Hostel, hotel, whichever, Amsterdam is full of small, independent, affordable places to lay your head but even if you book your bed through a trusted website which you've used many times before - read the small print! We arrived to check in at 3pm (to the reception which was located in a Chinese takeaway, yes a takeaway!) only to find that the small print said the hostel would need to validate the card we paid the deposit with 48 hours before arrival. As we paid with a debit card, this obviously didn't happen so our room was given to someone else. Hotel Mavlana was, in this case, at fault, as they didn't email to ask for a new card or to notify us of cancelation, but to avoid being stranded in an unfamiliar city with no where to stay, read the fine print! This did turn out to be a blessing in disguise as we found an amazing replacement on the corner of dam square called "The Cornerhouse", who's amazingly friendly staff, comfy single beds and squeaky clean en suit rooms turned our first day round from hell to heavenly!
2. LEARN THE RULES OF NIGHTS OUT
You can't go to Amsterdam without letting off a little steam, but although the people seem friendly and the chairs seem comfy be careful when your getting drunk and other such things! This seems like obvious advise, and applies to anywhere you go of course, but no where in the world is like Amsterdam! The most invaluable advise that I can give you is to stay on the ground floor, please god stay on the ground floor.
Although we were tired after an early flight and long day walking around, we got our glad rags on (by which I mean we showered as Amsterdam's night life doesn't require a dress and heels, but we transformed enough for the bar lady at our hotel to say we came down "like butterflies" after going upstairs looking so rough - is that a compliment or not?) and headed out. A few hours later, in fits of giggles, we decided to move from one bar to the next but as we approached the spiral staircase very typical for Amsterdam we realised our mistake as it seemed to spiral well out of our reach. 20 minutes later, after each step was stomped on with extra careful deliberation, we eventually made it outside (is this the reason amsterdamers don't wear heels?) at which point the air hit us and we realised that each windey road and each frosty canal bridge look frighteningly similar. Unlike back home, there aren't take aways open till the early hours either, so if you get the munchies you better hope that your hotel staff are friendly enough to whip something up, the kind lady at ours supplied us with the last piece of Apple pie and a plate full of whipped cream with crushed biscuits (but maybe that was to make up for insulting us earlier on?) but my advise is to have some snacks waiting for you in the room.
Thankfully this is the one thing we didn't actually get caught out on - although that was lucky as after getting on the wrong train back from a Kasabian concert we jumped on the first one back to central station without another thought, which happened to be a rather amusing journey with a drunk guy singing one line of R Kelly's 'Bump and Grind' repeatedly ("my minds telling me noooooooo"). But on another occasion - one where we thankfully had a ticket - we were told by a very scary, butch, lady (in a contrastingly small, pink uniform) that if you don't have one already, the usually €3 ticket costs €40 or more to buy it on the train.
4. KNOW THE ADRESS OF YOUR ACCOMODATION
Getting into a taxi back to the hostel after a big night out seems like the sensible thing to do, only it's less sensible if the name of the hostel which you bark at the driver as you drift off to sleep is a common name, and you only realise that you've been taken to a hotel on the other side of town half an hour and a €40 bill too late! Thankfully our driver turned off the meter and drove us back to Central Amsterdam for free (although we still had to pay the initial €40) but this could easily have been avoided by saving the name and ADRESS of our hotel in our phones and showing the taxi driver.
Your probably reading this thinking what a bunch of idiots (and you are right in doing so) but "the dam" finds a way of distracting you from the things that usually seem obvious. Other "tips" I could give you based on my experience is don't wander round the nunary giggling thinking it was a park, or to avoid German people intent on recreating the playground "pile on" in Players bar but I expect that anyone who goes will have their own unique stories of strange goings on with or without for warning! Overall it is a city you never forget, although you may not completely remember everything you do there!
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