Amsterdam Meetup!!!

 

Honestly I really had no clue of what to expect from these meetups. I had decided in the last minute to fly to Amsterdam and meet some of my travbuddies, the people that I have been chatting with for awhile.  Being this was my first meetup I was excited to finally the people behind the photos, the blogs and the conversations. My trip got off to a rocky start when my flight got delayed (This was a running theme of this meetup)

I finally found the Goodies bar that a bunch of the travbuddies were at looked inside didn't recognize anyone familiar, but upon exiting I recognized a familiar face... I think to myself, “was that Marloes?” So I turn around walk over and introduce myself, kinda felt like a blind date meeting a little bit haha... I later learned that Marloes noticed me too and after we initially crossed paths, she goes to Ket, “I think that was Jeff!” I didn't get a chance to meet Wendy, Marloes, Ket and the others for lunch and when I finally got to them they were done with the Talking and drinking part of the day, and the girls wanted to shop.

.. I think on our way to Centraal Station we must have went into EVERY shoe store, and Marloes and Nienke looked around while us guys stood outside, Ket, Ante and myself wondered what is taking sooo long :)))

We finally got to the official meeting point at Centraal Station and saw that there were many travbuddies already gathered... I recognized some of the people right away, offcourse Devi, so I had to say hello! You really couldn't miss Mark, he approached everyone first haha... I introduced myself to Sylvie, after noticing her right away, and after talking for a few minutes in seemed like we knew eachother for years haha... Some of the others I have never really spoken too but everyone was cool and we made our way to Smits Koffiehuis...

Devi had set us up with a sweet location in the basement, reserved for us only! We got a chance to get to know eachother alittle, even if you could only really talk to the people at your own table :( The conversations started flying and so did the photo flashes, the paparazzi was shooting from every angle trying to get “action” shots, doesn't matter how much you tried everyone at some point in the day got caught, even Ante ( I got you pretty good!)

When Lauro and Hanie showed up the party shifted up a notch, which always happens when Lauro shows up!!! We all became comfortable with eachother, right about the time the kicked us out haha!!!

So after countless group photos we made our way to Humphreys for dinner.

.. Bravo goes out to Wendy for setting up this great location, we had our own side of the restaurant with enough room to walk around a mingle... I offcourse was seated at the supremely cool table with Zoey, Hanie, Sylvie, Kim and Lauro next to me and once we got seated the fun just didn't stop... Everybody was hungry as hell cause we devoered the bread, waiting and once the alcohol came the laughter never stopped! I got a chance to know more about the people around me, and they about me... I gotta say that Lauro and Hanie say they are shy, I didn't notice any of that, they were both sweet, funny, Lauro was just hilarious, I knew right away he was gonna be the life of the party! Sitting next to Sylvie was a blast also, we could make each other laugh without even saying anything :))))

Everyone got a chance to chat with those they couldn't in the Koffiehuis, there were tons of photos taken, some you were aware of and most you were not haha.

The food was great, even though the waiter never took my order originally, there goes her tip lol

After we all got stuffed, and felt like we knew each other pretty well, we all felt that we needed more alcohol, so we headed in search for of a bar that could handle our posse! After being rejected by a few establishments (that sucked anyway lol) We hit the jackpot with Spot Bar. Now it was pretty empty when we found it but not for long when our group runs twenty deep... We filled up that bar and everyone didn't miss a beat, drinking, watching football, having a great time!

Some memorable moments from Spot bar:

- Charlotte showing off her passion for her football club :)

- Mark singing and Dancing! There is classic video out there I want to see it!

- The Frugels! Can't ever forget the Frugels haha

- Ruby putting on a wrestling clinic at the expense of Lauro (She had a few too many by that time, hope everything is cool with you babe!)

- Finally getting to know Devi a lot better! And to think she hated me when we first met.

- Got a chance to interact more with Wayne, Ruby, Ket, Melle, and offcourse Lauro all top notch people in my book!

From the bar, the group broke up into smaller groups, some went home, but I had no intention of stopping just was so damn hungry... After getting a bite with Sylvie and Kim we met up with the others and hit up a disco! The party continued well into the night, everyone had a blast, and all the goodbyes accompanied by the idea that this is definitely not the last time we will see eachother, heck from the forum activity the next day, sounds like it won't be too long... Start the party train!!!

The best thing about the Amsterdam meetup was the quality of the people that attended... You hope that people turn out to be like you thought they would from chatting with them and their profiles, and I am happy to say that everyone there met or exceeded all of my expectations.

Because of the time difference I don't get a chance to chat with all of you as much as I would like but I can't wait to see you all soon!

Not wanting to go home, I spent as much time as I could with Sylvie, Kim, Wendy, and Ante cutting it really close to my flight departure... With my flight leaving at 18:10 I was still at central station @ 17:15... wayyy to close for comfort... From the time the train stopped at Schiphol @ 17:30 I was reincarnated into a world champion track star, and for the next 10 minutes I ran across the ENTIRE airport, didn't help when getting to the check-in I was told by KLM employee that I would never get to the plane on time, she didn't know about my speed... So there I was huffing and puffing through the entire airport, bypassing nice people at passport checkpoint, only to be asked a bunch of stupid obvious questions like (Are you in a hurry) NOOOO! how did you know, I am just always out of breath! I am telling you this guy did not want me to make this flight.

.. Even though my gate was the farthest in the entire airport I made it in time! Now I can relax :)))

All the long flights and the jetlag was well worth it to meet you all!!!

A little bit about the travbuddies that I've meet:

Mandy ��" cool chick for the short time we talked

wayne-very cool chap, got a chance to share a frugel shot and a few laughs, looking to share more in the future my man!

Mark- should be the meetup for every meet up, he is there anyway

Sylvie- just a great person, we had a ridiculous amount of fun together!

Kim- cool dude, tells good stories and also shares my distaste for hieneken

Ante- spent the most time with him, very cool talked about everything under the sun!

Lauro- the life of the party, things changed when he arrived haha, love this guy :)

Hanie-  great personality, just plain fun to be around.

.

Ruby- awesome chick, don't want to get on her bad side haha ;) Wish I could have chilled with her more

Devi- Devs is awesome, just like I thought she would be!

Charlotte- Did know her before the meet up, but is very sweet, nice, and a one huge football fan!

Johan- Talked to him for only for a bit, good guy.

Stephan- Good man, would be a lot of fun to hang out with.

Bennie- Did say much to him, next time, seemed like a cool dude

Zoey- We shared plates of food together, very classy!

Marloes- The first person I met that day, I put up with her shoe fetish haha lol, very nice girl, completely forgot to teach her some russian words, sorry Marloes

Nienke- Sweet girl, only stayed a short time, hopefully we can chat more in the future

Wendy- Great person, put together the dinner, was a pleasure hanging out with her around Adam

Ket- Very cool, shared some laughs hopefully more in the future

Melle- Didn't know him from before, but is a cool guy, hope to see him in the future too

Alex- Interesting fellow, shared a few conversations together

Marcel- talked for a bit, hopefully more soon

Raphke- very interesting girl, will talk more soon i hope

Eef- had a great personality made me laugh all the time too

If I left anyone out I apologize