Hello Amsterdam!

Here I am again. This time I am coming to you from my hotel's bar in Amsterdam. Almost did not get here. Lol. Sooooo...had some time to kill before my flight and headed to the London Gatwick branch of Jamie's Italian. I love Jamie's Italian. Anyway, got to talking with an older gentleman next to me and next thing I know my half hour lunch became an hour plus. After waiting way too long for my bill, I checked the screen to see my departure gate and the horror...it was closing in 4 mins. Of course the gate was at the end of the freakin' earth, and my morning runs on that treadmill came in quite handy, lemme tell you. Run, Forrest, run. I kept seeing my Euros slipping away as the closed gate loomed. Got there, breathless, but got there! The most maddening part? The flight was delayed. Lol.

So here I am in Amsterdam. I made an Italian friend on the hotel shuttle.  Yeah...about that. So I am a bit of a high maintenance traveller.  The train was the cheapest option at 5 euros. I bought said ticket to be fair. But upon weighing my exhaustion, my 17kg bag (a feat of epic proportions from Ms 23kg plus hand luggage! ) and this heat in my all black get up, I decided I work too hard to be lugging this pink suitcase behind me from some train station when there are perfectly good hotel shuttles with a/c and wi-fi available for 17 euros. And with nice Italian travellers on board as well.

My hotel. So glad I chose it and stuck to my decision.  I did not make a whole lot of effort in choosing hotels etc this year as I was just way too busy. Though not in Central Amsterdam,  Citizen M is comfy, modern, CLEAN and friendly. The room is a bit extra terrestrial with the bathroom and toilet in the middle of the floor, and everything is controlled by a mood pad -the brightness and colour of the lights, the tv, the blinds, the room temperature.  massive and extremely comfortable bed, free movies on demand, including porn...lol. great lobby bar. Pretty cool. I have not had chance to make my way about town yet. That comes tomorrow. Between the running for planes, the heat and pre-vacay exhaustion, I am happy right here at the hotel bar for now. Tomorrow -me, my map and Amsterdam. Tonight - chatting and drinking at the bar.