Berlin to Amsterdam (654km) to London (424km)

Our train journey to Amsterdam was smooth and comfortable, although our view was somewhat obscured due to it being a cloudy, grey and drizzly day. Once we started seeing windmills dotting the agricultural landscape we knew we had entered the Netherlands.
We arrived late on Sunday night in Amsterdam and then had to navigate the local transit system to make our way to our Airbnb apartment in the suburb of Indische Buurt.

After having utilised public transport in a number of countries we felt quite confident that we would be able to easily get around in Amsterdam. But we immediately discovered that the public transport system in Amsterdam, while extensive, is not particularly user friendly and relatively expensive compared to other places we have visited.
Nontheless we eventually made it to our apartment and settled in right away. The apartment was beautiful with big windows looking out over the city, a terrace and a big bathtub.

(Photos: loving Amsterdam; our apartment).

The next day we began our exploration of Amsterdam.
Once we managed to figure out the public transport system we started to really enjoy the city. Amsterdam is a big city with a small town vibe. This may be in part due to the fact that buildings in Amsterdam are subject to height restrictions in order to limit the weight of the buildings as the city is essentially built on reclaimed wetlands.
The people are friendly, the streets are clean and there are lots of green spaces, gorgeous historic buildings and of course the iconic canals.
We took the tram to the trendy suburb of De Pijp. We strolled past Sarphati park which was green and glorious in the sunshine and explored the popular Albert Cuypmarkt, the city's biggest outdoor street market. A few streets back from the market we found a hipsters paradise of trendy cafes, gourmet food stores, boutique shops and of course a genuine Amsterdam 'coffee shop'.

(Photos: canals of De Pijp; Albert Cuypmarkt; Amsterdam - City of Bicycles; Katsu Coffee Shop De Pijp and wares).

After sampling the wares of the Katsu Coffee Shop in De Pijp we made our way to the Brouwerij‘t Ij, an award winning artisan microbrewery with a large outdoor beer garden sitting underneath a landmark historic windmill.
We spent several hours here enjoying the sunshine, sampling the beers and enjoying Dutch bar snacks including sausages and mustard and Gouda cheese. We made friends with a couple sitting near us - a Dutch girl with her American boyfriend - and chatted happily with them until dark.

On Tuesday, our second day in Amsterdam, the weather changed for the worse and it was cold and very wet. As such we had a relaxing day in the apartment and prepared for a full day of sightseeing on Wednesday.

By Wednesday morning the rain had eased to a light drizzle so we ventured out into the city again. We had hoped to see the Anne Frank house but tickets were booked out weeks in advance so we missed out on this occasion.
We were not too disappointed as our alternative was a tour of the original Heineken brewery in De Pijp. We had a fantastic time and were really impressed with the informative and interactive displays and exhibits. The brewery is no longer operational and so is more of a Heineken museum. We made our way up floor by floor to the roof of the building where we found a large bar to indulge in the two pints of Heineken which came as part of our ticket price.

(Photos: The Heineken Experience).

Shortly after midday we made our way directly across the street from the Heineken brewery to a pier where we hopped on to a canal boat tour.
We thoroughly enjoyed this hour long tour as it was not only a wonderful way to take in the sights and famous landmarks of Amsterdam, but also allowed us to learn a lot about the history of the city, the canals and the architecture.

(Photos: Amsterdam canal boat tour; )

On Thursday morning 4 August 2016 it was time to check out of our apartment and we felt that our time in Amsterdam had been all too short. Nevertheless were were excited to take the train to the harbour at Hook of Holland to board our Stena Line cruise over to the UK.

We boarded the Stena Hollandica around midday after clearing passport control and settled in to our cabin for the 7.5 hour voyage.
I was excited as this was my first experience on a cruise ship, albeit just a small one, but I was still excited.
We had drinks and snacks in a bar near the front of the ship which allowed us a great view as we made our way into the English Channel.
We spent the majority of the voyage watching movies and napping and then had dinner before we docked at Harwich around 7.45pm.
After such a stress-free experience boarding the ship we were displeased to find that in Harwish the Stena Line port was under construction (and reportedly had been for almost a year) which meant it was a huge hassle to get everyone off the ship and we had long delays.

This meant we did not arrive in London until after 10pm, but our Airbnb host Susie had waited up for us and welcomed us to her beautiful apartment with open arms.

We felt a little sad that our holiday was coming to an end, but also eager to start building our life in London.

Trip Stats:

Length of Journey = 109 days
Total kilometers travelled = 29,214km
Number of countries visited = 8
Cheesy souvenirs purchased = 15
Beers consumed = 336
Hospital admissions = 1
Arrests = 0