Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“Sounds great!” And with that, Mark and Hannah began their trip, cuddling up together
for twenty minutes, taking quick showers, and getting comfortably dressed and ready to ex-
plore Amsterdam
.
On your second day, you'll start to experience your destination in more depth. Hopefully
you'll manage to get a feel for your new home on your first day, perhaps by taking your
first brave steps trying out your new language, but it's only on the second day that your
exploration will begin in earnest. After starting your day with a quality breakfast, either at
your hotel or at a recommended restaurant, I suggest taking a walking tour. Walking tours
don't usually need to be booked in advance, but it's a good idea to do some research ahead
of time to find out which tours are available and where they meet. Alternatively, if your
guidebooks contain self-guided walking tours, you may prefer to find your own way. In
either case, there is no substitute for walking when it comes to getting familiar with an area.
Having completed your tour and found a recommended restaurant for lunch, it's now
a good idea to review the list of things you still want to see that day in the area. So review
your list—with your partner, if you have one—and devise a plan for the afternoon. You
should also plan on stopping for a snack in the midafternoon, which will give you another
chance for a cultural experience and will allow you to refuel before your late-afternoon ex-
plorations. Following those explorations, whether they involve visiting monuments or mu-
seums, shopping, or sight-seeing, you might want to head back to your hotel to take a quick
nap before showering up and heading out again to what is sure to be an amazing dinner
experience. After dinner you might have tickets for an event, such as an opera or ballet, or
you might have plans to take in some music or visit a dance club, or you might just want
to have a good night's sleep to get ready for your next exciting day. The main point is to
allow the research you did ahead of time to carry you, so that now you can relax and enjoy
your experiences.
“Here you are—one apple and nuts with cinnamon, and one bacon, banana, and chili pep-
per,” the server told Mark and Hannah in Dutch. They had just received their order in
the “Pancakes!” restaurant in the
Negen Straatjes
section of Amsterdam. The sight of ba-
con on a pancake was going to take some getting used to, but all the same, the pancakes
