Volume 2, Day 27
Between the beer and the cookies, I had consumed a lot of calories and given myself a fitful night of sleep. Nevertheless, I forced myself out of bed at 7 am to take a short 2 mile run and greet the day.
Checkout was at 11am and my bus was scheduled for 11:20, so given the 10 minute walk and 15 minute pre-boarding window, I actually needed to leave the hostel (slightly) before checkout. I still had three hours to kill, in which I read the news, finished the task, wrote, and made breakfast. Most notably, I did not study any German on Duolingo in the morning.
Apart from packing up and taking care of business, I ran a bunch of empty bottles over to the recycling point at Rewe and plowed that refund into a new bottle of mineral water, some brotchen, and a pack of baby bells. While I was out, I also popped into a DM to get some shampoo because I am starting to run low and I am informed that personal hygiene products are cheapest in Germany. It’s true, I paid a whopping 55 cents for a shampoo that is also a face wash and body wash.
Despite my best effort to finish off all the groceries, I had two more eggs, which I boiled and I generously slathered butter and the rest of the jam into the brotchen for ready to eat snacks on the bus.
The Flixbus experience was a little different this time around. Firstly, it was a 5 and a half hour journey, but more notably it was a double decker bus and I had to show my passport to the driver. He didn’t look at it, he just needed to confirm that I had a passport. The internet on the bus was really poor quality, but I took the time to look through the first couple lessons in Dutch. What a weird language. It’s like a hybrid of English and German as if spelled by a French person.
The bus journey went smoothly. A bit of studying, writing, a nap, a movie and the time flew by. I didn’t even notice when we crossed the border. I simply looked out the window once and noticed that the sign on a factory looked funny. I also got my fill of the Dutch countryside. I swear the entire route was enveloped in cow farts. There wasn’t a moment when you couldn’t smell a dairy farm. The Netherlands may be leading Europe in clean energy, but if this small sample is valid, they still have room to improve on emissions. There was also one long section of highways along a dike. I feel like I’ve already checked off all the tourist things without even trying.
I know Amsterdam is crazy expensive, and I had started early trying to line up a couchsurfing host for two nights. I had gotten a “maybe” from one and left it at that, but he switched from maybe to no a whole three days ago. I quickly messaged another four or five hosts, but those rejections all filtered in over the days. When I boarded the bus, I still hadn’t resolved where I was going to sleep, but I had posted a plea to the “Amsterdam Last Minute” group with the hope that someone would see it. No good Samaritans stepped up during the six hours since I had posted it, so when I was still about 20 minutes out from Amsterdam, I started looking at what hostels were available.
I actually found one that was a ten minute walk from where the Flixbus dropped me off. Its not central, but you can’t argue with the convenience of being able to walk over and not having to figure out public transportation. The hostel itself is pretty good, with a strong design element to it (e.g. each floor is painted a different color) and breakfast included. Still, its a bit painful to be facing a 50-100% increase in housing costs compared to Germany.
As I was unpacking my stuff in the otherwise empty (6-bed dorm with en suite shower and toilet), another person came in. I said “Hi” and got the minimal response. After a minute, I decided (with extra resolve based on my chats with the Malaysian kid about the loneliness of traveling alone in a world of smartphones) to force myself to be a bit more social and starting asking questions. It turns out this guy is from Cameroon, but lives in China, so we clicked pretty readily. He had just come in from Zurich and is on a business trip, getting accounting services set up and attending a conference. His goal is to relocate with his family to the Netherlands.
It was already 6pm and I was thinking about the Lidl supermarket I spotted on the map. It is a relief to know that I can still shop at Lidls and Aldis even though I am not in Germany any longer. When my roommate asked about where to find a SIM card, I suggested we try there and we walked over together. I took the shortest route, which turned out to be the longest route having to cross a highway and detour around a construction zone, but we eventually reached the Lidl and I sourced some stuff for dinner. The hostel has a small “pantry” with a fridge and microwave, but no cookware or dishes or cutlery. We grabbed some beers too and headed back to the hostel by a different and shorter route.
I ran upstairs to get my chopsticks, but I couldn’t find them. I think I lost them and don’t know what to do. Of course, I have to be staying at a hostel without utensils, so I made do by pouring the salad into my mouth and using a bit of bread as a shovel.
Back downstairs, I had lost track of my roommate but found him outside chatting with another African (but from Zambia). I went back to get all of our food and beer and brought it out to the picnic table in the courtyard in from of the hostel and we sat there for a long while eating and drinking. Well, mainly it was just me eating and drinking. Another Zambian arrived with a grocery bag full of biscuits and a box of wine. The two Zambians drank wine, and I was downing beers and it was interesting to be part of a conversation about how nice it is to be in the Netherlands…if you have the papers.
It started to get chilly as the sun was setting, so we moved inside and kept drinking and talking. One of the Zambians was clearly gay and started to get aggressively flirty as he got drunk on Chardonnay. It was getting pretty late by that point and no good would come of continuing to sit around drinking, so I bid my adieus and headed upstairs to go to bed.
The contrast with the rest of the hostel was quite apparent. The hostel itself is much like all the others: full of pretty young kids, everyone keeping to themselves, a general aura of antisocialness. But, for one night, I had managed to stumble into a situation that pretty much defines the appeal of backpacking: i.e. meeting people from different parts of the world, sharing drinks and experiences.
| Packed lunch | 1.81 |
| 3-in-1 shampoo/body wash | 0.55 |
| Flixbus | 20.29 |
| WOW Hostel (2 nights) | 453 RMB (~60 EUR) |
| Lidl Dinner (Salad, bread, chocolate, beer) | 3.2 |
| Total: | 654.6 RMB (USD 95.27) |
Running Total: 10411 RMB (USD 1515.22)
Daily Average: 385.6 RMB (USD 56.12)