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| Sunday, April 06, 2008 |
At the end of the month, I'm finally going on a holiday. It's been a long, long winter and I'm looking forward to getting away, even if this trip is only 10 days.
I'm off to spend a weekend in England before I go to The Netherlands for Queen's Day. It may seem odd to head to England for only a weekend but my flight was going through London and decided to spend a few days to visit somebody. I've never been to England before and I think this will be a good practice run for my trip in the summer. It will give me an idea as to just how expense England really is and how much I need to budget for my month long trip there this summer.
What I'm really excited for is Amsterdam. I first went there in 2006 and loved it so much I stayed for 6 weeks in the city. I meet great Dutch friends and had such a good time. I was sad to go. Amsterdam is a place I could settle in. It's amazing- the canals, the old buildings, the atmosphere, the friendly locals. There is a reason everyone loves the city (and it isn't just the coffeeshops!) It's been a long time since I've been there and I'm really looking forward to it, especially since it's Queen's Day.
Queen's Day is THE Dutch national holiday. They celebrate the birth of their Queen Wilhelmenia as well as "vrijmarkt." The current Queen, Beatrix, usually goes to a few towns and participates in watching traditional Dutch dancing or such. Vrijmarkt means freemarket in Dutch and its the one day of the year people can sell whatever they want in the streets and buyers don't have to pay taxes. I plan on buying lots of tax-free stuff on that day.
The real fun is the party. This holiday culminates with everyone, everywhere having one big blow out bash. Parties begin days before and some bars and clubs stay open all night. Almost everyone is in orange (the Dutch national color) and, well, it's just a good time. Amsterdam usually sees a few hundred thousand tourists.
I'm really looking forward to going. I'm staying with my friends in Amsterdam and they tell me they have parties already planned. I suspect they will show me a good time. I'm hoping to see some of the Dutch friends I meet in Australia but they are unsure if they can make it to Amsterdam. I'll see them this summer if we miss each other in April.
So now it is time to start planning! Airline tickets need to be booked, trains reserved, and my passport found. A two week trip doesn't need much planning but thinking about it will get me through these next two, 60 hour work weeks.
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posted by Nomadic Matt @ 10:12 AM  |
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| 1 Comments: |
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Hi Matt,
Thanks for commenting on my Blissful Travel blog. You have a great site! Must say I love your pictures... beautiful. I hope you'll have a good time in England. As for Amsterdam I can understand what you mean. I haven't been there yet, but friends of mine have lived there (one of them for as long as 6 months) and after speaking with them I get why it's such an attractive city to live in.
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Hi Matt,
Thanks for commenting on my Blissful Travel blog. You have a great site! Must say I love your pictures... beautiful. I hope you'll have a good time in England. As for Amsterdam I can understand what you mean. I haven't been there yet, but friends of mine have lived there (one of them for as long as 6 months) and after speaking with them I get why it's such an attractive city to live in.