Winter Europe Trip 12th December 2022 (Monday) Day 16

(This posted is written on 15th October 2023, I finally have time as the school year is coming to an end and I really missed our Europe trip) *Look at that, I managed to update my travel journal till Day 16!

I did not feel too good about previous two days in Tromso as we felt so lazy, therefore I was kind of glad we were leaving and heading to a new destination. It's been five days since we had the same breakfast at Scandic, we were also not looking forward to it and went down quite late. I would recommend staying at Radisson Blu instead if we were ever back in Tromso, though that is highly unlikely. 

After we checked out from the hotel, we waited just a bit for the shuttle to arrive and the pickup is just outside our hotel so it was really convenient. I felt a bit sad leaving Norway and its wonderful scenery so I took some videos of our bus route all the way to the airport. We were heading to the airport around noon so the sun actually was up just for that short while. 

P was busy handling his family matters

Time to board the flight, bye bye Norway!

We were the only two passengers heading to airport

Tromso airport was a small one and the flights we were taking was SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), with a stopover at Oslo before heading to Amsterdam. As there were only small planes and a few flights, we tagged our luggages on our own before sending them in. I already had a bad feeling about it as it was a small regional plane and we also had a stopover which complicated things. On top of that, Schiphol Airport is also known for delays and stuff. I was telling P to hope for the best and hopefully our luggages will turn up at the destination, never did I know that my foreboding was right. We ended up having a long long day.

Flying into Amsterdam

Waited quite a while for P's luggage

Schiphol airport was quite big and we finally reached around 6.30pm after a short transit at Oslo. We waited quite a while for P's luggage but it didnt turn up. So P started going to the office that managed lost luggages and there was a queue there with various people who met with the same issues from different flights and airlines. We finally managed to track down P's luggage and apparently it was still in Oslo, luckily there are other SAS flights after ours so they were going to transport his luggage to Amsterdam but it will take hours. Initially they offered to send it to our hotel but after that, they mentioned that the staff who can do so are already going home from work so we decided to check into our hotel first and then come back later for his luggage since it will take hours. 

The train bringing us to the city centre

Train journey is not too bad

Luckily it was quite easy for us to get tickets to the city centre, where our hotel is located. It was already 7.30pm when we hopped onto the train and unfortunately at Amsterdam, my Changi wifi did not work too well with the change in country and location so it took us a bit of time to navigate to our hotel. I think the train journey only took 30 min or so, but the train station was a rather big one so we had to navigate around to get the right direction to the hotel.

Room on the second floor

Lighting in the room is kind of dim

A bit better after we tried to on all the lights

We finally got to the hotel room at 8.30pm. We felt tired but we had to head back to the airport and hopefully P's luggage arrived. I booked Mai hotel Amsterdam due to its proximity to the train station and the popular area in the city area. However, I felt that the hotel lighting is kind of too dim for my liking as it's really dark along the corridors, probably they wanted to achieve the chic look but it's a bit spooky for me. They used an asian theme to decorate the lobby but it felt weird seeing chinese deities statues as decor there. 

P saw dunkin donuts at the station and got attracted to the nice donuts

I took a photo while waiting for the donuts and drinks

It's kind of tiring to head back to the airport again but we just hope that the luggage eventually arrive in Amsterdam. We bought some donuts and drinks as I cant remember if we ate anything on the flights but I dont think they served any food, probably only some hot drinks. Our spirits were high after dropping off my luggage at the hotel, although we did not get any rest. We got some sweet yummy donuts and drinks and headed back to the airport again.

We kept checking if the plane has arrived

Apparently, P's luggage made a stop at Copenhagen

Finally it's here! 

Now you can see why

P had a piece of form, so we spoke to the officers to allow us back into the baggage claim area and we kept checking the status of the flight his luggage was supposed to be on. However, the information we got was quite ambiguous. P headed back to the lost luggage office and there were still some distressed guys there waiting to track their luggages, some had been traveling on several flights and transit at different countries so they lost track of their luggages at some point. Fortunately, at 1030pm, we finally got hold of P's luggage and I realised he did not remove the initial tags when he tagged his luggage this morning, that might be the reason for his luggage to get 'lost' in Oslo. 

Finally we are on our way with both luggages

Amsterdam train station

The train station is rather large and grand

It was near 11.30pm when we reached amsterdam city again and almost midnight when we stepped out looking for dinner. Luckily, this is the city of sin and nightlife so there were still many tourists around after we walked a short distance to the canal and bridge area. There were also many eateries still opened.

The famous spot for taking photos of the red light district

There are girls standing behind the glass windows

We didnt walk far from our hotel and reached the long canal where the famous Amsterdam red light district is located, we took a long time taking photos there as there were so many people trying to get photos there as well. It was cold and it was not easy taking these photos though. 

Famous Febo eatery, where fried food are sold vending machine style

P fell in love with cheese during this trip

Shops selling sex toys

Very nice pizza

Very nice carbonara 

It was already past midnight and we really had a very very long day, luckily there were still some eateries opened. We were craving for Italian food and I was so glad we finally decided on this as there was another one further down and we were thinking of having that at first. The food was so so good and although we knew the pizza going to be big and enough for us, we still ordered carbonara as P crave for that from time to time. We took away the pizza and even decided to go back to the same restaurant the next day. 

Coffee shops were common here, not the kind in SG

Those who watched the movie ‘Europe Trip’ would know this

P had been a fan of the movie ‘Europe Trip’ and it inspired him to visit Amsterdam and other cities like Bratislava (in 2023!). Something that stood out in Amsterdam was all the sex shops and coffee shops openly selling marijuana. Of course we did not try any of those as it’s first of all illegal for all Singaporeans and also P fell very very sick when someone played a prank on him once upon a time.