TRIP TO AMSTERDAM
DAY ONE
So initially we were suppose to be leaving by coach at 8:45am. We were told by Dash to get there at 8am, possibly even earlier. Deon and myself were arriving to Victoria at 7:30am and we found that Alex was already there. It was when I went onto Facebook that I saw Luke say his ticket said 10:30am boarding. This was confirmed by Dash and he apologised. So already, we were 3 hours early. Me, Deon and Alex decided to chill upstairs in Mcdonalds when Alex received a call from Luke which wasn’t sounding good. Apparently he said, “You’re not going to like this. I’ll meet you and tell you.” When Luke finally arrived looking grim, he finally told us that we’ve only been booked for a single ticket instead of a return. To cut things short, Dash paid for a return for all of us and instead we’d be returning back from Amsterdam on Monday instead of Sunday. We had originally planned to book one night’s accommodation and then stay up all night for the last day. However, now this wouldn’t work out that way.
Things didn’t particularly get better on our journey. After the 12 hour coach trip, we spent an extra 2 hours of trying to find out where to go and actually travelling to the cabin. Unfortunately things got worse, especially for Deon. Dash took hold of my suitcase so I could catch up with the others and by the time we caught up I saw Deon neck deep in the river just in front of the entrance to the cabin. He thought this was the path Luke and Alex walked towards the entrance and it being dark, he didn’t realise until at the last moment when Adam warned him too late. He was soaked to the skin. He had quickly scrambled out when he realised his phone was in his pocket. The £20 worth of food I had bought including snacks, the sandwiches I made and the Carbonara I had just bought at the train station, all took a dive with Deon as well.
Deon rushed to the showers in the accommodation 10 minutes away from the cabin and tried to pay the fee of 1 euro to get it started. However, it wouldn’t work. We realised after asking someone that you needed to pay 1 euro at the shop to get a token. However, it was past midnight and the shop was closed. Things became urgent because Deon was breaking out with an allergic reaction where hives were appearing around his mouth and chin. The only option Deon had was to use the water in the sink. I stayed with Deon while Dash watched guard and spent an hour and a half helping Deon wash the muck off his body and clothes. Regrettably, because I was helping him get the residue off him, I was unable to help his phone. The state of his phone got worse as the screen turned grey and then pitch black. It was a difficult night to sleep for me. Unexpectedly, Luke woke up screaming in the bunk bed above and he sat up for a bit. I asked if he was okay but he managed to go back to sleep. Over all, my experience hasn’t been fantastic.
DAY TWO
I set my alarm and woke people at 7am. Deon was still in a bad mood. We’re currently running late for the tournament as we seemed to have missed the bus and had to wait 20 minutes. Travel has been ridiculously expensive. I’m so sad that all my snacks (most of which I hadn’t even tried myself yet) were all gone. Ironically the toilet paper Deon bought was soaked and the accommodation didn’t provide us with any. The redeeming thing about this area is that people are extremely friendly. They help you with travelling without even asking. They talk about the landmarks, etc. I don’t feel worried about asking for directions. I’m on the train right now which is a double decker. I hope today will be better. I am concerned for Deon. No coat and his boots are peeling apart. He’s having to wrap Luke’s blue blanket around him like a hobo and he’s wrapped Sainsbury’s bags around his feet which are sticking out of his drenched boots.
…And yet again, things got worse. Our second train journey almost came to a halt thanks to someone committing suicide in front of a train at a further stop. We were told that they’d let us know if this caused an interruption to our journey, but thankfully it didn’t affect us. Supposedly the venue was only five minutes away from the station. That in itself took about 15 minutes. We arrived at the destination, or so we thought. We realised the directions given to us were very vague. For another 10 minutes we waited for someone to pick us up, but in the end it seemed Luke was taking us to the venue directly. That took at LEAST a further 30 to 45 MINUTES of walking. This is probably one of the worst trips I’ve ever had. I kept thinking to myself, “I want to go home!” The trip has pissed me off so much! It wasn’t worth the money. Deon said to take it as an experience. It just…never got better.
The other UK smash group arrived after us and it really did lift my mood to be around them. I did start becoming extremely exhausted and often fell asleep on the chair and woke up abruptly. Unfortunately things aren’t really getting any better. We have no accommodation and no Smasher offering to house us. Our only option is to stay awake until morning. The thing is I think I’ve not slept much at all. The plan is to go to a bar and chat until morning. I’m just not in a particularly talkative mood. I’ve tried to be patient and say, “Maybe it’ll get better” and it doesn’t. I didn’t have spare money to spend and it’s not exactly an enjoyable experience.
I didn’t think things could get any worse. We realised there was no way to book an accommodation for tonight or we’d have to pay roughly 150 euros per person. That option was out of the question. Alex had already planned to stay all night in Amsterdam and relax in a bar since he’s leaving tomorrow. I didn’t like the idea because I was so exhausted. However, we were also kindly offered housing by Four Sword, even for two days instead of one. I felt relieved, but it would mean we’d have to spend 40 euros for travelling. After much stress and heated conversations, we all agreed to be housed since It was confirmed we’d be allowed to stay for two days. Deon managed to persuade Alex to come with us. We had to rush to take the tram since it was already getting quite late. Once we arrived at the train station we had problems buying our train tickets. It required 13 euros, but only in coins or paid by card. We ALL only had notes and felt it was unnecessary to further take out money via card. Everything in the station was closed a part from Burger King. We attempted to get our notes changed up but we were refused. Michael afterwards walked in hastily and told us with a serious expression that we only had 4 minutes to get on the train. The only option we had was to jump on the train and hope we could pay for the ticket with notes there. If not, risk being fined. We agreed against that. Our only option was taxi. We were kicked outside of Burger King at 2am and the station in general so we decided to check out the taxi service. To our dismay, it cost 30 euros each for 5 taxis. They reduced it to 25 euros but everyone agreed that was out of our price range. We just DON’T have the money. So in the end, we’re stranded. Ixis was at breaking point as he started shouting at the bench. He got Michael to film his ranting and his first line was, “The bench is wet.” Alex’s plan seemed a better idea, at least we would’ve had warmth but I can at least say we have everyone. We saw Deon cross the road to the park. Everyone shouted, “Don’t go near the pond!” While Ixis started running for him shouting, “It’s haunted! Don’t die!” He managed to bring Deon back.
DAY THREE
It was a difficult night, sitting on a bench outside. The temperature seemed to drop drastically. I had to wear two pairs of leggings and socks and I was still freezing cold. Deon did try to share his blanket but that didn’t work too well. Those 3 hours seemed longer than it was. We had each other, that was the positive I focused on. I could laugh despite our circumstances. I ended up getting some hot chocolate to warm myself up. In the mean time Ixis and Michael elaborated on the noise coming from the park. They described it as a zombie cow. We were in disbelief until we heard a low moo coming from the park. We just stood there and looked at each other. Dash explained that he thought our cabin was haunted as he had a dream that a figure was hovering an icy hand over each one of us and when it stopped at Luke, Luke woke up screaming. He also explained that he dreamt that the bunk bed above him was about to cave in and he put his arm up to protect him. When doing this in his sleep, his arm fell and smacked him in the face. This happened twice and he felt that someone was controlling his arm.
We thought the station would open at 6am, but because it’s Sunday it opened at 7am instead. We persevered. This was when we parted ways with the other Smash group that were taking plane. We managed to get on our train to Amsterdam and so far it has been smooth. We’ll see how day 3 goes.
We briefly went to a gateau shop while Luke and Dash went to get high. Our next main destination was to finally go to our new hostel. Luke said it would only be 10 minutes. 15 minutes at most. It took at least 30 minutes. However, now we’ve arrived, I’m pleased with the fact we get a bed sheet, duvet cover and pillow case this time. It was needed compared to the cabin. I’m ready for a nice sleep later.
DAY FOUR
I haven’t written much lately because for most of the day I just slept. We’re currently in Julia, the pasta place for the third time. I can’t wait to get on the coach. I admit yesterday has been straight forward a part from the long journey. Hopefully things from now on will run smoothly. I’m so scared to look at my bank account.
We were told on the coach that we’re lucky as there were no people to pick up in Brussels. We stopped at McDonalds for 20 minutes to get food since we couldn’t be too early for the next pick up point. We arrived at our next destination at the lodge and picked up 3 people. As me and Deon were watching anime, they announced that there was an error and miscommunication and that there’s 14 people that we have to pick up in Brussels. So we have to turn around and pick them up. This would add at least an hour and a half to our 12 hour journey. **** sake.
So, we had to get off the coach at France to show our passport to the French borders. I hate queues. Once that was finished we returned back to our seats. I started eating cookies and Deon took his shoes off. I am not exaggerating when I say the coach turned around the corner and told us to get off and show our passport to the British borders control. I was at breaking point to be honest. I’ve been patient and endured so much ****. I returned to the coach in an unimpressed mood. We arrived at the Eurotunnel at 17:20pm. The Euro train had departed at 17:20pm. We had just missed the Euro train and are now having to wait half an hour. Adding this to the hour and a half delay we already have.
After many hours, we finally made it back to England at roughly 8pm. I think we were all relieved to be back on familiar grounds. We did say our journey isn’t over yet, anything could happen but me and Deon made it back okay. It’s been stressful at times and extremely frustrating but as Deon said, he wouldn’t take away the experience despite everything. Despite the lows, there were memorably moments. The tournament in itself was run well and everyone was friendly.