A trip to Amsterdam- Part 1

Well, I am writing this blog from the reception area of the Leidseplein Hostel on the last night of my stay in Amsterdam. The link to the hostel is : http://www.amsterdamhostelleidseplein.com/contact/

This blog might provide help to those reading it, as it also gives a brief idea about how one can actually come and roam around Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2 days are more than enough to visit Amsterdam. It would cover most of the worthy things. If you have a specific interest or passion in art, and paintings, or even things related to museum; and then if you of course have money, you can always visit the numerous museums all around Amsterdam(mind the pronunciation, it is not dum of dumb, but in fact dam of damp).

Since my hostel was located quite close to DAM square(I will come back to it later), so I had to take a the tram number 5 (http://maps.gvb.nl/nl/lijnen?tram&show) from the Amsterdam Centraal station. Trams are an easy means to travel all the places, and their frequency is good enough. But of course, you should get a ticket from the counter and you need to swipe in and swipe out your ticket card in the swiping machine(placed at the door once you enter) every time you board in/out the tram.

Even before that…….my flight was from New Delhi to Doha, and from Doha to Amsterdam. Well, it was Qatar Airways, and of course they give free food(breakfast/lunch/dinner). So, you need not worry of your hunger if you book your tickets on this flight. There are other routes as well. Aeroflot takes the route New Delhi-Moscow-Amsterdam. But I have no idea whether they provide any kind of food or not. Since I am a lacto-vegetarian(one who consumes dairy products, but not eggs), I had to be a little aware of what is being provided, and had to keep asking at most places. Luckily, Europe acknowledges peoples’ choices and shows good amount of respect for them. Though the only things you need to take care is, you need to ask them for the vegetarian item in their menu,and inform them of your type. Again luckily, Qatar Airways did have a distinct mention of veg and non-veg food, so I was at relief. But then that may not be the case in Aeroflot.

Of course, the Aeroflot prices are less, but most of the time they are non-refundable; and of course you got to decide between which airport and which country air-stewardesses do you wish to see, the russian or the arabic ones ????

Well, since it is an international airport with an international transfer, a transit visa(information updated until 19th November 2015) is not at all required. And most of Doha airport are self exploratory and there would be help desks all around to guide you to the gate your next flight is from. There are always imported cars like Aston Martin or Lamborghini on display at the Doha Airport.Also a mention, AirAsia charges a huge amount of money for any of Check-in luggage; for Qatar, 23 kg is the current free-baggage-allowance.

The next post has more details…….

This blog was originally published on 'READALOGUE'