Zanen Hotel The Hague

Well, the trip has finally started! After getting up way too early (nerves I guess) and repacking my backpack twice, I traveled to Schiphol. I tried to get a seat with enough room for my legs, but unfortunately those seats were already reserved. (So why does it say on the China Airlines website that those seats cannot be reserved?) Here we (a friend of mine who's also going to Bangkok and I) enjoyed a last meal on Dutch soil (a nice tosti) and afterward we boarded the Boeing 747 to Bangkok.

... pier!) and beer while being serenaded by an Indonesian non-conventional family cover band. Mama-san was on the keys, the play-along tape machine, and the inappropriately timed hype-man grunts. She was pimping her 2 singing/dancing daughters while her partner played MIDI drums. A veritable romp through the classic songbook - Whiney Houston to Cat Stevens to Rhianna without missing a beat - ensued. It was exquisite.

... way, hehe ... I think, I had like 6 weeks off now... oh my, that was a wonderful time. Okay okay, I ll survive 2 months of school, sure... and then its summer. I cant wait ! I have told a few of you already... and now for the rest of you .... tatatatatataaaaaaaa... I am going to PERU for 3 weeks in July/August :) How cool is that ?? I am counting the days :):):) Oh yes and of course, 1 week ago I ...

... and told me his name, but I couldn't understand, and asked him if he could spell it. "Some of the letters don't exist in English ..." Ok, so we'll just refer to him as Pauly! Anyway, Pauly's a press manager at a TV station in Oslo, and it's his first solo trip - trying to use it as therapy to get over his girlfriend, who he just broke up with. Ouch! Hopefully it works out for the poor guy. We started talking about ...

... euros a month I saved from last time I looked... (Hellooooooooo dinner!) So, a few good sites I've found: Easystanza.it (Italian version of Easyroommate.com) Home4students.it (Commercially run I think, but I still found some good stuff there) Roma.kijiji.it (It's in the left column, Case in affitto) Well those are the ones I used to finally find something, once I found those I had about 10 good rooms in a day, and it took me ...

Day 9 Part 2 The Hague I am leaving Brugge and headed for the Hague. It is officially called VVV den Haag, Nederland. I map it in my GPS and I am off. The drive is beautiful, I pass a couple of Windmills and stop to take pictures. It is getting late in the day so I do not get off the main road and drive any closer to them. I just want to make it to the Hague and get a hotel somewhere tonight. It's about 129 miles from Brugge. As I am nearing ...

... in his flat then get a lift to the airport in the morning so everything would be OK. Little did i know, or should i say remember that he was actually away on holiday this week and therefore would not be able to get a lift down to Liverpool however the tickets were booked and there was no going back, Murray was less than pleased. So as it was my error the only thing i could do was book train tickets which i did in advance a little bit of planning goes along way, or so ...

... her diary came to life while going through the house. It was surreal to be in her room and all the places she talked about. After that, Natalie and I ventured off to the Van Gogh museum and got caught in a rainstorm. We got SOAKED! the umbrella we had didn't do a whole lot, considering the wind turned it inside out with every gust. When we got there we were really glad we had purchased a ticket though our hostel ...

... of Heineken propaganda, plus 3 beers and a bottle opener. It was probably better than the beer museum in Brussels too! We spent a bit of time wandering in the Red Light District, which is beyond weird. Basically, you walk down the street and the red-bathed prostitutes in the windows wink at you, bang on the glass, etc. to try to win some business. I would imagine it's the origin of the term "window ...

... a bit of detective work to find the lockers (and a long walk!) but we were able to find storage for our luggage so that we could go enjoy some of Amsterdam before our accommodations were ready. By now we hadn't slept in more than 24 hours so we weren't very energetic (a bit crabby in fact.) We exited Centraal Station to find the VVV office (tourist bureau) directly across the street. Beware crossing the street! The trams are moving ...