I have always pictured Amsterdam as a very cool city - with all the parties, smoking with mary jane legally, and wild crowd.   So for these, I had been wanting to go to this place.  -- I was young. ;)  This was last November 2011.

From Frankfurt, we took the train to Amsterdam.  You can choose from Thalys, Eurail, ICE, and Bahn.

It's our first euro city where we traveled by ourselves.  I mean no tour guides, no relatives, no help at all.  So we dragged our 20 kg baggage and heavy laptop backpack on the city's cobblestone roads to find our hotel.  Good thing I printed a map! Although, my baggage was screaming "bog, bog, bog. a.hole I'm not made for this!".    It's already night when we finally settled in.  

Where to stay?  We chose the hotel near the train station so we can leave our heavy bags before we tour around.  We stayed at Hotel CC.  It's not at the center of the red district, but close.  

It's accessible to trams, cafes, restaurants.  The room was very small, but cozy and modern.  We had the awesome view of the canals.  The reception staff were polite, friendly, and very helpful.  Plus there's sort of a mini maze getting to the room we were in. The standard room costs EUR130+ per night. More Reviews of Hotel CC

First impression of Amsterdam?   The hotel, the toilet, the streets, everything smells weed.  At first, I was so cool about it. After some days, I realized it’s no longer pleasant if you would smell it day and night. But kinda expected it.  We stayed near the red light district. :)

Coffee Shops

Canals, canals, bridges and bridges

Amsterdam has been called the "Venice of the North"

One thing to be careful of are the bikes. They don’t stop, they will kill you. 

We paid for the hop on hop off tour.  Since it was late, we tried the tram. 

I love this part of the city  

We landed at the Frankfurt airport before going to Poland.  We didn't expect that we're already going through the immigration process because we're only there for a layover.  There were lots of terrifying questions and supporting documents were also asked (invite letter, hotels bookings, etc).  I thought I'd never make it! It's very stressful.  This is one of the disadvantages traveling with Philippine passport  (yes, we have higher risk of overstaying).  I just hate it! 

If you possess a Schengen Visa, you're only required to pass the immigration once - usually at the point of entry - and travel freely in different EU countries.  (We thought we're going to do it every single time!)  More about Schengen Visa: http://www.schengenvisa.cc/

You can travel the cities by train.   We just followed our instincts and some obvious signs since there were no English signs in the train stations.   (This was in 2011, I'm not sure if there are improvements already).  

We also find this picture (right) handy so we know which station to hop off or what time should we expect the train.

There are only few stops to hop in and hop off the 3 cities.  GREAT! 

About Sopot


Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland.  It has been a seaside health spa and resort for centuries.  Sopot is also known for its Wooden Pier (the longest in Europe), 515.5 meters.  We never miss it before/after parties. ;)

The city is beautiful day or night.   You can find restaurants of different cuisines here.  We go for Thai in this spot whenever we miss Asian food.  It's good!  The chefs are Thai and they were glad to see fellow Asians. :)

Yup, I'm wearing a coat at the beach! ;)

Around October of last year, I had the most incredible adventure of my life. 

I had to work in Poland for 5 weeks and conquer the rest of Europe in two weeks time. 

It was autumn at that time, going to winter.  Trees started to change their colors, temperature starts to drop, it's semi-perfect time to travel.

At first, I had some doubts travelling - because I'm Asian - I'm 'lil bit shy and scared of tall people, racist, and all.  But it was not that bad.  Europeans are actually friendly and helpful.

I planned the trip by myself (accompanied/helped by a colleague) - booked the tickets, searched for hotels, decided whether to take a train or plane, checked schedules, read blogs on what-to-dos, etc.   In total, I had been to 7 European countries (including Vatican as an independent country)  and 12 cities.  Yup, there's a lot of planning.  

While writing this post, good memories flashed back.  Those times that we run in the train stations because the trains leave at the exact time as scheduled, times that we look for the train station number (yup, similar to connecting flights, trains also have connecting trips.  And sometimes, the intervals are just for 10 minutes.  So just imagine the running, panicking, and crazy lifting of our bags), and times that made me fall so deeply in love with Europe.  It's just the best time of my life.  

We didn't travel as backpackers.  In fact, since we stayed for 2 months time, I had 20 kgs baggage, laptop backpack, and 1 shoulder bag for my camera, wallet, passport and stuff.  IT WAS NOT EASY!  

From Manila flew to Hong Kong to Frankfurt to Gdynia, Poland - spent 5 weeks 

From Frankfurt took a train to Berlin - spent overnight

From Amsterdam took a train to Paris - spent 3 days (passed by Belgium)

From Venice took a boat/train to Verona - day trip

From Venice flew to Rome -spent 3 days

From Rome to Manila

We missed the other countries because obviously, cost of living in Europe is very very expensive, as well as the trains and airfare!  Given another chance, I will definitely travel to Prague, Vienna, and Spain (Barcelona, Portugal, and Ibiza) :D