Michy's Travel

I adore flowers and one of my colleagues who has been to Amsterdam before to see the tulips, strongly recommended it. Tulip season starts around mid March to mid May but to see it in full bloom, mid April is quoted as the best time to go. Me and my friend booked our trip for the end of April to coincide for King's Day 2016.

Stay: We stayed at Mercure Hotel Sloterdijk Station, which as the name suggests is right by the station, making it very convenient. By train the centre of Amsterdam is only 5 minutes away and to get to the airport is 15 minutes away.

Do: Another reason why Amsterdam was on my travel wishlist is because of Anne Frank's House. It has only been a couple of years since I read 'The Diary of Anne Frank' so it was still fairly fresh in my mind. We visited Anne Frank's House on King's Day, hoping that the other tourists may be too busy living it up with the locals but we were wrong, there was still a long queue to get in. Even when it started pouring down, people still stayed strong in the queue but I guess you just have to get on with it. The museum does not allow photography as it slows down the flow of visitors and may be harmful to artefacts. 

If you are into museums then a visit to Rijksmuseum, a Dutch national museum of arts and history, is a must. The museum is huge, there is just so much to see.

I have to admit I am not a big orchid fan, it may be due to that one time when I had an orchid and ended up killing it. Only later did I learn it was because it did not get enough sunlight, but either way I could not help but be awed when I stepped into the orchid house. It is absolutely beautiful in there and such vivid colours wherever you looked.

Something else in Keukenhof, which I found quite bizarre was the small petting zoo. On one side were 2 piglets and on the other side it had llamas, chickens and peacocks. It was my first time seeing a llama in real life and they were just too chic, check out that fringe!

Eat: Hot dogs and fries! The 2 hot dogs that I had were served in a warm baguette, soft on the inside and hard on the outside which I liked. Fries in Amsterdam are a staple and popular not just with tourists but with locals too and I could see why, the fries were really good. As you walk around town you will pass many places selling just fries.

In my research of must-try foods in Amsterdam I found bitterballen which is a beef croquette and poffertjes which are mini Dutch pancakes. The mini pancakes were not for me, they were much chewier than I expected and too sweet but the bitterballen were tasty. 

Another must-try food is stroopwafel, 2 thin layers of waffle stuck together with syrup in the middle. Just typing this is making me salivate. We saw a lady making them fresh outside and bought one to try. Pre-packed stroopwafel make for a nice souvenir for family and friends.

Rijstaffel or rice table is an Instagrammer's heaven with small dishes of Indonesian food to have with rice. It both looked and sounded really nice so I researched and found a restaurant called Indrapura who offer rijstaffel. I loved the massive choice of different flavours and foods. We were absolutely stuffed by the end.

This ends my trip to Amsterdam! (•‾⌣‾•)و ̑̑♡

Back in October 2015 I wanted to go on a short trip somewhere in Europe and as I had heard many good things about Budapest, I decided that would be my next destination!

Flight: It was my first time flying with Ryanair so I was a tad apprehensive about the low-cost airline, however as long as you adhere to their luggage allowance, the whole process was easy-going. The flight from London to Budapest takes around 2.5 hours, which went by quickly.

Stay: Originally me and my friend had booked an Airbnb and as it was our first time using them, we had a discount code and got a really good deal on an apartment. In the pictures the apartment looked beautiful, it was in a good location and all the reviews (although not many) were all good. However when we got there, it was a different story. The lobby was dark and somewhat eerie which is fine but then when we got into the apartment, it was dirty and the floor was sticky. Later on when we were unpacking my friend walked over to me and asked 'have you looked at the ceiling yet?', when I looked up, all I saw was a cluster of daddy long legs just chilling. My friend had called the living room couch which had less spiders in there and when I checked the bedroom, the mattress/duvets had a lot of stains on it. But even then we were like no! We can do this, however later that night, just to add onto our list, the bathroom started to let off a sewage smell. All of this plus a horrid night's sleep made us realise that, 'okay we can't do this' and we spent a good portion of the morning, trying to find alternative accommodation. To be fair the host was very nice and helpful but the apartment needed a good clean (and mop) and to sort out the bathroom.

Budapest is well-known for their thermal baths. Originally we had visited the Széchenyi thermal bath, which is the largest medicinal bath in Europe but it was too busy there for our liking so we researched other baths and found Gellért Thermal Baths instead. Gellért Thermal Baths is full of Art Nouveau furnishing and sculptures. In the picture below is the main pool but there is another room with 2 heated baths. I love a hot bath so relaxing in the 40 degrees, I was in my element. We paid HUF 4,900 for a weekday adult ticket with a locker. You can also purchase slippers and other necessities at the desk.

Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens has so much to see! But for me I think the most memorable part was the 'Great Ape House'. All the younger gorillas were running around and playing with one another, then in the middle of the room was the largest gorilla by far who was just calmly sitting there.