Problem is, my 24 hour Netherlands layover happened to be in the Northern Hemisphere, which happens to be – like most of the rest of the Western world right smack in the dregs of winter.
So here comes ‘stupid American’ Alan waltzing off the plane wearing cargo pants and a thin poly-blend Old Navy t-shirt noticing immediately that there is not one other person in the whole airport who is wearing less than a down and rabbit fur winter coat.
Luckily my hotel was connected to the terminal, so I rushed to the room, changed into the warmest piece of clothing I packed – a thin poly blend long sleeved t-shirt Banana Republic t-shirt – and headed out for a stroll around the city center, figuring that fast walking and frequent ‘coffee verkert’ stops would provide a reasonable defense to the 32 degrees-and-dropping climate.
That turned out to be an ill conceived plan as well (see upcoming “still cold and now wired and can’t sleep” blog post for more details.)
But – I WAS in Amsterdam so there were plenty of distractions from the telltale tingling and numbness sensation invading my fingers and toes.
Since I didn’t have any particular destination in mind, I selected the first brightly lit street I could find from the train station – and quickly realized that most everything other than the alcohol, cannabis and flesh peddling establishments would be closed in observance of the New year’s holiday forcing me to revise my objectives from walk-around-and-buy-Miss-and-baby-presents to walk-around-and people-watch-while-looking-for-pubs-that-have-good-Belgium-Beer-on-tap.
After a few hours of fighting for space in crowded pubs, getting bumped in the street by stumbling Spanish and Italian teenagers blazed out of their minds and mouthing the words “no thanks” to the bikini-clad working girls propositioning me from their red-hued glass cages, I had had enough and figured passing the rest of my time in Amsterdam asleep at the hotel would be a better option.
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