Amsterdam 2024 – Day 5 and Day 6

Start of day 5 we started off visiting a jewelry store close by the hotel to find a replacement necklace. Then went to Grand Cafe Lido for dinner. Details here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2024/10/21/lido/

After, tried the casino next door, Holland Casino, for a quick game of blackjack. Europe has two different rules from North America. First is that you can only double your bet on 9, 10 or 11. Second you are allowed to play or “invest” on someone else’s hand.

After the casino, started and ended the night early at Gashouder, where we saw Camelphat, Stephan Bodsen (great visual) and Maceo Plex. Will say watching from the bleachers at Gashouder was a great idea for the visuals.

We did may one put stop at McDonalds before ending the night.

Next day, checked out of Park Centraal hotel and flew out of AMS.

Amsterdam 2024 – Day 1

Flew into AMS with United business class (50K points + $600). Also, seems like iPad holder could fit a large iPad Pro.

Checked into Park Centraal Hotel. Conveniently located near one of the ADE venues Melkweg, and also just close to high end shops in general (ie Rimowa… which I mention specifically because a friend’s wheel broke off during they’re travel to AMS and they got it fixed).

After checking in, we walked around a bit to grab some liquor and water. Then we Ubered to a pop up ADE set where Oliver Heldens and Eli Brown played a b2b. It was located at a store called Glamcult. They even have free beer and Redbull! Only complaint was that it was really hot.

After, we had dinner at a place called Momo. Details can be found here (only slight annoying? thing is that some girl named Nina was very insistent on hanging out):

Momo (Amsterdam)

We then got ready for a night at Melkweg where we mainly saw Oliver Heldens. The venue had a main room and a side room. We were there for around 4 hours.

Europe 2023 Day 1 – Ibiza

Original plan was to leave SF at 3pm on a Saturday, then arrive aim Ibiza on Sunday 4pm (in time to catch Swedish house mafia), connecting through AMS. Plan was solid until my flight leaving SF was delayed 3 hours! Within those 3 hours tried to see if there was any other reasonable solution (ie not paying thousands) to get to IBZ at the same time. Was about to take a United flight to London Heathrow instead (several direct flights to IBZ from there), but then it got cancelled! Also tried to figure out a new flight to IBZ. Unfortunately had to get a non direct flight (stopping by Barcelona). Getting me there 4.5 hrs later.

Flight went by reasonably fast (was in Exonomy Plus with no one at the middle seat, and watched Suits for most of it, then got maybe 1 hour of sleep).

Arriving at AMS, taxiing to the gate was probably a good 15 minutes. When entering the airport, the walk to passport control was around 8 minutes. Then waited in line for 35 minutes (although they were actively asking if people had flights to catch within 30 minutes of the current time). After passport control, no re-entering security. Went to the aspire lounge aka Lounge 26 (covered by priority pass). The lounge was just meh (comparing to centurion). Only hot food was soup, and alcohol was self serve (only whisky was Red label).

On the positive side, sorta learning how to adapt to unexpected travel hiccups. Hopefully this is the only one on this trip!

FYI, vueling and posting the gates on google of the worst. Had to go to the airport website to find the gate info.

The flight to BCN (stop over) was around 2 hours. Vueling doesn’t have seats that recline, but alcohol they sell is cheap. When I got to BCN, my gate we landed to was at A12. The gate I needed to reach was B43. I basically sprinted for a good 10 minutes to make my connection. Super glad I made it.

Arriving at IBZ, got a taxi, where they accept cc. Arriving at the hotel, The Grand Palladium White Island, quickly checked in, then made my way to Ushuaia for Swedish house Mafia. Only caught an our, but it was truly satisfying.

After, went to the Ushuaia rooftop. Great view, but it’s just meh unless you go during the music (aka before 11pm) (great view of the stage).

The last place we stopped by this night was Elvissa (aka Ibiza Town). We had stopped by Calle de La Virgin (the Castro street of Ibiza). Because it was a Sunday, it wasn’t super happening, but I can see how it could be busy got G area. We had a drink at Cenote, where the vibe is mainly jungle themed. Had a Mojito Pina Colad (basically a Mojito wit a hint on Pina). Was pretty good.

We also did walk around the Ibiza Marina (Avinguda Andanes). Reminded me of Split, Croatia.