The Affordable mini break: Amsterdam

I had exams last month and in one of my revision sulks, decided enough was enough and that  I needed something to look forward to. Basically I felt like this.  After a few hours of searching the internet for deals, I came across a mini cruise deal with P&O ferries; a two for one mini cruise to Amsterdam! They have lots of different offers throughout the year so it's always worth checking and they also do a trip to Bruges which I went on when I was younger...here's their site.

So for £95 each, we got return transport, a premier cabin (actually worked out cheaper!!), our evening meals and breakfast each way AND coach transport from Rotterdam port to Amsterdam. Such a bargain! 

We arrived in Hull in the evening and boarded the ferry. The sky was beautiful with shades of pink, orange and blue. The bar had some great offers on so we chilled in the bar for a bit, knocking back the wine and beers before heading for food. The food was a standard buffet, definitely not gourment but a good selection of standard food that hit the spot. If you're into your fine dining (or can afford it) then they do have a brasserie selling lobster etc..etc...not for students :(

The ferry had a cinema, casino, piano bar and lounge with a band as well as a few shops to keep us entertained. We bought two huge bars of milka (the ones you usually only find in airports), scoffed them and collapsed into bed. 

The beds were really comfortable but it was a shame the window couldn't be opened for a bit of fresh air as the cabins are only small and get stuffy really easily. 

We arrived in Rotterdam around 8am and got the coach to Amsterdam as soon as we stepped off the ferry. It's funny how you notice things abroad like the lack of signs on the coach to say where they went and nothing even resembling a queue! We somehow did make the right coach and were soon on our way to Amsterdam!! yay!!!

Holland really does have a lot of windmills and also...bikes!! My goodness, crossing the roads was like risking your life, with mopeds, trams, cyclists and cars all to look out for. It wasn't like in England where if the lights go red the cars stop..it was a case of they might stop!

I should probably mention that with these cruises, you're only there for the day and sleep there and back on the ferry...but I counted the ferry as part of the holiday too because it doesn't feel like you're travelling at all!! So with that in mind, we couldn't do everything we wanted so picked to go on a canal cruise and also to the Ice Bar.

The canal cruise was a good way of seeing as much of the city as possible in the little time we had and also to learn a bit about somewhere I only really knew as being famous for prostitutes and drugs. We went with a company called Lovers, which were okay but you listened to a recorded audiotape rather than having a live guide cracking jokes...still was pretty decent for 13 euros each and it lasted a good hour. 

The Ice Bar was 18 euros and included a cocktail and two drinks in ice glasses. The cocktails were gorgeous and it wouldn't be any type of holiday without them now would it! The Ice Bar was -10 degrees so we didn't spend that long in there but it was definitely an experience to be soooo collldddd! I just wished it was a little bigger. If you've been to an Ice Bar before then I'd say don't bother as I imagine there's bigger and better ones in London etc but if not then it was good value for money.

Now the red light district... we did end up walking down it but it was 2 in the afternoon so we missed any of the seedy stuff. It was weird seeing the girls in the window wearing next to nothing or strange cat outfits, swinging their tails. Be prepared for your boyfriend to walk into things because his attention is not on looking at where he's going *ahem ahem*. 

I fell in love with the pretty canals, bridges and the bicycles. It was like being in the film ' the fault in their stars' when they visit :) If I went back, I'd like to visit more of the museums but with it being just a day visit, it was lovely walking round and admiring the unusual buildings and trying to speedwalk past the random sex shops that seemed to pop up all over haha.

If you're looking for an affordable trip away where you get to visit somewhere new then I really do recommend trying these mini cruises, especially if you can catch the 2 for 1 deal! 

And if you can recommend things to do in Amsterdam, please let me know in the comments below :)

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