Proost! ... (Cheers!)...

And with the stroke of a pen our season was over...

If you can remember the End of our Season last year, it wasn't a fun affair. This coupled with quite a few other reasons really put Kerry and I off of working in any other resorts. However, the decision to hand our notice in this year was primarily mine. I found working the chalet a lot more difficult this time round.

Working seasons was now a job and not so much a pleasure. The snowboarding was still awesome, and something I want to do every single winter until I physically can't, but waiting on people hand and foot nearly 16 hours day was grating a bit on my patience. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I wasn't happy, but I wasn't enjoying myself as much as last year, and Kerry said that it showed in my persona... So we both decided it was best to jack it in and start new adventures.

We worked our notice and ended up leaving just 3 weeks short of the end of the season in Sainte Foy, avoiding the dreaded transfer to another resort. So what would I do with this years season wages? Get constipation in Tenerife? Tempting though it was I decided to meet up with the boys and have a week long excursion in my favourite city... Amsterdam.

Friends of mine, Dane and Alec, and I hatched a drunken plan over Facebook and the day after landing in the UK was meeting Dane in the bar at Gatwick Airport again headed for the most efficient airport, Schiphol. Unfortunately Alec couldn't make it just yet, with a few more days work in the Army before his redundancy started.

I'd bought some blinging new shoes in the day I had spare between getting back from the Alpes and heading off to Amsterdam. This also meant I didn't have time to check them out and 'wear them in' as my mum was always telling me when I was young. That first day in Amsterdam was pure hell on my feet. The shoes fit but were slightly too small. Not by much... In the shop they felt perfectly fine... but with a city break comes a lot of walking and I was now learning that that slightly too small pretty much meant did not fit.

And so after a few visits to the coffee shops we were walking in to a BHS style department store looking for the cheapest shoes they had. The result was a pair of weird plastic topped trainer/loafer that I did not like but fit lovely. I doubt I will wear them ever again once I get home, but for now they were a god send.

Dane took us both out one night to visit his favourite bar, the Gollem bar just South West of the main Dam Square. It was a nice place and we must have spent hours in there, chatting and catching up like good friends do. The variety of beers on offer was also impressive and we slowly made our way through at least half, trying to remember our favourites but forgetting the next night when we popped in for a couple. The cheese board was also good and went very quickly as we thought the bar's cat would eat it all as it prowled around between the taps.










One drunken evening we met up with some dude. I can't remember how we got talking or where we met him, but he came back to our hostel for a few 1 Euro beers before heading in to the bright lights later on. He was a nice English chap from somewhere in the Midlands I think. We shared a few drinks and smokes when suddenly, and through a bit of a slur, he declared it was time to go home (presumably his hostel?). I glanced at the clock and it was nearly 4:30 in the morning. I think we were all a bit worse for wear and Dane and I staggered back to our hostel, happy in the knowledge we'd put on a good drink!

Dane, Kathryn and I

Our next chance meeting was Kathryn who we randomly got talking to in the middle of Dam Square. Can't remember what we spoke about (We are in Amsterdam!) but I have her on my facebook!

It was time for Alec to be set free from the Army, and he made the drive from his Army base in Germany to the northern part of Amsterdam where we wild camped with Mia. Its the perfect place to leave a vehicle when venturing in to the Centre of Amsterdam. So after an elated meeting in a supermarket car park, we set off on the 10 minute walk to the ferry and it felt good. The 3 musketeers were together again!

However, the trio was to be short lived as Dane was to fly home that evening for another flight hours later to Las Vegas on a work exhibition. So we set to work! Beers were drunk, coffeeshops visited and we made the most of the afternoon ending in a nice little farewell dinner.

Alec booked in to the same hostel as Dane and I and after a little difficulty explaining that I was checking out, but checking in as well on another booking, were told that we had the same beds. Alec climbed in to Danes bed that night and remarked that it was a little weird!

The only real touristy things other than Coffeeshops we did was a little torture museum just off the Damrak. If I'm honest it wasn't too great, there was just one room with a few strange apparatus' but mainly pictures of gross ways to kill someone. I'd always recommend the Amsterdam Dungeons for this sort of thing, but the torture museum was a lot cheaper.

 It was really nice to see my friends again after a long time apart for one reason or another.

Magic Mushrooms and Efteling...

After our last success at Parc Asterix, we thought it a good idea to check out whether there were any Dutch Theme Parks.

Turns out the oldest in the Netherlands is a short drive away so we set off and are pulling in to a campsite a few ours later. The rates were very reasonable and the park just a kilometre down the road where it costs 10 euros to park.

We settled in to the campsite which had electricity and wifi included in the 15 euro a night fee.

Now here is where you(we) have to leave our opinions on drugs behind. The fact is that I enjoy altering my mind. I think is a very interesting and enjoyable experience. And we were in no better place to try psilocybin containing mushrooms, or rather truffles as the law now allows. Its the same as a mushroom it just hasn't been given conditions to fruit in to one and so grows underground.

They had a very unique taste with the texture of a nut. The advice said to chew well so the absorption occurs more through the mouth than the stomach. They seemed to let out a chemical taste that didnt disappear when I drank water.

After about an hour I started to get some weird wavy like movements on the peripheral of my vision. I couldn't help but laugh at things. I just wanted to smile. The whole trip lasted about 4 hours after that first hour and everything was interesting. The wood grain on the cupboards would move like a fluid and the different grass colours would morph and merge in to each other. Patterns were more prominant and I couldn't help but think about the construction of things to their smallest molecule.

My perspective on the world was a lot different. I thought about how many people it took to deliver the smallest thing to my world. Like the plastic milk bottle we bought for tea and coffee. Every single person in its supply chain was there just to give me the experience of pouring milk out of it. In short it was amazing.

I am intrigued by psilocybin and psyclobin as they are normally occuring substances within our brains. Not an alien chemical, just one you play with the quantities of in your brain. Its not toxic and I feel could be beneficial for learning and definately self discovery of some sort.

The visions and thoughts faded away slowly and I felt relaxed, enlightened and somehow closer to the world. Be careful if you choose to experiment, but I'd also say don't be scared. As with most drugs the effects fade away and if you are conscious that the different things that are happening are a manifestation of the drug you'll be fine.

Enough of all the hippie talk. After a good nights sleep we walked to Efteling, a fairytale theme park set in some ancient woodland. It is said that Walt Disney visited Efteling many times in the years before opening Disney World for inspiration. The park was very beautiful with old trees and lakes with pathways meandering through and around them.

The main rides were well thought out as well. My favorite being the wooden 2 tracked 'race coaster' called Joris and the Dragon. The wooden construction gives the ride a very scary and organic feel and they always seem to be faster than their steel counter parts.

I managed to get on the front of the indoor roller coaster called Vogel Rok and enjoyed wizzing round in the pitch black. Much better than X No Way Out at Thorpe Park.

We finished the day with a show about the rising of a huge 5 headed raven beast and 4 knighted friends on horse back as they tried to slay it. The story wasn't anything to write home about but the anamatronix on the massive beats was impressive.  Id like to work on equipment like that at some point.

The 3rd best water jet show is also at Efteling. 3rd behind the Belaggio display in Vegas and one in Dubai. We waited next to the big lake just before the start time and was disappointed to hear that it had gone tech.

All in all it was a good day. If I had to pit it against Parc Asterix I'd say that Asterix was better. But only by a whisker.

Rotterdam and Nan's house..

After a drive down from Amsterdam where we took a bit of a divertion across the country to East of Utrecht. Our friend Alec was traveling back to his army camp in Germany and was able to meet up for some dinner and wine.

Windmill in Rotterdam

The next day we parked up in a lovely area of Rotterdam called Scheidam. The aire was under one of 5 beautiful windmills that lit up at night.

We had a stroll around the local area which seemed to have a long past of being a distillery with warehouses and large buildings dotted along the canals. We fed the ducks in the canal metres from the van.

My Dad and his brother lived in the Netherlands with their parents when they were little and I thought it'd be nice to see the area where they lived and get a picture of the old house for my Nan. So we drove West towards the coast and the small town of Oostvorne. Its a typical small Dutch town with decent cycle paths on every road and small quaint closes and cul de sacs. We found the house which had a nice little lake at the back where my Dad said he played as a kid.

Further around the coast we pulled in to a lovely campsite to celebrate my 25th Birthday, cycling in to town and around the battlement at Hellevoetsluis. That evening we saw a few Persied meteors as we star gazed.

Nan's house

I caught my first fish with my telescopic rod in a canal and got some lovely photos of the wildlife using just my phone camera.

We headed back in to Rotterdam for a few nights relaxing before heading to the biggest Dutch theme park, Eftling...

Mia's arrival in the 'Dam

I was excited when Mia first said she had quit her job. I was even more excited when she asked if it would be possible to join Kerry and I in our van for a bit.

Kerry and Mia on the river

So we setup a rendezvous. Schipol Airport at 10am, just as Mia got off her plane. What a disaster that turned in to with Mia unable to text. Kerry and I were getting messages from friends back home saying Mia couldn't find us! Eventually we spotted our old flat-mate waving as she walked towards us.

First stop, of course, Amsterdam and all its glorious sights! Ive been to Amsterdam a few times before, twice with Kerry, but Mia had surprisingly not been. Next mission was to find a campsite. We had stayed at a campsite just out of town the previous night but it was like a tourist farm with no personality and as it turns out we would have had to get the metro system in to town anyway.

We looked for somewhere nearer the centre and found a small campsite just to the North of the city on the otherside of the river Ij. Trying to navigate to the campsite however, we stumbled upon a small industrial area where a few other vans had parked up and within 20 minutes we were galiantly walking down the road to the free ferry to the Centrum.

We sampled some of the wares in the coffee shops and had a walk around the canals, heading back quite early as Mia had travelled early morning.

The nexy day we booked ourselves on a very pleasant canal tour. An hour and a half expedition around the canals on a canal boat. There was a commentary on the PA system that highlighted places of note and some of the history of the city.

3D action in Prix D'ami

In the evening we found a great coffeeshop called Prix D'ami, just down from the central station on the Damrak. For 8 Euros we got a drink, a big burger and 3D glasses so we could lounge on bed like sofas and watch iRobot on one of the 3D screens. We spent hours there as waitresses came round and tended to everyones needs. The perfect coffeeshop!

That night Mia got her first taste of the red light district. We wandered aimlessly looking at scantily clad prostitutes try and lure in their weekly shopping money. Its always weird. But I did get to see some scantily clad prostitutes in a way thats largely accepted by other halfs.... so thats a bonus.

A morning in the Amsterdam dungeons followed the next day. I've never been to the London dungeons but have been to the Amsterdam ones before and its great. The live actors and anamatronix tell such good stories and some of the jumpy surprises can really scare you. Then the strange mini roller coaster at the end just freaks you out as the first thing it does is go up a floor like an elevator!

The weather got really nice that afternoon and we found a lovely park just south of the main city. The water in all of the little lakes and ponds seemed really high and it was nice to listen to some guys playing bongos near us.

Of course we had our fair share of feebo!

OHM2013 in the Nederlands...

After a pretty groggy drive from Global Gathering music festival in Stratford-upon-avon we arrived in the ferry port of Harwich late Sunday and immediately battened down the hatches ready for sleep and the sailing at 8am. 

The journey was fairly non-descript. We chose the Harwich - Hoek of Holland crossing rather than Dover or Felixstow purley because it was shorter in distance. 6 hours later and we were driving through beautiful Dutch countryside next to meandering canals. Instantly both Kerry and I proclaimed "I could live here", as if thats some sort of acceptance of a place.

Main Big Top lecture hall

The roads were great. Not a hill or even slight incline in sight and what seemed like endless, untouched motorway. It appears to be a fusion between German efficiency and French flair ... but next to a canal. We made quick time up the A4 for 50 miles and I swear there wasn't the slightest crack, bump or repair in the road.

It is nice to see the Netherlands for what it is. Ive only ever seen 'Hollande' through the stoned and hungry eyes of a pot tourist relishing in the fact they aren't criminalised for partaking. But to see the real Netherlands, it's landscape, flora, Industry, everything. Its all so much prettier.

OHM2013 was our destination. A Dutch 'hacker camp' held roughly every 4 years. The acronym stands for Observe, Hack, Make and does well to describe what the festival is about. Technology, software, gadgets, demonstrations, political figures and A LOT of geeks. It was nuts. Its the only place I've seen a guy scripting in Python on his mac sitting next to another guy playing connect 4 by himself. 

10's of Thousands of LEDS

The festival was a big experiment in itself. Every one of the attendees was classed as a volunteer. Everyone at the festival ran the festival. A system was setup online for people to volunteer for different jobs from cleaning the toilets and litter picking to hosting a talk or tweaking the code for the 30,000 individually addressable LEDs around the campsite. The only organisational structure was a relatively small group of core volunteers.

Now this all sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Well, when we pulled in to the festival site I was amazed. There were big top tents just like at a big festival, food stands, LED street lighting, scaffold towers with lazers on, a full blacksmithery.

Static experiment

There were 5 or 6 huge generators to power the whole thing. Every lecture tent had mood lighting, projectors and seating. Campers could run power to their tents/vehicles and there was a 10 G bit internet connection to keep everyone happy, wired and wireless.

Some of the talks were totally lost on me. 'hands on SIM card exploitation' for instance sounded fun but you needed to know how to code in java, C and have knowledge in round rainbow encryption cracking. All things I have no idea about!

But there were other talks on broadly different subjects. There was a wide representation of global whistleblowers and ex-three letter organisation employees speaking on drugs, terrorism, foreign policy and the implications of standing up and speaking against keeping quiet. Many of these people had been on the run from their old agencies and it was interesting to hear their views on the Bradley Manning case that was playing out whilst we were at the festival. 

Light show at night

There was even a very special live video link from Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He spoke for 45 minutes on the state of whilstleblowing, what help was needed, how we can support the Edward Snowdons of this world. 

I was particularly interested in the subjects more pertinant to me like the war on drugs and the damage it has caused as well as the hardware hacking talks using open source hardware such as the arduino microcontroller and the imbeddable linux computer the Raspberry Pi.

We latched on to a particular stand that gave away Melon and Meat Loaf (a sausage type meat with curry sauce) as well as a free .ml domain name. All weekend giving away free food... in the Netherlands!

Careful of the Crocs!

It was a real experience. The people definately made it though. Everyone rallied together to turn a bland field in a recreational ground in to, what felt like, the heart of the maker movement at that moment. 

The Festival was near to the town of Alkmaar and Kerry and I took a cycle in to the town for some groceries. The shear beauty of the place was hard to fathom. Every canal corner had an old windmill on it and I think we managed to cycle 5 miles round trip riding on cycle paths and not the road. 

I very much like the Northern end of the Netherlands. Even if it is a bit windy...

Drones!

Fablabtruck and makerlab

Laser party