Europe 2006

This is what I had been saving up my vacation days for, what I had attempted to do while living in Japan (but thought it too expensive) and had saved up my money for: The Big Trip to Europe. It all started when I met Marita, from Amsterdam, while on vacation in Thailand last year. We had both promised that we'd visit each other, so I guess I was first (Marita will come to the U.S. in Nov.). I didn't want to plan too early in advance, because I've found that when you freestyle your trip a little bit, then you're not stuck with one plan, but you can do a little extra. Anyways, Mel and I flew on Iceland Air and the tickets were a great price. Of course, this meant that we had a layover in Rekjavik, Iceland, but the food was great and so was the service.

Amsterdam
Marita came to pick us up from the airport after a night of partying in celebration of Queen's Day in Amsterdam. We were wondering why there were orange decorations and such around the city.

I found Amsterdam to be quite a good city to start out with because just about everyone spoke English. I was really concerned about running into situations where I was really hungry and couldn't even order food in the local language (like in China). One observation that I made about Amsterdam was the fact that it was SO diverse. Don't get me wrong, America is diverse, but this was diversity on a different level. People from all different races and cultures hanging out with each other. I experience that in my own life, but it was nice to see that in Europe as well. Well, there are tons of stories for Amsterdam, but I'll just let you see the pictures and read the captions.