Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
down the short flight of stairs and out into the street. Once there, with the sunlight on her,
she began to realize that she had been retreating into her own head for some time now.
True, the experience had affected her, but she and Mark were still in Amsterdam togeth-
er, and there was still a lot on the schedule she had made for the day. In particular, they
were supposed to explore the so-called
Negen Straatjes,
or “Nine Little Streets,” a shop-
ping district full of local shops, some of which had been open for hundreds of years. Mark
wanted to visit a place called the
Kaaskamer,
or “Cheese Room,” and she wanted to poke
around some of the boutique clothing shops. Once they were done, they planned to visit
the Rijksmuseum, one of the world's most famous art museums and home to many of the
masterpieces of Dutch painting. And there were several cafés in the area that they hoped to
stop by if there was time. She was glad they had visited the Anne Frank House, but now it
was time for her to let it go. Someday, when she and Mark had children, they might return
to Amsterdam and visit the house again for their children's education, but they could make
that decision when they needed to. It was time to rejoin Mark and to put herself back into
Amsterdam with him
.
Taking a last few moments to herself, Hannah looked at the busy street around her and
up at the beautiful gabled houses that surrounded her, catching a glimpse of the nearby
Prinsengracht Canal just a few hundred feet to her right. She took a few breaths, turned
around, and headed back into the restaurant. As she walked back up the stairs, she looked
up at Mark, who had been watching her the whole time, and smiled
.
In our discussion of your big picture in the last chapter, I recommended alternating days in
your main destination with day trips out of town, with the first day used to adjust to your
new environment. If you follow this recommendation, then your third day will bring your
first day trip. As much as possible, you'll want to have the logistics of your day trip, such as
which form of transportation to take and when, planned ahead of time. In some instances,
such as when traveling by train on busy routes in Europe, it can be a good idea to purchase
your tickets in advance and to obtain reserved seats if possible, even if that means paying
an additional amount for a first-class ticket. If you're not sure what to do, searching online
travel forums can be helpful, or you may even call ahead to your hotel to ask for advice.
Finally, I recommend that you get an early start, as it's better to have extra time at the end
of the day to cover an additional area of your home base than to run out of time on your
day trip.
