Goodbye Europe...
The last night was not so bad at the hostel. The snorers must have left although there were some rumblings earlier in the morning. I got back to the hostel early of course and went to bed around 11:00PM. This means I was up early next morning. So I took my shower, ate my breakfast, and did a little walkabout in the city of Noordwijk. It's a cute little city and very distinctly Dutch. There were thatched roof houses and lots of farmlands and canals. I didn't see any windmills from my walk, but I saw them on my bus and train rides. They just weren't near to where I was staying. I wandered into this little town and the church bells were ringing. It was time for the weekly community gathering. Everyone was coming to the churches in their Sunday clothes. The town was so picturesque. I kind of felt like I was walking down a movie set. I walked around for about an hour before retiring back to the party hostel before checking out and heading into Central Amsterdam. It's the last part of my journey and I'm excited to go home and relax. I parked my bag at the new hotel so now all my bags are together and now I just waited to check in at 3:00PM. It will be a light night. I have to repack my bags so they can get on the plane without fail.
Home. It sounds like a wonderful word right now. I repacked my bags the day before, took a shower, and casually wandered in Amsterdam for the last time. I wanted to rent a bike, but it was too late. Oh well. I just grabbed dinner, came back, and took a nice long rest for the travel across the ocean. I'm glad these past few days were very relaxed and casual. I had planned on going to Prague THIS weekend as opposed to when I did it in the trip. I was VERY glad to have done it back then since I was geared for it and not so burnt out. Upon arriving in Amsterdam and after that last cab experience, burning out really settled in. If there wasn't the idea of going to Prague this weekend with my friend, I would've asked for my flight home to be Saturday. Amsterdam was just too crowded this weekend with the IBC conference in town and it being a weekend in general. Besides, it's about time to go home. So, I head off to the airport for my last flight to the United States. I never thought I'd be glad to be entering my country after all I experienced and at this time when our country is in bad political shape, but I am most happy to see family (most important) and friends again. Familiarity with people and places.
I did learn by traveling alone that for one I can do it and I learned so many valuable lessons about timing, planning, and research. As much as I wanted this to be off the cuff, I have to pick better cities to do this in and be in the right frame of mind with other people to do it. In order to go spontaneously, you just have to book trains or flights that day that are cheap and have no set itinerary or timetable. You go where the transport takes you to and then book a hostel upon arrival. In the cities I chose (with the exception of Prague) you need prior booking. I also HAD to get back to Amsterdam to pick up my cases and to catch my final flight. This trip definitely involved more planning than I gave to it, and it would've been nice to share. I want to come back again someday, but to Europe I say au revoir, adios, auf wiedersehen, adeus, vaarwel, arrivederci, and ciao. I don't know when I will be back again, but maybe within the next few years and next time definitely with a travel companion.
I'm safe at home now. The travel yesterday was long and arduous. It all went smoothly though and I'm very happy for that. I went a tad over budget on this little side vacation mainly due to expensive mistakes. It was pretty much what I expected to spend though. Now that I'm home I have a lot of catching up to do before I do any traveling again. I was going to go to NYC for a week next week, but with all the things happening here at home and some serious catching up to do on "land" things I need to stay put for a bit. I landed into a tornado of family events, so I have to catch up on that before I leave and finally let the events that happened over the last week settle in. It's kind of overwhelming being at home too. There are TV programs, family and friends to see, e-mails to catch up on, phones to recharge and settle, phone calls to make, and all the familiarities of just being in my home country. I am going to take this time to relax though. I need to clear my head before going out again.
Home. It sounds like a wonderful word right now. I repacked my bags the day before, took a shower, and casually wandered in Amsterdam for the last time. I wanted to rent a bike, but it was too late. Oh well. I just grabbed dinner, came back, and took a nice long rest for the travel across the ocean. I'm glad these past few days were very relaxed and casual. I had planned on going to Prague THIS weekend as opposed to when I did it in the trip. I was VERY glad to have done it back then since I was geared for it and not so burnt out. Upon arriving in Amsterdam and after that last cab experience, burning out really settled in. If there wasn't the idea of going to Prague this weekend with my friend, I would've asked for my flight home to be Saturday. Amsterdam was just too crowded this weekend with the IBC conference in town and it being a weekend in general. Besides, it's about time to go home. So, I head off to the airport for my last flight to the United States. I never thought I'd be glad to be entering my country after all I experienced and at this time when our country is in bad political shape, but I am most happy to see family (most important) and friends again. Familiarity with people and places.
I did learn by traveling alone that for one I can do it and I learned so many valuable lessons about timing, planning, and research. As much as I wanted this to be off the cuff, I have to pick better cities to do this in and be in the right frame of mind with other people to do it. In order to go spontaneously, you just have to book trains or flights that day that are cheap and have no set itinerary or timetable. You go where the transport takes you to and then book a hostel upon arrival. In the cities I chose (with the exception of Prague) you need prior booking. I also HAD to get back to Amsterdam to pick up my cases and to catch my final flight. This trip definitely involved more planning than I gave to it, and it would've been nice to share. I want to come back again someday, but to Europe I say au revoir, adios, auf wiedersehen, adeus, vaarwel, arrivederci, and ciao. I don't know when I will be back again, but maybe within the next few years and next time definitely with a travel companion.
I'm safe at home now. The travel yesterday was long and arduous. It all went smoothly though and I'm very happy for that. I went a tad over budget on this little side vacation mainly due to expensive mistakes. It was pretty much what I expected to spend though. Now that I'm home I have a lot of catching up to do before I do any traveling again. I was going to go to NYC for a week next week, but with all the things happening here at home and some serious catching up to do on "land" things I need to stay put for a bit. I landed into a tornado of family events, so I have to catch up on that before I leave and finally let the events that happened over the last week settle in. It's kind of overwhelming being at home too. There are TV programs, family and friends to see, e-mails to catch up on, phones to recharge and settle, phone calls to make, and all the familiarities of just being in my home country. I am going to take this time to relax though. I need to clear my head before going out again.
posted by Chris | 3:13 PM
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