Incursion in Amsterdam

Let's take a little break from India to go back in time a little. Last June, I was leaving suffocating heat in Istanbul to catch my flight at the last minute. I was worried I would miss the flight to Amsterdam on Turkish Airlines.

I must say the agents in the airport were very slow. I still could make it and landed at Schipol Airport in the evening, as planned.

In Amsterdam, it is super easy to get downtown by train. About 15 minutes, 30 max, and you're there. And from Central Station, lots of trams are available.

I thought I might get lost, but everything was easy until I found my hostel, Van Gogh Hostel, right in front of the museum dedicated to that painter.

If it is known the hostel of the Netherlands capital are not the best in the world, mine was very acceptable. It wasn't a place to go to get drunk, as I was worried about at first.

The town itself is easy to explore on foot when one has a little time. That is what convinced me to walk to get to the Dam to get into one of the free tours they offer in the morning or in the afternoon. It is necessary to book ahead or to get there early, since they denied me access to the tour on my first attempt.

Hostels in Amsterdam

With Brel's song in mind (Amsterdam), I started looking for a hostel in Amsterdam. Just in case. Because I usually travel in the low season. But not this time. And it appears the city of vice might get crowded in June.

Conclusion : when hostels get full without any effort from the owners, there is no need to offer a good service. When you look at this, the average rate on hostelworld, for any of these hostels, is pretty low. Cleanliness, staff, apparently, everything is "not so good".

So I gathered my informations from friends living in Amsterdam. They confirmed : the hostel world in that city is a jungle.

A jungle because you might end up with smoking, drinking, noisy roomates. With the Red Light nearby, you know... That's where you might want a hostel with a no-smoking, no-drinking policy.

A jungle too because when you read previous customer's comments, you understand it's gonna be pricey for average service. When your description states the showers don't work that well... and you don't plan on fixing them, it means you probably still make a lot of money out of your crappy hostel.

Other downer : unless you want to go far away from the city, the fares double for a bed on Saturday. Yes! You won't find a bed under 60 $... in a dorm.

Anyway, I booked to ensure I would sleep somewhere. Took a cancellation insurance. If I find some people to share a room, it might be cheaper in a hotel...

That said, I won't hold back from commetning once I get there. Stay tuned.

La Nouvelle

On another subject, I now write a column called Le Bourlingueur in the weekly newspaper La Nouvelle. French readers will find me there once a week.