ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

After (or during) your trip, post your report here.
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Lemming
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ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Lemming »

Day 1 - Tuesday 16th April 2019

The time has come and I'm airport bound. My flight is not until late afternoon so no reason to rush. Nevertheless, I arrive at the airport early.

Since I was last here I've retired my little phone with its slide-out keyboard and replaced it with a big modern one with only a touch keyboard. Even though my old phone ran an early version of Android, I always used a tablet to connect to Bristol Airport's free wi-fi. This time I attempt to use my new phone. This proves to be a struggle but at least keeps me occupied while I'm waiting. At one point I even manage to piggyback onto someone's unsecured phone. Eventually the airport wi-fi springs back into life, showing that my phone was working all along.

A bit of chat on the forum, pint of beer, food. Time soon passes.

Phone off.
Short flight to Amsterdam Schiphol.
Switch phone back on. Then ...

Nothing!

More precisely it seems that my new phone hasn't connected itself to a local network in the way that my old one used to. I spend the entire journey into Centraal Station fighting with it. I try every network it can find but get rejected by all of them. This is slightly distressing because I need to contact the apartment owner to let her know I'm on my way.

Now in the city, I find a phone shop on Nieuwendijk and buy a 10 euro SIM card. A paperclip or suchlike is required to get the card out of my phone and the guy does this for me, fits the new card, tapes the old SIM to a larger card so I don't lose it and helps me get the new SIM activated. That works and I call my host. She says it will take her 20 minutes or so to get to the apartment so I head towards Plug Lounge for a cup of tea.

This will be my first visit to the new Lounge. Last time I was here the Plug coffeeshop was still Utopia and the Lounge didn't exist. I'm intrigued to see what it's like.

I turn from Nieuwendijk onto Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and immediately spot a familiar face walking towards me. It's Danny211204! He tells me he's just left a bunch of ACDers in the Plug Lounge. That's handy!

With this extra motivation I stride up the road and stumble into the Lounge with a large rucksack on my back and a small one on my front.

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The Plug Lounge


Sat around a table just inside the door are Drugsbunny, Gapie, Matty223 and Smirks. Cool! We exchange greetings while I try to untangle myself from my luggage. I'm hoping the barman watching all of this from the far end of the room won't mind the clutter. The place is fairly empty and he appears to be smiling.

I get my cup of tea and passed various joints that put me firmly in an Amsterdam state of mind. Drugsbunny in particular feeds me something that blows me away. It's an intense start!

I pop next door to the Plug coffeeshop to make a quick first purchase, leaving my luggage in the Lounge.

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The Plug Utopia coffeeshop


Looking down the menu I spot Citral, which I recall being rather good in Utopia last year, so I grab some of that. Returning to the Lounge I start searching in my rucksack for my portable vapes. Just then my phone rings. It seems that my apartment is ready.

The crew offer to look after my stash so I leave that on the table and strap both of my rucksacks back on. The apartment is just around the corner, next door to what used to be Doors Palace coffeeshop once upon a time (now Cafe Palace). When I get there the owner is waving out of a window high above.

Joining her involves climbing some proper Dutch stairs. These are possibly even more extreme than where I stayed last year. Not only steep flights of narrow steps, these ones go around bends! It's worth it though, at the top I find a very nice apartment.

This spacious apartment with three large windows overlooking Spuistraat is called 'Centre City'. The tray of papers, grinders and so on sitting in the middle of the table demonstrates that it's cannabis friendly.

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Place looks satisfactory!

I explain to the apartment owner that I'm already stoned and that sensible conversation might be beyond me. She laughs but then mentions a slight issue that needs to be resolved. While she makes a series of phone calls, I admire the view out of the windows. Eventually she gets it all sorted and I extract the stuff I need from my rucksacks.

Camera around neck, vapes in pocket, pounds replaced with euros, I think I'm ready. Back to the Plug Lounge.

The gang are still here but it's busier now. They'd had to scoop up my paraphernalia and confine themselves to a single table. With my luggage out of the way, there's enough space for us now.

I'm trying out this newish vape, a Flytlab Lift. They sent it to me a while ago and I gave it a quick test but it's been lying around at home for months. Along with the Storm portable I bought a year or two ago, it's been gathering dust beside my Volcano. The Volcano is far too big to bring on a plane, though, so I've got the Storm and the Lift here.

I'm having a go with the Lift first. It's a bit fiddly to use because it only has a single light. The Storm's row of lights is more intuitive. It is much smaller and lighter than the Storm though. I'll soon get the hang of it.

One of its selling points is an unusually large capacity. The chamber doesn't look especially big but Gapie proves that the claim is justified. He fills it to overflowing! The Storm would block up if rammed like that but, fair play, the Lift copes remarkably well.

I'm supposed to be in Batavia later to meet anyone else around so I really need to get to an Albert Heijn to do some shopping and then get it back to the apartment.

Drugsbunny and I stroll up Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal. As he's telling me about the back pain he's suffering with, we spot the full moon hanging over the New Church.

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De Nieuwe Kerk

Drugsbunny peels off to get some rest and I carry on into the supermarket. It's an oddly laid out place but I eventually find most of the basics: tea, milk, Chocomel, etc. I'm far too stoned to remember what else I need and have slowed to a halt, daydreaming. Then I'm jerked back into the room by a member of staff saying "do you need help with anything?". I smile, assure her all's fine and look about. "It's just that we're closing." she says.

Needless to say, I'm a bit late getting to Batavia.

There's football on the TVs and looking around there's no sign of any ACDers. Not surprising really as I've already seen most of the people in town in the Plug Lounge. I have a quick pint and call it a night. Walking through town there seems to be football on everywhere. Ajax must be playing or something I guess.

4/20 is launched! I'm flying. I've seen several folks who've all obviously arrived safely and seem happy so it's all good. We've got big plans for tomorrow so I'll see you there.


macky
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by macky »

Wow! It,s not even Christmas yet and you have started your 420 trip report 8)
Detailed as always nice :mrgreen:
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AzLaker
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by AzLaker »

Ahh, the travelogues from 4/20/19 are starting to trickle in. Nice write up for your first day Lemming, nice to see your new phoned got straighten out.
Nice looking apartment too. :D
Still waiting for Hestia to enlighten us on her first day troubles. :shock: :shock:

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Lemming
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Lemming »

@Macky - :lol: doesn't mean I'll finish it before Christmas though!

@AzLaker - I know bits of Hestia's story but not all of it. I believe Trad was a hero but I'll leave Hestia to tell the whole story.

Delft and The Hague next ...
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RoMoney
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by RoMoney »

Lovely stuff Lemming!
Bring back Imelda Marcos!
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Trad »

Great reporting, as always. That apartment looks fantastic and the location was perfect.
I'm hoping that you will be able to fill in some of my blank spots as your travelogue continues. 😁😁😁😁😎
If I don't see you no more in this world, I'll meet you on the next one.
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Lemming
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Lemming »

Day 2 - Wednesday 17th April 2019

We've got a very ambitious plan for today. The idea is to do a rail tour taking in Delft, The Hague and Leiden. Walking towards Voyagers, I wonder whether anyone will turn up and how far the tour will get.

In Voyagers we're off to a great start. We've assembled a crack team for the expeditionary party: Choppermike, DeLekkersteNUGS16, the Mackys, Smirks and me. Nugs has organised some train passes that give us the freedom of the Netherlands for a day [I may still owe someone 16 euros or something for that. I was told a complicated story about money changing hands all over the place and promised to settle up with someone but forgot.] Nugs talks us all through getting an app installed on our phones so we can use them to display a scan-able ticket.

It's not quite one o'clock yet but we're not expecting anyone else so we decide to get over to the station. [Later we discover that Gapie was planning to join us and we left him behind - sorry mate!]

In Centraal Station we each do a dance ritual, waving our phones at the scanners, looking back at our screens, waving them again and eventually getting through. Somehow we get everyone sat on a direct train to Delft waiting to depart.

Smirks has found a countdown to this train's due departure time on his phone. It's reached zero and he's counting the seconds that we're running late. At 15 seconds the train pulls off. Take that Thameslink!

Riding on a train together is a good opportunity to chat. The first subject to come up is food in the Plug Lounge. Apparently there is some weird sweet-savoury combination of chicken and waffles or something that everyone is drooling over. This is interesting because in the run-up to 4/20 people familiar with the Lounge didn't seem to rate it very highly and yet last night I found everyone there and nobody in Batavia and now people are raving about the place. I feel this will not be the final word on the subject.

The sky is a bit grey today but it's dry and mild so can't complain and the forecast for tomorrow is brilliant. The bulb fields still put on a good show as they flash past through the window.

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The Dutch countryside is a bit flat but at least it's colourful at this time of year

We're soon passing the modern architecture of The Hague.

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The Hague

And then we're in Delft.

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Delft Station

Around the station everything is quite modern. A rather utilitarian-looking canal runs in front of the station and the Molen de Roos windmill stands out in the distance. All we have to do is duck down a little alley, though, to find ourselves in the quaint old town.

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Poppesteeg - alley between station and old town

We walk along the Oude Delft canal and then turn off to pass The Future for a quick photo opportunity.

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The Future


Standing around on the opposite pavement within the fixed glare of the security guy, we have a quick discussion and find that nobody feels the need to look inside so we move on.

We turn onto Wijnhaven and follow this canal for a while before turning across it onto Cameretten. At this point we make a small diversion to take a look at the town hall and the market in front of Nieuwe Kerk.

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Delft New Church and Town Hall

Then through another little alley called Bonte Ossteeg onto Voldersgracht.

Image Image
Bonte Ossteeg, Delft

Delft is an interesting place. Lots of Dutch history happened here but, enough of all that, we're here for coffeeshops! So, it's around Vrouwjuttenland and back along De Vlouw, into Bamboe Beach Club Vlouw.

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Bamboe Beach Club Vlouw


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Vlouw menu - Sorry it's blurry!

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Inside Vlouw

We settle in at the Vlouw for a nice little session and then after half an hour or so we take in a bit more canal exploration on our way back to the station. Next stop The Hague.

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On the train some messages are flying back and forth with Marok21 via the Forum. He's going to try to meet us in Cremers in The Hague.

There are two main stations in The Hague, a through station and a terminus. We're going to the terminus, Den Haag Centraal, because it's closer to most of the coffeeshops.

In The Hague we're gathered at the road junction by Sky High coffeeshop discussing plans. Some of the crew want to look for food, Smirks and I fancy taking a quick look at the Escher in Het Paleis exhibition. We split into two groups and agree to reunite at Cremers.

En route to the Escher exhibition I manage to grab some coffeeshop pictures, starting with Sky High.

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Sky High


Somehow I manage to miss coffeeshop Demo, even though we must've walked right past it. Maybe this is because our attention is attracted by the prominent sign for Doctor Green.

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Doctor Green


No time to stop. Straight to Escher in Het Paleis.

It's a very cool exhibition in a lovely building. They allow cameras inside and it's possible to photograph any of the exhibits. Only flashes are not allowed.

The exhibition seems to tell a story of how Escher learnt to reflect true perspective and then moved on to playing with imaginary perspective. Unfortunately we don't have enough time to explore properly but it's a fascinating flying visit.

Image

Image

And so to Cremers.

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Cremers


This is my first time here but I understand the layout has changed recently. There are now two parts divided by an unrelated bar. We go around to the right and into the basement where we find the rest of the crew. Miraculously, we've managed to get everyone back together and Marok21 has joined us too. That's another Forum member I've met in person.

As with all of the coffeeshops we visited, I have no recollection of what we consumed. Just that I was constantly blasted. Hopefully the canna-sseurs in the party will be able to fill in those blanks when they post their travelogues.

On leaving Cremers we split up again. Most of the group heads towards a park whilst Smirks and me go in search of more coffeeshops. The plan is to meet up at the station later.

We're looking out for Canna Club but take a wrong street and miss it. We do find Magic though.

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Magic


After getting some photos of that we double back to have another go at finding Canna Club.
This time we succeed.

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The Canna Club


It looks interesting so we decide to go inside.

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Inside Canna Club

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Canna Club menu

Upstairs we find a pleasant space for a short session. Smirks has a bong going.

As we arrive back at the station we get a message to say that the others are sitting on a train. Somehow, and against all the odds, we manage to find the train and the ACD gang on board. I'm slightly concerned that we're getting too good at this. What happened to our usual shambolic organisation? :D

There's been talk of Leiden and Haarlem all day and this train stops at both on its way to Amsterdam so all options are open. In the end nobody gets off at Leiden but the Mackys alight at Haarlem because they won't be around for our planned trip there on Sunday. The rest of us carry on to Amsterdam.

So now it's evening and I'm sitting in a deserted Plug Lounge with a beer and a vape. There's bloody football going on all over the many TVs around the room.

Smirks comes in and joins me. He gets a bong lit up and we wonder where everyone else is. Just then we get a message saying that they're in Batavia so we stroll over there.

In Batavia we join DeLekkersteNUGS16, Gapie and Trad. This is the first time I've seen Trad for many years so it's great to catch up.

While we've been touring around South Holland, ACD 4/20 veterans Trad and Hestia have arrived here in Amsterdam. I now hear that it's not gone smoothly.

Trad explains that Hestia has been the victim of some horrendous scam whereby the apartment she thought she'd booked doesn't exist. She's hoping to reclaim from her credit card company but it's approaching Easter bank holiday and King's Day so the city is quite full. Trad has come to the rescue with a spare bed in his room at Voyagers and she's now asleep there, having had a long stressful day.

Hopefully I'll get to see Hestia, also for the first time in many years, at her meet in 420 Coffeeshop tomorrow.

A major dab session ensues and I eventually stagger home wasted.

Another amazing day, spoilt only by hearing of Hestia's troubles.

Forecast for tomorrow is for sunshine and we've got a visit to Sound Garden planned. It'll be Macky's birthday too.
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RoMoney
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by RoMoney »

Beautiful Lemming, thoroughly enjoyed that! Also a useful reference for my upcoming trip :mrgreen:
Bring back Imelda Marcos!
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AzLaker
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by AzLaker »

Thanks again for another wonderful write up Lem. The visuals are great as your telling about the adventures of the day.
Looking forward to more of the 420 week. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by gapie »

i was 10 min to late i missed u all fuck it happened
ach jah wot can u do
chiln and drinking relaxin
#STANquilio
GetHigh,DoStuff&Dont give a FUCK!
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HitTheNorth
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by HitTheNorth »

A thing of beauty. Looking forward to the next instalment. Thank you Lemming x
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Lemming
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Lemming »

After that encouraging start, I seem to have got distracted.

Just recently I've started trying to piece together the next day - chilling in the sunshine at 420 Coffeeshop (ex-Dutch Flowers) and Sound Garden.

I've got some nice pictures of Trad, the Mackys, Hestia and me. I'll send these to the subjects for approval before I post them. I know they're generally happy to be seen. I also know that several of those present are keen to remain incognito so my pics of them will stay in my private collection.

If you think I might have a pic of you and you'd like a copy or to see it posted here, please let me know.
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Trad »

Hey Lemming.
I am cool with you posting any photos of me you wish. Do you have any of the night we broke Gapie? πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
If I don't see you no more in this world, I'll meet you on the next one.
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gapie
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by gapie »

Trad wrote: ↑Thu 5th Sep 2019 11:42 pm Hey Lemming.
I am cool with you posting any photos of me you wish. Do you have any of the night we broke Gapie? πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
I remember I felt shit lolz I threw up dunno was fucked no more of that shit saaaarrghhhh
GetHigh,DoStuff&Dont give a FUCK!
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Smokeybee21
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Re: ACD Forum's 4/20 Gathering 2019

Post by Smokeybee21 »

Lemming wrote: ↑Thu 5th Sep 2019 01:56 pm After that encouraging start, I seem to have got distracted.

Just recently I've started trying to piece together the next day - chilling in the sunshine at 420 Coffeeshop (ex-Dutch Flowers) and Sound Garden.
Can't wait for the next instalment :twisted:
Next trip: September 2023 with the missus.
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