Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a lovely place to visit. Put aside the red light district and the 'all you can smoke cafes' ( if there not your type of thing), and the sights to see are amazing. 

One you thing must do is take a boat around the winding canal. It is a lovely relaxing way to see the city.

Prices start from about €8. You can also do a three course dinner cruise with wine from €30 euros per person which is great for those with a larger budget. You get a guide to tell you about the history of different buildings, or if that's not your thing, you can simply just people watch.

If you are interested in culture there are museums in abundance, whether it be Van Gogh, Anne Frank or the Hash, Marijuana and Hemp museum.

Students, and holders of an I Amsterdam card can get discounts on many museums and tourist attractions around the city, and definitely is worth getting if you are going to do a large amount of culture.

Just walking around the streets of Amsterdam is cultural enough however. 

It is such a chilled out city and strangely enough, it feels totally safe despite the high levels of drugs and prostitution (which are legal in the red light district and designated cafes).

Three Best Cafes

1- The Bulldog Cafe

The Bulldog was established in 1975 and one of the oldest and most established 'smoking cafes'. It sells great coffee amongst other things and has a great friendly atmosphere. However, it is often very busy, as it is so popular and you might find it hard to get a seat. It is also one of the more expensive coffee shops.

2- Prix D'ami 

This coffee shop was the first one we went into on our first visit to Amsterdam, and is probably still my favorite. Just been refurbished, it is full of wide screen televisions, leather sofas and has three floors, so it is very spacious. The staff are really friendly and even if you don't smoke, you can feel totally at ease sitting down on one of the large sofas and having a coffee. Very reasonably priced also with an extensive menu.

3- Grasshopper

This is a lovely place to visit. It is really chilled out and lovely to sit in during the evening as you can people watch though the big windows at the front. Is a little pricey, but lovely atmosphere. It is also in a more expensive and up-market area of the city. 

(Map of coffeeshops: http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/Map.html)

Hotel Citizen M

We stayed in this hotel, it is a little out of the city centre, but so worth it for a quick tram ride into the centre of town. The hotel is extremely modern and everything looks brand new. You check in yourself on one of the widescreen computers, then a friendly member of staff will come and help you upstairs with your bags. 

Here are a few pictures of our room.

Around half of the room is taken up by a huge king size bed. Then there is what I can only explain as a shower pod, which you step inside and the walls close around you at the press of a button. There are two choices of shower gel, whether you are a morning person, or an evening person. You can also control the lighting, music, television, and blinds by a remote control that is fixed onto the side of the wall. The wide screen television offers free movies (all new and just released) as well as normal television and adult movies. They offer free internet access on Apple Macs in the reception area and you can relax and look through some fascinating books that are on display in the lounge. 

‘Modern design, friendly technology and the proximity to a city,’ is what citizenM will offer and all at an ‘accessible price’.

Lounge Area


We paid £70 pounds a night for this hotel, it was definately worth it, and perfect if you want to enjoy the mad partying of Amsterdam, and then come back into a modern world of calm at Citizen M.

Beer halls in Brussels

So our next stop on our Grand European Tour was the charming capital of Belgium. We were both entranced by it the minute we stepped out of the station. Some people have called Brussels the 'Poor Man's Paris' but we certainly did not believe this to be the case. It is absolutely gorgeous.
Things you must do are browse the world famous chocolate shops, they are literally everywhere! Be aware that the further you go into the small side streets, the cheaper things are, as the locals raise the prices hugely for the tourists on the main roads.

Another things you must look at, and probably won't miss is the 'Manneken Pis', famous statue of a little boy, erm, pissing.

 It might seem strange, but it is a very popular tourist attraction! Oh...and you can also get mini chocolate versions in nearby chocolate shops, which are excellent to bring back as souvenirs for family and friends. But don't forget to explain to them that it is actually a famous Brussels landmark. 

Another thing that is charming about Brussels is the street art. Down nearly every side street there are amazing works of comic art, which are enchanting and you cannot miss TinTin, and his faithful companion Snowy plastered all over the walls.

You cannot go to Brussels without visiting the famous 'estaminets' or bars, that litter nearly every street.
Here is one of our favorites;

 Poechenellekelder - right opposite the 'Manneken Pis', it does not look much from the outside, but when you go in, and down the long windy staircase, you feel like you've stepped back in time. Definitely one of the more traditional Belgian beer-halls.

This is a picture of me, Pete, and the rest of the people we went on the free bar crawl organized by the 'Bruegel' Hostel that we stayed at. If you ever stay at this hostel, make sure you do the bar crawl, it's totally free, and you get to see the unknown beer halls, that the majority of tourists do not know about. The Californian guys that organized it were so lovely, and do it entirely of their own backs!

The 'Bruegel' Hostel is expensive, however, and cost us around €120 for two nights (same as our hotel in Paris) for a private room. The breakfast was disgusting, and the rooms reminded us of prison cells. However, we were in central Brussels, and were within walking distance of everything.

We loved Brussels, some people do look down on it but we found it stunning, the food was amazing, and we did not want to leave after our two day stay!

Paris-Somewhere-Moon

So My first Blog is going to be about Paris. Went there in early August of last year and the things you can do there are just unlimited. First a little Info about the hotel me and my boyfriend stayed at. It was incredible.


This was our exact room, it really was lush! It was £120 pounds for two nights including an amazing breakfast and even more amazing french coffee! Snacks and drinks were available for free all day.


I believe the interior was designed by Phillipe Maidenberg who is an awesome architect. It was like nothing we had ever seen before, and for the price we paid, it felt like we were getting such good value for money. It is worth mentioning that we actually booked the hotel via laterooms.com, which meant we got it at a much cheaper price, as I've noticed that they actually charge around 200 euros usually on the website for a double room. Don't ask me why it is so cheap on late rooms. When we arrived there we were thought there might be a catch but no!



The Location is in Paris 9th and pretty easy to find from the station Gare du Nord. It is also situated about ten minutes from the Moulin Rouge, but that can be quite tricky to find, as it is down lots of small side roads, and it is possible to get rather lost.

(Clocks that adorn the reception wall)

Just a small note, that if you are planning on traveling to Paris in August, don't do so if you are planning on mingling with lots of locals. There did not seem to be many around, we were told this is the time that most Parisians go on their holidays, and we found there was an unusually large amount of tourists. But never the less, the charms of Paris never disappoint, and despite this being my third visit, I found it as enchanting as ever, and will not think twice about returning again.

First Blog

Ok.. So I'm totally new to this stuff. My first blogs going to be about..well travel.  My aim for this is to tell people really about the best places to see/do. Which places to stay are immense/cheap/vile/great for couples and hopefully give you some of your own inspiration about your own travels!

so...Here goes.....