Trip #1 pre-pre-pre-planning..

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 05:43 pm

So...my first trip to this meca of hedonism next February with the missus. So I have a few questions...

1 - Approaching the 'budtenders', what's the best way to do it? just go up and ask to see a menu? or are they usually already on display? where've you met the friendliest budtenders?

2 - How busy is the February period tourism wise? Should I expect every decent coffeeshop to be packed out?

3 - The whole mushroom thing, a silly question perhaps, but are they legal or illegal? because I read a report of somebody buying the truffles from a smartshop in 2009 but I heard they were banned in 2007/2008?

Sorry for the stupidly formal format haha.

Cheers! X

joeuk · Post by **joeuk** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 06:12 pm

1 just aproach em normally the menus are usaully on the counter most budtenders are friendly ya mte come across some not so friendly ones thou

2 a doubt it in febuary

3 one of the trip heads on here can help you with

Bob2 · Post by **Bob2** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 06:50 pm

bud tenders are cool easy to approach very helpful 99% of the time and complete twats the other 1%.but as long as the buds good i have know problem..
its a good time to go apart from it being freezing. odds on get a seat in any coffeeshop you want (except Grey Area)..
your be ok with truffles, just go from smartshop to smartshop until you get a yes..

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 07:10 pm

Cheers guys. Awesome on the shroom/truffle front, need something to make the 15 hour ferry journey home atleast moderately exciting. Yeaah i'm expecting it to be cold, but I live in Newcastle in the UK so y'know, quite used to it haha...

CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY · Tue 9th Nov 2010 08:08 pm

1 - i completely understand this question. i had the same amazement the first time, and i revel in taking first timers into a coffeeshops to watch them have an inner crisis as they enter the shop..... its litterally like going to a pub, or a café. there is no nervous wink wink cough cough. usually the menus are laid out on the counter, or up on the wall, if you cant see the menu, just ask, and the employee will show it to you. its brilliant when you first break the taboo of asking for weed in a shop. picture coffeeshops like a bar that serves lots of types of beers and ales. a decent bartender will happily tell you which barrels are fresh and which beers are from where etc. study the travelogues pages on here, and youll see plenty of opinions on coffeeshop service. if you want to see what its like being at the counter, then look for Blue Berrys amazing youtube page. BlueberryAMS i think is her user name. its full of weed reviews from the budtenders of coffeeshops, at the service counters.

2 - its a capital city, and one of the major tourist destinations in europe, so whilst hotels may be booked up sooner in the summer, generally on the street its always busy. certain shops like grey area, are packed (with a queue outside) all year round, and other are always empty. sure leidseplien may be busier in the summer, but in general its always busy. its a city, not a holiday resort.

3 - Truffles are still available to buy in shops. when mushrooms got the chop (nice pun), a loophole was found in the definition of the law so truffles are still alowed. I gather plenty of smart shops which sell truffles etc, will have mushrooms under the counter. but shrooms are legally a "hard drug" now. so dont show off.

youve got months of nail biting waiting. youll do so much planning and end up having your every move planned out.... but as soon as you have that first joint......

....... itll all go out the window and youll get horrednously lost, forget everything you wanted to try and have an amazing time doing it.

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 08:26 pm

Awesome, it's not so much that I was gonna be like 'hey..uh...guy...wanna uh...sell me some chronic?' just wondered if it's a strictly professional thing or whether they like to have a chat and all that? i've heard the service at Basjoes can be pretty cool so i think i'll head there. I watched a videos on BlueBerrys channel before posting this and the dudes usually seem pretty awesome. I really wanna visit the Grey Area 'cause it seems a nice lil' place, but i've heard it's more a buy and run kinda thing there, awell. I'm open to recommendations of places to go too..

Aaah i know what you mean, i've been researching places to go and that pretty much non-stop for the past few days, the excitement is killing me aha. My girlfriend really wants to go to the Anne Frank house...that'll be interesting while baked i'm sure.

Dave near London · Post by **Dave near London** » Tue 9th Nov 2010 08:32 pm

Go "unstoned" to the Ann Frank House (respect and all that) - but do go to Paradox or Amnesia after for a smoke and a philosphical mull over how lucky you are.

Took a mate over in late Sept , who had never indulged , and he was blown away by how "matter of fact" the coffeeshop experience is - he did enjoy it , but I did all the mentoring etc !!!!

With a bit of work , he is a convert !!!!

Willjay · Post by **Willjay** » Wed 10th Nov 2010 02:03 pm

kylibertine wrote: i know what you mean, i've been researching places to go and that pretty much non-stop for the past few days, the excitement is killing me aha. My girlfriend really wants to go to the Anne Frank house...that'll be interesting while baked i'm sure.

Marco · Post by **Marco** » Wed 10th Nov 2010 02:29 pm

kylibertine wrote:Cheers guys. Awesome on the shroom/truffle front, need something to make the 15 hour ferry journey home atleast moderately exciting. Yeaah i'm expecting it to be cold, but I live in Newcastle in the UK so y'know, quite used to it haha...

I think that is a bad idea. Bad trip and you jump off the side of the ferry=death!

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Wed 10th Nov 2010 03:12 pm

Cheers Willjay, i'll be sure to check some of them links out! (Probably all of them, what with my 4 month waiting period n that..)

@Marco - Haha, sounds like a ideal newspaper headline i'm not going to lie. It all depends on whether I find any or not really, i'm much more interested in sampling the mary-jane than tripping balls, but if I happen across them in me travels I won't say no aha.

joeuk · Post by **joeuk** » Wed 10th Nov 2010 03:14 pm

Marco wrote:
kylibertine wrote:Cheers guys. Awesome on the shroom/truffle front, need something to make the 15 hour ferry journey home atleast moderately exciting. Yeaah i'm expecting it to be cold, but I live in Newcastle in the UK so y'know, quite used to it haha...
I think that is a bad idea. Bad trip and you jump off the side of the ferry=death!

my brother had a bad experience once went para af fuck thought every one in the room wanted twat him rate ruined me experience i had take him and i spent the nite trippin in me bedroom and he spent his nite para in me bedroom lol

smokseyj · Post by **smokseyj** » Thu 11th Nov 2010 10:11 pm

kylibertine wrote:So...my first trip to this meca of hedonism next February with the missus. So I have a few questions...

1 - Approaching the 'budtenders', what's the best way to do it? just go up and ask to see a menu? or are they usually already on display? where've you met the friendliest budtenders?

2 - How busy is the February period tourism wise? Should I expect every decent coffeeshop to be packed out?

3 - The whole mushroom thing, a silly question perhaps, but are they legal or illegal? because I read a report of somebody buying the truffles from a smartshop in 2009 but I heard they were banned in 2007/2008?

Sorry for the stupidly formal format haha.

Cheers! X

1- Alot of the budtenders are friendly but at the same time a few of them can be quite rude. I've had occasions where i've decided a budtender is a dick because of the way he acted on one day and then decided he was actually quite cool the next day. Just remember that these guys deal with tons of really stoned tourists everyday sometimes it might just be a bad day. As for the menu's they are normally on show, if you can't see one then don't hesitate on asking a staff member to see one. I'd bring i.d to be safe aswell.

2 - I've been in february 4/6 times i've been and i most say it is freezing. Make sure you have gloves, scarfs etc. As for the how busy, as someone said it is a capital city and a tourist hotspot so it will never be quiet but i found it do be alot easier to find seating in february then it is around at the end of december. Except grey area, i think no matter how many times you go you will be lucky to find a seat.

3- No idea about this sorry

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Thu 11th Nov 2010 11:08 pm

Aah awesome, wasn't expecting so many responses. Cheers! Shame about Gray Area, quite fancide that place after seeing Blueberrys youtube vids of there, looks cool. P.s The Burger Bar, is it as awesome as it sounds?

Glas · Post by **Glas** » Thu 11th Nov 2010 11:31 pm

kylibertine wrote:Aah awesome, wasn't expecting so many responses. Cheers! Shame about Gray Area, quite fancide that place after seeing Blueberrys youtube vids of there, looks cool. P.s The Burger Bar, is it as awesome as it sounds?

I've never been myself, but personally I can't wait to try the Kobe burger

Incidentally, it's #1 out of 1000+ Amsterdam restaurants on Tripadvisor, based on people's reviews. Must count for something

kylibertine · Post by **kylibertine** » Thu 11th Nov 2010 11:44 pm

Awessssome, it's just around the corner from the hotel i'm staying at too (well, according to google maps) so that's awesome!

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Trip #1 pre-pre-pre-planning..

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