Friday, June 18th - Sandra, Kara and I booked spa appointments which I was in desperate need of. I did better traveling than I thought, I was less concerned with clean clothes and more concerned with having a good time. Staying at Kara's was a bit of a reminder of how normal people live - they wash their clothes! They shower often! They don't always look like dirtballs! So we went to the spa and I finally felt clean for the first time in about 4 weeks. I even got my hair highlighted, I was definitely a happy camper by the end of the day. I also enjoyed the glass of champagne that kept getting refilled while waiting for my hair to lighten.
The plan for the weekend was to go up north to Chris's parents place in the country. Before we headed up north we went to a burger place where I literally had the best burger i've ever had. In my entire life. We drove about 2 hours into the country side and arrived at Chris's parents house. It was awesome, a bit rustic but still updated - their kitchen was my dream kitchen. We had a quiet night of bored games and wine, not the usual contiki fun but still a good night.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Day 37 - Exploring a bit of Belfast
Thursday, June 17th - After a quick breakfast Sandra, Kara and I headed out to downtown Belfast to do some shopping. Belfast has some fabulous shopping and it was super cheap. I even found an "I love Paris" t-shirt for 3 pounds! Even more surprisingly I managed to spend a heap of money at the kitchsy tourist store; anyone who has traveled with me knows that I have a severe distaste for these shops. I find them overpriced and filled with useless items - until Belfast I didn't buy one souvenir the entire trip besides a few postcards. This was the best tourist store I've seen, Sandra and I spent easily over 150 pounds. I was keen on finding an Irish ring and I found a truly unique one there.
We spent most of the day shopping, I bought a fabulous pair of shoes - they are spectacular and nothing like the stuff I can find at home. After shopping I treated Kara to her first pedicure ever(!), I was in desperate need of one - trekking around Europe for a month in thongs kills your feet. After our girly day out we headed out for dinner at a great steakhouse - it was delicious. There was a bit of a misunderstanding by the end of the meal and Kara and Colly got into a fight over the bill. This lead to quite a big blow between Chris, Kara and Colly. I stayed out of it and grabbed Kara's laptop and caught up with some people back home on facebook. Eventually Kara and I ended up hanging out on her balcony and drinking up a storm, it was heaps of fun - just like the old days in uni.
We spent most of the day shopping, I bought a fabulous pair of shoes - they are spectacular and nothing like the stuff I can find at home. After shopping I treated Kara to her first pedicure ever(!), I was in desperate need of one - trekking around Europe for a month in thongs kills your feet. After our girly day out we headed out for dinner at a great steakhouse - it was delicious. There was a bit of a misunderstanding by the end of the meal and Kara and Colly got into a fight over the bill. This lead to quite a big blow between Chris, Kara and Colly. I stayed out of it and grabbed Kara's laptop and caught up with some people back home on facebook. Eventually Kara and I ended up hanging out on her balcony and drinking up a storm, it was heaps of fun - just like the old days in uni.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Day 36 - Finally Belfast
Wednesday, June 16th - Finally got a hold of Kara and we made plans to meet up in Belfast. After another Irish breakfast we caught the train 2 hours north. We met up with Kara around 1pm and we had quite the reunion - I hadn't seen her in almost a year, I was beyond excited! It was such a great reunion moment! We dropped off our luggage and then headed to a pub to grab a pint, catch up and watch some world cup.
After our meal we headed back to her flat and I met Kara's boyfriend Chris and their roommate Colly. They were both good blokes. Kara made us dinner and then we were off to to watch her play rugby. Her team lost but it was a great game - I definitely enjoyed watching all the male rugby players! Afterward the game we headed back home and headed to bed quite early, the last 5 weeks were starting to catch up with me.
After our meal we headed back to her flat and I met Kara's boyfriend Chris and their roommate Colly. They were both good blokes. Kara made us dinner and then we were off to to watch her play rugby. Her team lost but it was a great game - I definitely enjoyed watching all the male rugby players! Afterward the game we headed back home and headed to bed quite early, the last 5 weeks were starting to catch up with me.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Day 35 - Off to Ireland
Tuesday, June 15th - I was in a foul mood on the way to the airport, I was exhausted from lack of sleep and upset that contiki was officially over - I was going to miss all my new friends. Sandra and I got to Heaththrow and sailed through our check-in and waited to board the airplane. The flight to Ireland was short, under an hour but I slept most of the way. We touched down in Dublin and had to figure out our next move. Sandra and I hadn't arranged for any accommodations nor did we have any actual plans once we got into Dublin. We were in Ireland to visit Kara who was living in Belfast, 2 hours north of Dublin. Problem was that we were not very organized and we didn't even have her address at the time so we decided that it would be best to just book a hotel and catch up on sleep and go from there. We ended up at the tourist desk and they were nice enough to book a hotel for us in the city for us, so we hopped on the airline bus shuttle and headed to our hotel. The hotel itself was super cute and cheap - only 45 Euros for the night for the 2 of us. I was very impressed! The only problem was that we couldn't check-in until 2pm and it was only 9am. We stashed our luggage at the hotel and set out to explore.
I had been up for over 24 hours now and Sandra was still sick so we weren't in the mood for sight-seeing. We grabbed a traditional Irish breakfast at a pub where I had my first taste of black pudding. It wasn't too bad. We walked around a little bit but then decided to go wait out our remaining time in an internet cafe, we literally spent 4 hours here. I finally caught up on all the emails I owed and many hours of TV. I was so tired at one point that I actually contemplated crawling under the desk and taking a nap. Finally it was 2pm and Sandra and I were able to check into our hotel, after being awake for 36 hours straight I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
We slept about 4 hours but woke up starving so we got cleaned up and went looking for some dinner. We found a cute Italian restaurant that served us some amazing food, delicious! We were still pretty beat so after dinner we just headed back to the hotel and headed to bed.
I had been up for over 24 hours now and Sandra was still sick so we weren't in the mood for sight-seeing. We grabbed a traditional Irish breakfast at a pub where I had my first taste of black pudding. It wasn't too bad. We walked around a little bit but then decided to go wait out our remaining time in an internet cafe, we literally spent 4 hours here. I finally caught up on all the emails I owed and many hours of TV. I was so tired at one point that I actually contemplated crawling under the desk and taking a nap. Finally it was 2pm and Sandra and I were able to check into our hotel, after being awake for 36 hours straight I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
We slept about 4 hours but woke up starving so we got cleaned up and went looking for some dinner. We found a cute Italian restaurant that served us some amazing food, delicious! We were still pretty beat so after dinner we just headed back to the hotel and headed to bed.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Day 34 - London Again
Monday, June 14th - I was up early to say goodbye to Jas who was catching an early flight back to Canada. I was hoping to push my flight to Dublin the following day up a day and change the 6:45am flight time, so I decided to head to the internet cafe to suss it out. The airline I had booked with wouldn't let me change the flight online so I headed back to the RN to call and make the changes. When I called the airline something was wrong with their phone system and I kept getting looped back to the main menu without talking an operator. I was beyond frustrated but resigned to the fact that this was my last day in London.
Rochelle, Sukhey, Sandra and I planned to go see Harrods and it was a fabulous experience. This is definitely one of the best shopping experiences I've ever had - it puts Holts in Toronto to shame. We ate in one of the many restaurants and it was delicious - my tuna salad was to die for. Better yet was the ice cream parlor we browsed after our meal, simply the best ice cream of the entire tour (note best ice cream - not gelato). We then wandered around all the designer clothes including Canadian designers D squared. Though I was more than tempted to drop a few hundred pounds on a few dresses I managed to restrain myself and headed to Top Shop instead for a few cheap finds. Sukhey and I then headed back to RN, she was my next goodbye and the one of the hardest. Rochelle and I were in tears saying goodbye to her. As of the moment I'm planning a trip to Vancouver in 3 weeks time, I'm looking forward to being reunited with my best from the tour.
I headed to London pub to find out what the plan was for that evening. A bunch of us had talked about going to see the Lion King show but it wasn't playing that night. We opted for Wicked and the majority of the remaining group came out aside from Matty Ray, who was off to some family members place and Ben and Matt F who got caught up at a casino and didn't have enough time to get ready. Wicked was alright, it was my first musical and I really didn't love it but in all honesty my mind was somewhere else that night. Afterward there was a huge debacle were we lost Chloe and Paula - who just ended up going home on their own. We all headed back to RN with the plans to go out to a club that evening. By the time we all got assembled in London pub it was quite late. I ran upstairs to grab my camera and by the time I came down everyone had decided to forgo going out that night. We all grabbed beers and hung out in the hotel bar, Sandra came and told me that our airplane shuttle was picking us up at 4am. It was already midnight so I just decided to pull another all-nighter.
Since it was my last night it was time for many sad goodbyes, the hardest was with Rochelle and with Ben. Rochelle and I had a few goodbye moments that night, it was pretty sad. After saying goodbye to the rest of the group, Ben and I headed to my side of the hotel and we had a long goodbye. For those who don't know, Ben and I started something up early on in Barcelona and it lasted the entire trip. Definitely had a few exciting moments together and the two of us will always view stairwells with a bit of fondness. We stayed up until 3am but eventually it was time to say goodbye. It was time for me to pack up and grab my airport shuttle, so with one final (and sad) goodbye to Ben I was off to Ireland.
Rochelle, Sukhey, Sandra and I planned to go see Harrods and it was a fabulous experience. This is definitely one of the best shopping experiences I've ever had - it puts Holts in Toronto to shame. We ate in one of the many restaurants and it was delicious - my tuna salad was to die for. Better yet was the ice cream parlor we browsed after our meal, simply the best ice cream of the entire tour (note best ice cream - not gelato). We then wandered around all the designer clothes including Canadian designers D squared. Though I was more than tempted to drop a few hundred pounds on a few dresses I managed to restrain myself and headed to Top Shop instead for a few cheap finds. Sukhey and I then headed back to RN, she was my next goodbye and the one of the hardest. Rochelle and I were in tears saying goodbye to her. As of the moment I'm planning a trip to Vancouver in 3 weeks time, I'm looking forward to being reunited with my best from the tour.
I headed to London pub to find out what the plan was for that evening. A bunch of us had talked about going to see the Lion King show but it wasn't playing that night. We opted for Wicked and the majority of the remaining group came out aside from Matty Ray, who was off to some family members place and Ben and Matt F who got caught up at a casino and didn't have enough time to get ready. Wicked was alright, it was my first musical and I really didn't love it but in all honesty my mind was somewhere else that night. Afterward there was a huge debacle were we lost Chloe and Paula - who just ended up going home on their own. We all headed back to RN with the plans to go out to a club that evening. By the time we all got assembled in London pub it was quite late. I ran upstairs to grab my camera and by the time I came down everyone had decided to forgo going out that night. We all grabbed beers and hung out in the hotel bar, Sandra came and told me that our airplane shuttle was picking us up at 4am. It was already midnight so I just decided to pull another all-nighter.
Since it was my last night it was time for many sad goodbyes, the hardest was with Rochelle and with Ben. Rochelle and I had a few goodbye moments that night, it was pretty sad. After saying goodbye to the rest of the group, Ben and I headed to my side of the hotel and we had a long goodbye. For those who don't know, Ben and I started something up early on in Barcelona and it lasted the entire trip. Definitely had a few exciting moments together and the two of us will always view stairwells with a bit of fondness. We stayed up until 3am but eventually it was time to say goodbye. It was time for me to pack up and grab my airport shuttle, so with one final (and sad) goodbye to Ben I was off to Ireland.
Bye Rochelle!
Day 33 - Back to London
Sunday, June 13th - Contiki had finally come to an end, I can't believe how fast 4 weeks flew by. The majority of the tour members were taking the coach back to London but we were leaving about 10 people behind in Amsterdam to go their separate ways. It was time for our first round of goodbyes - most significant for me was saying goodbye to Monica and Pete who were traveling to Poland and Alex who was meeting up with his parents back in France. We got on the coach and Alex came on and said one more tearful goodbye and we were en route to London via Belgium and France. I was hoping to grab my own bank of seats so I could stretch out and grab some sleep but Matty F ended up sitting with me and he wanted the window seat so I ended up in a much less comfortable aisle seat. It worked out in the end; Ben ended up sitting across the aisle and we got caught-up on each others weekends and he informed me of some events that went on after I had left the club the previous night. Matty Ray and Jas finally made out! This had been building the entire tour it was about time it happened. He had been bugging Ben and I the majority of the tour, always teasing us about hooking up and hanging out so I finally had something to tease Matt about - I only had 24 hours to do it but I made the most of it. Ben also told me that Lorraine hooked up with a random, I missed out on so much taking care of drunk Alex. This is why I always stayed out until the very end of each night - so I wouldn't miss a thing! While the rest of the coach slept Ben and I chatted for a few hours, he told me all about the events leading up to the mix-up with the wrong day sheet which was pretty funny to hear. We also discovered that both our father's ran engineering company's and as a result we have both put in time working front desk jobs for our dads. I was actually really tired but every time I almost fell asleep he would nudge me with something new to say and in the end I'm glad he did, really I'd rather talk to Benny than sleep.
We stopped for breakfast/lunch in Belgium and this rest-stop was the only part of Belgium we would see (contiki only promised we'd see Belgium in transit). It was still pretty early and I wasn't too hungry so Sandra and I shared a sandwich and then it was time to get back on the coach. This time Ben and I actually slept until we reached Dover. It was time to get back on the Ferry that had started us on our trip, I found it to be quite bittersweet. I spent most of my time duty-free shopping and taking advantage of the cheap deals. We docked and it was about 2 hours back the RN. Here we said goodbye to a few more tour members including Sian and Katia, and a much smaller group of us checked in. After 4 weeks of mostly sub-par hotels throughout Europe RN wasn't as horrible as I had originally thought. After much needed showers we all headed to London pub to watch the World Cup - Australia and Germany were playing and with the majority of our tour being Australian we all become honorary Australians that night - but they still lost to Germany 4-0. Even though they lost this ignited my obsession with the world cup and soccer that I would take home with me. Early on I picked Spain as my team and they didn't disappoint and I have now a new obsession with soccer. My house-league team starts up in a few weeks!
That night ended up being quite uneventful, it literally ended up with the Amigo's, Kristen and I standing around in the hotel lobby and chatting. Eventually Kristen and I decided it was late and headed to bed.
We stopped for breakfast/lunch in Belgium and this rest-stop was the only part of Belgium we would see (contiki only promised we'd see Belgium in transit). It was still pretty early and I wasn't too hungry so Sandra and I shared a sandwich and then it was time to get back on the coach. This time Ben and I actually slept until we reached Dover. It was time to get back on the Ferry that had started us on our trip, I found it to be quite bittersweet. I spent most of my time duty-free shopping and taking advantage of the cheap deals. We docked and it was about 2 hours back the RN. Here we said goodbye to a few more tour members including Sian and Katia, and a much smaller group of us checked in. After 4 weeks of mostly sub-par hotels throughout Europe RN wasn't as horrible as I had originally thought. After much needed showers we all headed to London pub to watch the World Cup - Australia and Germany were playing and with the majority of our tour being Australian we all become honorary Australians that night - but they still lost to Germany 4-0. Even though they lost this ignited my obsession with the world cup and soccer that I would take home with me. Early on I picked Spain as my team and they didn't disappoint and I have now a new obsession with soccer. My house-league team starts up in a few weeks!
That night ended up being quite uneventful, it literally ended up with the Amigo's, Kristen and I standing around in the hotel lobby and chatting. Eventually Kristen and I decided it was late and headed to bed.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 32 - More Adventures in Amsterdam!
Saturday, June 13th - The previous night I had made Jas and Sukhey promise they would be up and ready for 10am, I woke up at 9:30am hurting and regretting being so adamant about getting a good start. We had decided to sleep through the organized events of the tour and do our own thing since it was the last weekend of Contiki and we wanted to make the best of it. I arrived to breakfast about 45 minutes late, definitely had a hard time getting moving. We decided to take the free airport shuttle to the airport and then grab a train into a city. Given the previous night's taxi fare I was more than willing to spend the time and navigate the metro to get in the city.
Rochelle, Sukhey, Jas and I arrived in the city and set off for the shopping district. I had originally wanted to see Ann Frank's house, but we had heard the queues were a couple hours wait and we only had about 4 hours in the city, so we opted out of it. This is the only attraction in Europe that I missed out in during the entire trip that I regret. Clearly I will have to go back to the Netherlands. I was hoping to find an outfit to wear out on my last night of Contiki but no dice. I did find a great pair of shoes for 20 Euros, so cheap! The shopping was actually quite good, but I was trying to be careful with my money given I still had London and Ireland to get through. Jas and I grabbed some lunch at McD's and then I headed to Zara alone with the plan to meet up with the rest of the group within 20 minutes. I ended up spending heaps of time at Zara although I never bought anything. By the time I left everyone had moved on to other stores so I was left alone. No worries, I prefer shopping on my own anyways (with the exception of shopping with Sukhey who is my perfect shopping partner.)
I was left on my own which I didn't mind with the exception of the fact that I don't wear a watch and I didn't have my BB on me - I didn't have service anywhere in Europe, so my BB became a glorified alarm clock while on the trip. I wandered around and did a bit of shopping and then decided that I should probably head to the meeting place where the coach was picking us up. Apparently I should have paid more attention to Sian when she was instructing us on the meeting place because I was definitely waiting in the wrong place. After waiting there for about 10 minutes (and 4 guys circling me, making me thoroughly uncomfortable) Matty Ray thankfully walked by and I found I was indeed waiting for the coach in the wrong place. We soon ran into a few others and headed to the actual meeting place for the coach. Katia was running a bit late which was somewhat disappointing because it cut down on our time to get ready for our farewell dinner. We were finally picked up and we had about 45 minutes to get dressed up and get back on the coach for dinner.
The majority of the group got on the bus but Sian noticed that the Amigo's and Kristen were missing. I was apparently the last one to see them the night before, at first Sian was concerned that Kristen had never made it home the night before but I assured her that she had. We carried onto dinner without them. Dinner was mediocre, the appetizer and dessert were both amazing but my main course of steak closely resembled a piece off over-cooked meat with campbell's mushroom soup poured over it. Halfway through dinner Sian got a text from another tour manager - apparently the Amigo's and Kristen had gone to the wrong dinner! This is a bit of an aside but a pretty great story so I will include it. The boys and Kristen skipped the tour stuff of the day and decided to hit up some cafes to experience Amsterdam life. Apparently somewhere throughout their day they ended up reading the other tour's day sheet (for the non-contiki readers, a day sheet was our daily agenda that Sian posted each day somewhere in the lobby of each hotel). Even though the two sheets were clearly marked with each tour's details, including each tour manager's name, the next destination - our's was London and the other tour was Barcelona they somehow still ended up getting them mixed up. So they arrived at the other tour's dinner and discovered the mix-up and grabbed a cab to our dinner, which cost over 100 euros. By now the boys were quite high and Matt apparently started to freak out in the taxi, which according to Ben and Kristen was quite hilarious to watch. They eventually made it, I was the first one to see them walk in, the look on Matt's face was priceless - he looked a bit terrified. First thing he did was hug Sian as soon as he got to our restaurant. They grabbed a bit of dinner and then it was time to head out to our farewell canal cruise.
Our farewell cruise was also a booze cruise - all the beer or wine that we wanted in an hour and a half. I found the boat similar to our coach, but with tables and it was definitely hard to maneuver around in. I got tired of sitting so after a while I got up and tried to walk around but I really never made it very far - only to the next table where Jas and Tom decided to go beer for beer. Eventually I gave up trying to walk around and sat with Matty Ray and Naomi for the the reminder of the cruise - it was at least close to the bartender, didn't even have to get up for another drink! Near the end of the cruise I hopped over to see how Matt and Ben were doing, they seemed okay although somewhat out of it.
After booze cruise we tried to figure out where to spend our last night of the tour. We ended up back in the red light district but decided to head to the club we had originally wanted to go to the previous night before. It was still quite early so I suggested we head to Prime for pre-drinks and then go to the club later in the evening. Everyone agreed this was a good idea and we all grabbed cabs to our next destination. It took a while for everyone to make it Prime - a bunch of us were waiting outside for the rest of the group. Eventually we thought that possibly a group of us had already gone into the bar so the boys sent me in to take a look because I wouldn't be charged cover. I went in but no one was there and on my way out I was stopped by a group of guys who tried talking me up, not interested I pushed past them and some guy grabbed my arm with one hand and grabbed my chest with the other! I was absolutely livid, I seriously wanted to punch the guy but given I was currently alone in a bar I decided it was best for me to get the hell out of there. I did give him a pretty good shove though.
Eventually the majority of our group made it to Prime and we had some drinks and did a bit of dancing. After about an hour everyone was ready to head to the club across the street but Matty R and I had just bought drinks so we decided to meet everyone there. We finished our drinks and Matt needed to hit up an ATM, I directed him to the one I had gone to the evening before but told him I would wait for him outside the club. I should have gone with him, a girl standing alone outside a club garners heaps of unwanted attention, I seriously felt uncomfortable. I decided to head into the club on my own but Matt met up with me while I was waiting in line. Twice in one day that Matt came to the rescue, although unintentional on his part.
The club was great, had both lounge and dance areas and I tried to divide my time between both places. Kristen and the Amigo's finally caught up with the rest of the group but the Amigo's still seemed a bit off - Kristen had never smoked in the first place. Later in the night I ran into Alex who was quite drunk and he asked me to sit with him, after a few minutes I realized he was absolutely wasted and I asked if he wanted to go home and he said yes. We grabbed a cab, although this time I was smart enough to negotiate a flat rate before we got in, and then he proceeded to puke out the window the entire way back to the hotel. Once there I had to help him clean up as he was an absolute mess and then I decided to head to bed. It had been quite a night!
Rochelle, Sukhey, Jas and I arrived in the city and set off for the shopping district. I had originally wanted to see Ann Frank's house, but we had heard the queues were a couple hours wait and we only had about 4 hours in the city, so we opted out of it. This is the only attraction in Europe that I missed out in during the entire trip that I regret. Clearly I will have to go back to the Netherlands. I was hoping to find an outfit to wear out on my last night of Contiki but no dice. I did find a great pair of shoes for 20 Euros, so cheap! The shopping was actually quite good, but I was trying to be careful with my money given I still had London and Ireland to get through. Jas and I grabbed some lunch at McD's and then I headed to Zara alone with the plan to meet up with the rest of the group within 20 minutes. I ended up spending heaps of time at Zara although I never bought anything. By the time I left everyone had moved on to other stores so I was left alone. No worries, I prefer shopping on my own anyways (with the exception of shopping with Sukhey who is my perfect shopping partner.)
I was left on my own which I didn't mind with the exception of the fact that I don't wear a watch and I didn't have my BB on me - I didn't have service anywhere in Europe, so my BB became a glorified alarm clock while on the trip. I wandered around and did a bit of shopping and then decided that I should probably head to the meeting place where the coach was picking us up. Apparently I should have paid more attention to Sian when she was instructing us on the meeting place because I was definitely waiting in the wrong place. After waiting there for about 10 minutes (and 4 guys circling me, making me thoroughly uncomfortable) Matty Ray thankfully walked by and I found I was indeed waiting for the coach in the wrong place. We soon ran into a few others and headed to the actual meeting place for the coach. Katia was running a bit late which was somewhat disappointing because it cut down on our time to get ready for our farewell dinner. We were finally picked up and we had about 45 minutes to get dressed up and get back on the coach for dinner.
The majority of the group got on the bus but Sian noticed that the Amigo's and Kristen were missing. I was apparently the last one to see them the night before, at first Sian was concerned that Kristen had never made it home the night before but I assured her that she had. We carried onto dinner without them. Dinner was mediocre, the appetizer and dessert were both amazing but my main course of steak closely resembled a piece off over-cooked meat with campbell's mushroom soup poured over it. Halfway through dinner Sian got a text from another tour manager - apparently the Amigo's and Kristen had gone to the wrong dinner! This is a bit of an aside but a pretty great story so I will include it. The boys and Kristen skipped the tour stuff of the day and decided to hit up some cafes to experience Amsterdam life. Apparently somewhere throughout their day they ended up reading the other tour's day sheet (for the non-contiki readers, a day sheet was our daily agenda that Sian posted each day somewhere in the lobby of each hotel). Even though the two sheets were clearly marked with each tour's details, including each tour manager's name, the next destination - our's was London and the other tour was Barcelona they somehow still ended up getting them mixed up. So they arrived at the other tour's dinner and discovered the mix-up and grabbed a cab to our dinner, which cost over 100 euros. By now the boys were quite high and Matt apparently started to freak out in the taxi, which according to Ben and Kristen was quite hilarious to watch. They eventually made it, I was the first one to see them walk in, the look on Matt's face was priceless - he looked a bit terrified. First thing he did was hug Sian as soon as he got to our restaurant. They grabbed a bit of dinner and then it was time to head out to our farewell canal cruise.
Our farewell cruise was also a booze cruise - all the beer or wine that we wanted in an hour and a half. I found the boat similar to our coach, but with tables and it was definitely hard to maneuver around in. I got tired of sitting so after a while I got up and tried to walk around but I really never made it very far - only to the next table where Jas and Tom decided to go beer for beer. Eventually I gave up trying to walk around and sat with Matty Ray and Naomi for the the reminder of the cruise - it was at least close to the bartender, didn't even have to get up for another drink! Near the end of the cruise I hopped over to see how Matt and Ben were doing, they seemed okay although somewhat out of it.
After booze cruise we tried to figure out where to spend our last night of the tour. We ended up back in the red light district but decided to head to the club we had originally wanted to go to the previous night before. It was still quite early so I suggested we head to Prime for pre-drinks and then go to the club later in the evening. Everyone agreed this was a good idea and we all grabbed cabs to our next destination. It took a while for everyone to make it Prime - a bunch of us were waiting outside for the rest of the group. Eventually we thought that possibly a group of us had already gone into the bar so the boys sent me in to take a look because I wouldn't be charged cover. I went in but no one was there and on my way out I was stopped by a group of guys who tried talking me up, not interested I pushed past them and some guy grabbed my arm with one hand and grabbed my chest with the other! I was absolutely livid, I seriously wanted to punch the guy but given I was currently alone in a bar I decided it was best for me to get the hell out of there. I did give him a pretty good shove though.
Eventually the majority of our group made it to Prime and we had some drinks and did a bit of dancing. After about an hour everyone was ready to head to the club across the street but Matty R and I had just bought drinks so we decided to meet everyone there. We finished our drinks and Matt needed to hit up an ATM, I directed him to the one I had gone to the evening before but told him I would wait for him outside the club. I should have gone with him, a girl standing alone outside a club garners heaps of unwanted attention, I seriously felt uncomfortable. I decided to head into the club on my own but Matt met up with me while I was waiting in line. Twice in one day that Matt came to the rescue, although unintentional on his part.
The club was great, had both lounge and dance areas and I tried to divide my time between both places. Kristen and the Amigo's finally caught up with the rest of the group but the Amigo's still seemed a bit off - Kristen had never smoked in the first place. Later in the night I ran into Alex who was quite drunk and he asked me to sit with him, after a few minutes I realized he was absolutely wasted and I asked if he wanted to go home and he said yes. We grabbed a cab, although this time I was smart enough to negotiate a flat rate before we got in, and then he proceeded to puke out the window the entire way back to the hotel. Once there I had to help him clean up as he was an absolute mess and then I decided to head to bed. It had been quite a night!
Amsterdam at night
Farewell Dinner
Canal Cruise
Booze cruise
More booze cruise
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