Yes, I will have a much shorter itinerary next time over the pond.
We begin with January 3rd, day of departure from Kansas City. Wes and I live about 65 miles from the airport, so we stayed at an airport hotel the night before, and we also got to park his car for the 3 weeks we were away and use their shuttle.
Our flight was to leave at 1:10pm central on Delta, with a one hour plane change in Atlanta, then arriving in Amsterdam at 8:30. We got checked in and all seemed fine until a voice comes over the speaker telling us our flight would be delayed one hour. Obviously this meant we would miss our connecting flight, and it was their last plane to Amsterdam that day.
Here's where I have to give a plug for Delta. They worked their butts off to get us re-routed. We had to take a puddle jumper to Chicago on American Airlines, then switch to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on a 747 to Amsterdam. Yes, it was a big hassle, and we lost the the good legroom bulkhead seats we had reserved, so my tumor was really screaming by the time we landed although I dont think we could have gotten through all the airport shuffles if it hadnt been for me having wheelchair service at the airports, and all in all we were only 2 hours later in arriving, so my thanks to Delta.
We arrived, got our luggage, and after a little wandering, found our driver. A driver was truly unnecessary as we stayed at the Ibis Hotel which is practically attached to the Centraal Station, but it was nice to have the service...still wont pay for that again though.
We were allowed to check into our room early (11:30am) so we got settled and headed off to Rockerij where we were scheduled to meet with several good folks from here. The initial plan was to meet up with cantona7 upon arrival, but with the flight delays we didnt link up as planned. We waited for cantona for awhile in the lobby, then decided that it would just be best to go to Rockerij since we were all to end up there at 2pm anyway.
Wes and I walked in and began our first coffeeshop experience. Wes went to get us some coffee, while I looked at the menu and picked a Morroccan Golden Cream, or similarly named. I borrowed a small bong from the bar and we staked our claim to one side of the window seat. WHile we were sparking up our first hash hits, Andrey showed up, said hi and went to the Budtender and came back with a bud and a cone to stuff. Andrey got pretty damned stoned, and we had a cool time visiting. The Morroccan Hash was nice, but not ass kicking by any measure. Next I could easily recognize SoulRider when he walked in due to him posting his tuxedo petrol pic, and if my memory hasn't already failed, cantona7 wzas either with him or came in around the same time. There was also a cool local guy that came with them. We hung out a Rockerij for a bit, then moved on.
Here's where my memory fails me. After we left Rockerij we went to Grey Area as I recall. I bought so many hashes, and a good few buds, but I believe I got a couple of ice hashes at Grey Area. I know we didn't stay long since it is on the small side, but the ice hashses I got there were quite nice. Our next stop on the journey was 420, by my request for their music list, and I believe this is where we took nice advantage of the Volcano vaporizer. Now I am forgetful whether it was at 420 or Grey Area that SoulRider helped me pick out some super silver haze, which we volcanoed.
The truth about day 1, though this post began with the 3rd, the 4th was actually our day of arrival, is that I cannot rate any particular weed or hash from that day. Too many different things were passed around to differentiate, but I can tell you we went back to the hotel floating. We did turn in early...930 pm, but we did well staying up that late after the flight, and we forced ourselves to Amsterdam time.
Day 1 top highlight: Me requesting 2 Frank Zappa Songs at 420, and jabbering with cantona7 through the first song, from Joe's Garage and never noticing the song. My son Wes and Soulrider sat at the other end of the table laughing in my direction, and Im trying to figure out why. Then as I finished jabbering with cantona, the next Zappa song came on, and I heard it, and was happily bobbing my head, then Wes and SoulRider let me in on what I had missed. So we know one or more of the many things smoked were pretty darn swell.
Day 2 to come...
peace