn't know about (we thought we were getting the tunnel across, and Tanbay was not impressed to be woken up). We got out again for another passport check, and were sniffed by a police dog. It was still a lot smoother than the airport way though. 

Once we'd all got back on the coach, the Americans all sat together so the original 'seating arrangement' was confused. One guy in particular got extremely annoyed, I thought he was going to hit them. I said "don't worry it's only a few minutes until we're on the ferry and we get off again" and then I thought he was going to hit me. 

Luckily (for him) he didn't hit me and we did, indeed, get off the coach a few minutes later and onto the ferry. The ferry itself took two hours and everyone was completely knackered and trying to sleep, but were prevented from doing so by some delightful (annoying) French teenagers. 

We got back on the coach, near the angry guy (who was sat by his girlfriend this time so he was okay). But this time someone else's  seat was taken by the Americans. She yelled at them for about ten minutes. Angry guy thought it was funny.

All in all it was pretty ridiculous. Everyone was very tired and wanted to be sat with their friends/significant others. Fine, I get that - everyone knows that I have to sit by Tanbay. But the whole thing could have been avoided if we'd been given seat numbers (or if everyone chilled out a bit).

But after that (by about 1am) everyone calmed down and slept all the way to Amsterdam.

I'm not going to lie to you and say it was the best night's sleep ever (far from it), but with headphones, an eye mask and a comfy jumper it was not the worst either. 

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we were a little sleep deprived, but we had the thrill of adventure and the knowledge that we just saved a bunch of money. 

Amsterdam itself was epic, definitely one of our favourite cities ever. You can read about it here.

Conclusion: So was it worth it? Should you take the coach from London to Amsterdam? We think you should!  

Despite the sleep deprivation and worry that I'd have to hit a guy in the face, it was all worth it for the money that we saved. 

We would indeed take this journey again (if we needed to) but we would probably consider taking a daytime bus (which elevates the pressure of having to sleep). 

Depending on when we were booking the tickets, we would also consider taking a plane too..  

But overal we are convinced that the coach is a fun, cheap option. 

Tips in case you want to try it out for yourself:

• Make sure you've got enough clothes - the warmer you are the more likely you are to sleep, or I am anyway..
• Take eye masks and headphones - light to pack but so annoying when you don't have them
• Take a bottle of water - personally I don't use coach toilets but they do have loos on the ferry :) 

Would you make this journey? Let us know!

House Sitting in England - is it Different to Sitting in Australia?

After nine months house sitting in Australia, we were keen to try it in my own home country (England). So we did. We did it in the Forest of Dean (South West) which is looking very good at the moment:

We wanted to do a post about the differences between house sitting in Australia and house sitting in England, but really the differences are more about the countries themselves than the houses. And anyway, each house sit is different in their own unique way it all depends on the pets / home owners /  house / location, so many things. So instead of doing a post about the differences, we decided to do one on the firsts in house sitting for us:

Sheep 

Never had we ever looked after sheep before. In the end it turned out that they were easier than cats and loads easier than dogs. They basically look after themselves! During the summer they eat the grass in the field so you don't have to feed them (or mow the garden), they put themselves to bed at night too. What I'm feeding them in the above picture is sheep nuts, which is a treat for sheep, so they only get a tiny amount at this time of year.  They went mad for it and were very eager to eat it. Other than that it was just moving the mineral block every morning. 

However, saying how easy they were I'm sure they would have been a lot more work than dogs/cats if they had needed a vet - you can hardly get them into a carrier and into the car! But luckily no such kerfuffle occurred. 

If we had the house/land we think we would have sheep. They keep the lawn tidy (ish) and definitely have distinct personalities! However, I think to start off with we'd have dogs and.. 

Chickens!

Again a house sitting first for us and again an easy one. The chickens were a bit more work than the sheep, but not much and they gave us rewards (eggs). Chickens are usually fed once or twice a day, in the summer they need less as they dig around for worms and things. Again they put themselves to bed at night and we just had to lock them in so the fox wouldn't get them. Talking of foxes...

Foxes and Badgers 

This was the first time Tanbay had seen them in the wild.

The house also had two sweet cats, but that wasn't a first for us.

So there you have it, house sitting in England isn't that different from house sitting anywhere else, looking after chickens and sheep is more rewarding than it is taxing :) and foxes and badgers are always great.

P.S. We got all of our house sits from www.Trustedhousesitter.com