Travel Diaries || Amsterdam💕

My list of places I want to visit is forever growing. And the only way to be able to start ticking everywhere off is by actually travelling. Amsterdam is a place I have wanted to visit for absolutely ages now. It always just seemed like a beautiful place full of excitement. A few months back, my friends and I went ahead and booked our flights and accommodation. It was official - I was going to Amsterdam!

We flew out on 5th June, and the flight was just over an hour. We were staying in a hostel in Sloterdijk, so got a train out to what we thought was Amsterdam Centraal - we accidentally got onto Rotterdam Centraal instead, but thankfully it wasn't an express train and we got off at Amsterdaam Central. Once we finally found our accomodation, we hopped on a train back to Amsterdaam Central.

NIGHT ONE

I was mesmerised and star-struck by the architecture surrounding me - to the point I was probably annoying the girls because I was stopping every two minutes to take a picture. I knew from pictures online that Amsterdam was a beautiful city, but boy, it's more beautiful than it looks.

The canals were just unreal. Both evenings I was in Amsterdam, we ended up sitting alongside the canals for a short time period, chilling, chatting and people watching - it was so relaxing. They were heavily-populated with people sitting at the sides, walking past and the amount of boats that went by was unreal. I was desperate to go on a boat tour down the canals but we simply didn't have enough time - but I know that when I return (it's a must!), I'll be paying for a canal tour. Mark my words.

This building isn't your stereotypical building in Amsterdam, but I liked it's quirkiness. I found it whilst waiting on the girls, who had popped in to buy churros, so I made the most of it whilst on this specific street - by the way, the churros were good, I ended up eating Becca's leftovers whilst chilling at the canals!

We spent the whole of the first evening exploring the place. At 10pm, we opted to visit the sex museum - of course, it was a total laugh. I'll spare you of the photos of the museum, but honestly, if you go to Amsterdam, visit it - it's only 5 euros entry and it's some laugh!

DAY ONE

We set an alarm for 7 with the intention of getting up to get ready, but we all lay in bed, contemplating getting up but none of us had the energy. Miraculously, we were up, ready and out of the hostel by 9am - five of us somehow managed to get ready in this one tiny hostel room! For breakfast, we nipped to the local Spar, where I bought two croissants - way to my heart.

After we got the train to Amsterdaam Central, we jumped onto a tram - first things first on the agenda is find the bench from The Fault in Our Stars. Unfortunately, it wasn't the original bench, because someone had previously stolen it, but it was still a lovely place.

Next, we ran along to the I AM STERDAM sign. This location was mobbed - I underestimated how busy it would be! We spent quite a while here taking cute candids and group photos - what else would you expect from a group of gals?!

I had to take a panorama on my phone to fit the whole of the sign in because I struggled using my phone on normal camera!

The beautiful views at the sign.

Next stop - FOOD! Nicole had seen a cafe called Ree7 on Instagram, and to say the least, their milkshakes looked insane. Naturally, we just had to visit. Oh, and can we take a minute to appreciate how photogenic the milkshakes look? (iPhone 7 camera quality lol)

I had the strawberry milkshake, as did Nicole. Becca and Amy had a chocolate milkshake which looked equally as scrumptious, and Emma had a hot chocolate, which presentation wise, looked pretty delicious for a hot chocolate! We were 5 happy girls.

Amy had seen a place online which was recommended and it had glow in the dark mini golf. Whilst some of us hadn't ever played mini golf, we knew it'd be a laugh nonetheless. It was so much fun, and no, I didn't win!!

Earlier in the day, we had booked to go to the Ice Bar - we couldn't go to Amsterdam and not to go to the Ice Bar!! I didn't know what to quite expect, but it was uber cool (pun intended). We had 2 coins to use inside the ice bar for 2 drinks, and then another coin to use for a third drink in the bar itself. The experience itself was great and I highly recommend visiting if you're in Amsterdam.

Pit stop before shopping - food. Every corner you look, there's a food stall of some sort. Earlier in the day, Becca and Emma had a hot dog, and from that moment onwards, I craved a hot dog. So, to satisfy ones needs, I bought myself a large hot dog. And it was bloody amazing.

NIGHT TWO

After some shopping, we went back to the hostel to get ready before going out. We went to kfc, before going and sitting at the canals again, reminiscing about our day and general girly chat. We were waiting until the sun had set to start wandering around the Red Light District. I won't give too much away but wow, it was such a different way of life compared to here in Scotland! It was so interesting.

But of course, all good things come to an end. The following morning, we made our way to the airport via train (I obviously nipped into Spar to buy more croissants because honestly, I haven't tried any quite as amazing!) before waiting in the airport to come home. We flew home, not half as excited as we were flying out, but at the same time, we were glad to land back in Glasgow!

Amsterdam is a place which I cannot rave about enough. I feel as though since I've returned home, I've spoke about nothing else - but it was just amazing. It was an experience which I adored every minute of, and the girls made it all the more memorable. I cannot wait for my next adventure!

xx