We have finally gotten our selves a nice little apartment in Amsterdam! It took just over a month to get (which is lucky). To say that the apartment situation here in Amsterdam is hard is an understatement! It is insane! We got one with a bit of kindness and luck! So, for that month and a bit we were slugging it out in different hostels around Amsterdam (whatever was the cheapest to stay at from week to week). I have to say Amsterdam has a good hostel game, sheesh! They are swanky and mahhussive! I’ve never seen hostels as big as the ones here (750+beds).
Anyway, long story short, one week we were only able get a hostel in the city from Monday to Saturday. Saturday night was completely booked out, no room for two poor unfortunate Irish souls such as ourselves. So, after a quick panic, we met another Irish dude (Irish to the rescue) in the hostel and he gave us a little nugget of advice. He said that there was a hostel in the city that had another premises just outside Amsterdam. 35 km to be exact and here’s another thing, it’s at the beach!
Sounds good mate but how are we supposed to get there? To which he replied, the hostel is so class that they provide a €4 shuttle bus to and from Amsterdam! Bloody insane! Gotta love the little traveling Irish. Patriotism at its finest. So, we did just that! Saturday morning we headed out the The Flying Pig Beach Hostel for the night. Guess what? Yer man was sitting on the couch at the reception of the beach hostel. Hah… was he paid by them to do this? Or did he just want company? Or maybe he was just being a nice guy? I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
So, aftersettling into our rooms at the hostel we decided to head out and explore the place and take a nice sunset stroll on the beach. Perfect conditions to bring the old camera out for a walk.
Heading out to the beach for a night was actually a blessing in disguise. I think Laura and I really needed it. At the time things were getting a little overwhelming back in the city. We knew that getting an apartment would be hard (we did research before getting to Amsterdam we aren’t complete noobs…yet) but we didn’t think it would be this hard. We were still looking for jobs too. All we had been doing since we moved here was just burning through our savings. You start to question whether any of this was a good idea. Why is it that it’s not working out? Is it me, us? If we can’t set up shop here then where will we be able to set up? We can’t go home, not like this. These are just some of the questions that start to flood into your head when you move for the first time. It can be really overwhelming. Coming out to the beach allowed us to detach ourselves from the situation and see the bigger picture a little bit. It really helped us to regain our composure and stay motivated. And it worked, we now have an apartment and jobs! Whoop!
If there is any advice I could give, not that I’m entitled to give advice because this is only my first time moving away, it would be to be persistent. As hard as it might get just keep the faith, stay motivated and it will happen.
Back to the beach story. So we headed out to the beach and just walked and walked and it was actually so great. We watched the sun set slowly over the horizon and the birds glide across the water so peacefully. After a while we found this nice beach bar that had only been open for 2 days. We grabbed 2 glasses of wine, sat out on some chairs near a little fire and just watched the sunset. Pure bliss.
Maybe it was because of all the emotion from the past few days that made this little escape feel so good, but I can not recommend a trip to Noordwijk enough. Its amazing how close it is to Amsterdam. Such a peaceful break from what the busy city might push on you.
Noordwijk also has Europe’s largest Space Expo, we only found that out when we read the map on the beach. Noordwijk a place full of hidden gems…
The next day we headed back to the city and 2 days later we had our own apartment! Funny how things work out like that.
If you want to spend a few days away from the city and out in Noordijk, then check the links below to see the hostel itself and the shuttle service. I’ll also leave a little link to more about the history of Noordwijk and the space expo.
If you liked this blog and the photos from here, or it helped inspire a trip to Noordwijk let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Or if you have any questions about our little trip just send me an email or visit the contact section on my website.
Thank you for your continued support.
Photos below:
Endatheroad 