Parting Thoughts: Amsterdam

Amsterdam is really a city for four different kinds of people.

1. Bachelorette/Bachelor party
2. Young couple on a weekend getaway
3. Friends just wanting to get trashed
4. Business person just passing through

This culture is pretty obvious. Most people who come through are looking to party. It's funny--- the locals are actually pretty mellow compared to the tourists coming through. I can't tell you how many times I saw tourists passed out or drunk out of their mind on the streets. And the police and locals literally have to put up with this behavior every day. On every commute to work in the morning, there's always some halfway-drunk guy getting in the middle of the road and stopping traffic. It's pretty ridiculous. I was there five full days. And trust me, that was enough for me. I actually didn't go to any major clubs while I was in the city. Even though I love that scene, and dancing, I didn't want to be around all of those kinds of people. Any time you have a place where prostitution, marijuana, and drinking on the street are legal, you're bound to have a mess to clean up. Fortunately for Amsterdam, the people who are in charge of cleaning up all of the tourist messes are really phenomenal at their jobs.

You would never know, walking through the city, all of the shenanigans that the tourists are getting themselves into.

It's also a very fast paced culture. Practically everyone has a bike that they use for commuting to work. Bikes are deadly weapons in Amsterdam. They come flying at you out of nowhere. But the biking system in the Netherlands is so accommodating. Bikes have their own roads. And there are bike stands literally everywhere. I think I could definitely live in Amsterdam, but not in the city center. Commuting could be quite manageable. The neighborhoods outside the city are so quaint. Life moves much slower outside the center. And I loved getting a glimpse of that while staying with a local.

I ended up staying with a CouchSurfing host who lives in an old school building. About ten people live in the building, each with their own "classroom". The bathrooms and showers are communal, but separated by gender (because it was a school). It was a super trendy place to stay in my opinion. It was a 20 minute bus ride from Centraal Station. And my host explained to me "This is how real Dutch people live." The city is deceiving because most people commute in for work.

COSTS FOR MY TRIP TO AMSTERDAM
Overall, I spent just about $175 for five full days of fun.

This included---
$21 nice Italian dinner downtown
$20 admission to the A'DAM tower and ride the swing
$10 admission to the MOCO museum
$10 Indonesian noodle bowl
$5 sushi hand roll
$8 panini
$2 stroopwafel ice cream
$5 fries from Mannekinpis
$3.50 cappuccino
$3 macaroon
​$5 carrot cake
$3 (x2) mango juice
10 bus/tram passes
2 train passes
$12 Über to the airport
$11 Pedal-boat rental

I'm sure I'm missing a couple things. But don't hold me to the pennies.

Things I didn't pay for---
15 croissants from local bakeries (given out at the end of the night)
Heineken beers with friends on the canal
Drag show at Club Church
Visiting the red light district
People watching at the IAMSTERDAM letters
A bike to ride around (my CS host gave me one to use)
Exploring the gardens of Amsterdam
Accommodation - my Couchsurf host provided me full accommodation and daily breakfast FOR FREE.

I enjoyed a really fancy meal, a very nice museum, and a ride on Europe's highest swing. If I didn't do these things, I would have saved over $50. I saved about $100-116 by not staying in a hostel.

Even with some splurge-y components of my trip, in one of the most expensive countries in the world, I spent just about $35/day.