Friday 6 May 2016

Our Trip to Amsterdam


Our four days in Amsterdam were just lovely! It was so nice to be away on holiday, forgetting about all the mundane stuff back home and spending time exploring the area and seeing all the sights. I had nearly forgotten what it feels like to be on holiday, the excitement and adrenaline you're on just from being in a new place and exploring all it has to offer. A change of scenery does amazing things, changes your outlook and makes everything much clearer doesn't it. I most definitely have the travel bug again. It was just me and my two year old son for a couple of days and then over the weekend a couple of friends joined us. It was a lovely combination of spending some quality time with my boy then chilling and catching up with friends as I hadn't seen them in a couple of months. Amsterdam is a great city to visit especially with kids and I'll write about that in a separate post. I'll also write about some of the attractions we visited in more detail as there is a lot to say/write about most of them plus I took a million photos. For now though I wanted to share some of our highlights.


Our Amsterdam Highlights
The excitement of being at the airport and on the the plane! My son was so excited looking out the window on the plane. He kept saying 'Look Mummy, look!'


Seeing tulips in bloom all around the city of Amsterdam. 


Visiting the Artis Royal Zoo and introducing elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, gorillas, seals and many more animals to my son for the first time. Of course, he knew what they all were already from his books but it was amazing getting so close to them. The giraffes were just inches from us!






Exploring the beautiful Vondelpark and finding a fantastic kids playground and seeing wild parakeets everywhere.





Walking through the lovely serene streets in the Jordaan, a quiet relief from the city centre. 



Finding a playground combined with a rabbit/chicken run in the Jordaan.


By chance finding a fantastic pizza restaurant for dinner with a play area at the back!

  
and finding the most delicious take away pizza!

 

Visiting the Van Gogh Museum and timing it perfectly with Pip's nap.



Finding the perfect place for lunch! My friend Sara spotted this little boat cafe and we had coffee and delicious apple pie with this view!


We had such a lovely few days with these photos caputuring our highlights. It's so nice looking back at these photos, I need to print some out. Not everything went to plan though. There was a problem with the hotel we had booked in that they gave us a basement room and not one as advertised when I made the booking (don't stay in Hotel Rokin). It was a stressful moment but luckily I found another hotel which ended up being in a much nicer location near Vondelpark and it was a lot cheaper too! The other thing that I was worried about was my son being sick on the plane. Well he was on both flights! It wasn't very nice for him and he tends to panic and cling onto me when he's sick so it always goes over me too. I had a sick bag and loads of wet wipes on hand each time and it was fine. Even my little two year old was making a joke about being sick. He kept saying 'I was sick on the landing again Mummy!'

I wanted to mention these things as sometimes things don't go to plan but that's part of life and especially travelling. These things didn't hold us back though and we enjoyed ourselves for the rest of the stay. I thought it might be difficult travelling solo with a young child but as people said before I went, it's really not much different from being at home. You do need to be organized and on the ball a lot of the time but it doesn't have to be some military operation. For me snacks on hand and knowing where the nearest playground/park was were my essentials. I didn't have a set itinerary for each day and it was raining on and off while we were there so I planned the museums trips around the rain. Friends arrived on sunny Saturday so we used that opportunity to stroll around the Jordaan area & have lunch on the boat. Amsterdam is a wonderful city to explore, and although we managed to see many of the main attractions there is still so much we didn't get to see and do and I would love to return one day soon. It's a great city for kids as well as adults, so if you're thinking about going I'd definitely recommend it!

I'm linking this up to my travel linky #MyFavouriteTrip and this will also count towards my #take12trips challenge and my first holiday abroad this year, yay! Thank you to the tourism city office for providing us with a I amsterdam City Card.

MummyTravels

ethannevelyn

Have you been to Amsterdam? What was your experience? Would love to hear your thoughts ☺


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15 comments

  1. Lovely shot despite the rain.
    I'd love you to share at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/05/snorkeling-on-saint-thomas.html

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  2. Amsterdam looks like such a great, varied place to visit and it looks like you had a great time! x

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  3. Sorry there were hassles. It sucks. But looks fab - that art gallery shot and the pizza with the spider lights is cool

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  4. It looks as though you've had a wonderful time despite the set backs and a well deserved holiday! I love the photo of your son looking across the water to the fountain and the Van Gogh Museum. We had a caravan holiday shortly after my husband first left, my son was 20 months and it was so freeing just to do as we pleased and, like you say, not much different from home! I'll be taking my son camping soon just the two of us -I can't wait! Looking forward to seeing more of your photos in future posts.
    Jenni x

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  5. Lovely photos. Amsterdam is one of my fav places in the world (i've been 10+ times) and I love the zoo. I think it is a great place for families, especially as you see so many kids buzzing around on the back of bikes :)

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  6. I love Amsterdam and it's a great one with kids - my daughter loved the zoo and Vondelpark as well. I agree that there's no reason to be put off solo travel either, and having a break away from the usual, even if you're still planning and sticking with a preschooler/toddler routine makes such a difference. Thanks for linking up with #citytripping

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  7. Looks like a fantastic trip and I totally agree with you that going somewhere new gives you are renewed perspective on things...well done on going solo...being organised is key. Glad your son saw the funny side of being sick and won't put him off flying. Thanks for linking to #citytripping

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  8. to say we are so close, I have never been! looks like there is plenty for children too and I wouldn't have thought that #citytripping

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  9. Sounds like you had a fab holiday! I have been to Amsterdam before but not been to these places you've visited. The last time we went on holiday, my son also got sick on the plane which was really horrible, plus being 5yr old, didn't expect it coming and didn't have spare clothes for him, luckily it was the last plane going home so it was not too bad. Lovely photos! #FabFridayPost

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  10. I love how just going on a plane is tremendously exciting when you're two - even if you are sick! Very clever timing your visit to the Van Gogh Museum with your son's nap. I love the look of the boat café. It sounds like the perfect Amsterdam trip! #citytripping

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  11. I loved reading this. I live in Holland not too far from Amsterdam but we haven't visited for a while. The Jordan is a really beautiful area and we love the brown cafes. You picked a beautiful time of year to visit with all the tulips on bloom. 🌸

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  12. It sounds like a great holiday despite a few hiccoughs. The zoo looks wonderful. It's good to hear about travel mishaps by the way. You've reminded me of a few we had on our recent trip to London! One day we went out with any drinks for the girls! Big mistake! #thelist

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  13. I haven't been to Amsterdam before, but I love to go one day and preferably with my kids. Sorry to hear that your boy was sick on both fights - not so nice :( Hope he is recuperating now. My boy was sick on the flight back 2 years ago Bangkok - London. It was hell! Plus, I was flying with Thai Airways - It was the worse flight I have had ever in my life! They were so very unaccommodating with a sick child at hand. Neff said - sorry for the whinge. ;) Glad you have a lovely time - I love the boat cafe - it looks so nice! :) Looking forward to hear all about your trip in details.

    Thanks for linking up with us on #FabFridayPost xx

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  14. SO funny to read this as a Dutch, Amsterdam-born person :). I actually know the street in the first picture! Oh, and your blog is really nice; I visited it because I saw ''Brighton'' in the title and that's by far my favourite city! I've been there 2 times last year and I had an amazing time.

    Much love!

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  15. Looks like you had such a lovely trip!

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