Day 43 – Holland

We were awoken by the silence of our roomates – not really, they were still so weird and didn’t talk. For the second time in a row, I had to wear trousers again with a waterproof top and I can’t say I was too happy with that prospect. It was bucketing down with rain outside!

Our free breakfast was reasonably good despite the free pricetag and of course I ate as much I could for that reason. We were trying to find somewhere to stay in Switzerland before quickly changing to find somewhere in just Nice, due to the prices. It was stressful enough, but a French school trip were playing that game where you stick a person on your head and guess who it is, making it worse.

I wasn’t allowed to ruin the game for them and cycled into town, a different way than usual as I forgot the way and took the wrong turns. I also nearly crashed into a moped who happened to be driving towards me on the cycle lane. I was too busy looking at how to get into town by following the centrum signs, assuming that they meant centre.

If you ever have a chance, try a frozen coconut cappuccino – It is quite possibly my most favourite drink now. Yes, we visited a coffee shop before getting my girlfriend her clog slippers she loves. I always got them for her if I am ever in Holland. Although she made a fuss about not wanting them, she eventually gave in and we got them. The rest of the day was rather uneventful, passing by the weed shops, sex shops, condomerie and the actual Iamsterdam sign, which was packed as expected. We also stopped in a park to have lunch but I literally couldn’t eat knowing that we had nothing planned yet – we had nowhere to go and nowhere to stay for the remainder of the trip.

Back in the centre I did have a bag of chips to eat but the sauce was that messy, it looked like I murdered someone. We also watched a seagull fly down and attack the little pigeons who were all fighting over the bread, some getting stuck in them. One bird got attacked and was limping around, clearing hurt and crying/yawning right in front of us.

My girlfriend was so slow at cycling that it took an age to get back to the hostel, check out, rent a computer and hog an extension lead for my phone. We spent 3hrs finding hostels and trains. Such is life. We just couldn’t find any route that was really feasible, or somewhere to stay when we got to Nice. Again, we decided to sack it and go to the train station to ‘train hitchhike’ as it were.

I must have completly lost it by this stage as when we got the bus to the train station, I asked for 2 tickets but the driver gave me 3. He said that he heard 3, saw 2 but wasn’t going to ask any questions. I found it hilarious for some reason and so did the driver. He also stopped at the station stop for a long time and we waited for a good 5 minutes before realising this was us. Again he laughed at us for nearly missing our stop.

The plan was to get to Eindhoven first, then Venlo, wait a while before visiting Düsseldorf, some other German city and Paris before eventually Nice. It wasn’t the best start though as our Eindhoven train was delayed by 2 minutes, setting us back an hour overall to get to Venlo. We both fell asleep on the train to Venlo and when I woke up, I checked the time and thought that we should be here by now. Looking around, the carriage was empty and the train started driving off again, passing the Venlo train station sign – we bloody missed it! Venlo was the last stop so it actually drove on towards the place where all the trains live.

We had to jump down off the train because there were no plaforms here and the man cleaning the train beside us laughed and wasn’t really much help. He basically told us that we just needed to walk along and follow the tracks back to the station where we met a police man and his dog. They were closing the place until 4.30am and it was only 12.30am! Now we were literally homeless.

We tried a hotel where the reception was run by a dodgy looking man in the basement and another where the girl said €86 for a room or nothing. Both said no to us even sitting in their lobby. We decided to move on into town as I’ve been to Venlo before to play rugby. Some streets brought back memories but I couldn’t really get my bearings until we found a bar that I had actually been in. It wasn’t as welcoming as before as some sort of work-night-out were outside and slagging us.

We wanted to find somewhere else but the whole place was completly empty and quiet except for this one bar. Of course we received more slagging for returning and so we made our way to the back of the bar, avoiding the awkward looks from the locals and trying not to attract unwanted attention. As it was nearly 2.30am, none of the friends I made here were up and so we couldn’t use their accomodation for a few hours. The bar was closing and we waited until the bitter end before leaving.

The only thing to do now was to sit out on the street, keep warm and dry until the station reopened. We found an alcove between shops and were going to keep each other up by talking. Of course my girlfriend fell asleep instantly when I was telling my story and missed the police giving us a dirty look as they drove past.

They reversed back, got out and I guessed that we had to move. He asked us why we were doing this and explained to him, hoping he would take us down to the station or let us in their car. Instead they told us to go to the bus station and wait. I should have rudely declined and told them ‘where to go’ and spend a night in jail – it would definitely be warmer, that’s for sure.

The bus station was all outside and we were covered in extra layers, hoodies and our bags. We were interrupted by a nearby man who wore a full Manchester United tracksuit and had a few too many whiskeys. I told him we were visiting friends and have no money to stay somewhere, just incase he tried to rob us or something. He was actually nice though and said he couldn’t sleep with the other homeless boys because he was scared about his passport and phone going missing. He was going home to his waterbed because he was at his friend’s house, who had too much ‘wodka’ and broke his television. Man U man got out of there before the police showed up.

Thankfully a bus of tourists came and we said we were going to check the station as it was nearly 4.30am. We got in and found a machine that printed routes for you so we didn’t need to use our phone – we printed off about 12 possibilities. The machine beside it had weed stashed in it and the guy who found it was seriously thinking about taking it.

Our train finally came and we said goodbye to our new ‘friend’. There was no real point in me sleeping so I just stayed up until we arrived to Düsseldorf at 6am. It was just one of those days and such a new and different experience.