A risky night in Amsterdam

A risky night in Amsterdam

23/08/2018 Off By the writer

One adventure to remember

It took 2 weeks to convince me, but I finally said yes, a short holiday with 2 of my closest uni friends, A and D. While we were deciding on the place I thought of Amsterdam, given our age group, time of year, and prices.

A few unforgettable incidents occurred during the short 3 day trip, a few that we all were a part of and one in particular that only I was a part of, in which I took it too far.

This incident occurred on the second and final night of our trip. We had seen a lot that day and in the evening we went to see the “night life” of Amsterdam, which is when another incident occurred but that story another time. After that we proceeded for our booking at the Amsterdam Ice Bar. We got there, got prepped and made our way in, I enjoyed my mocktails while my friends had drinks. It was here we decided that we should explore more of the city by night, so after we left and had dinner, I suggested the route and we started to walk across some of the busiest and most lively streets in Amsterdam.

Within an hour A and D were both very tired and wished to get back to the hotel for sleep, whereas I was just getting warmed up and craved to see more, since it was our last night here. They didn’t see eye to eye with me here and insisted that we head back, it was only 11 pm and we were already back at the hotel and in our respective rooms.

I was about to change my clothes when I thought to myself:

1. In Amsterdam

2. During Christmas season

3. Plenty of time and money left

4. Not sleepy or tired

If you knew me enough, you could guess what I was about to do next.

Within 10 minutes I am out of the hotel door, with just enough money to get me through the night. I left the rest of the money, my phone and my passport at the hotel for safety, but did take my camera(obviously)-on which I took a photo of my passport should I need it(which I did)- and the travel card we had been using. Being good with maps, I grabbed all the ones I had. It was to my complete knowledge that I was doing was very wrong and potentially even a danger to my life, since I didn’t have a phone with me, I hadn’t told anyone and I decided not to carry any physical ID with me. But I was determined to have fun and the most of my night.

Using the routes on the map I reached my first spot, the iAmsterdam sign near Rijksmuseum. There I discovered a very nice ice skating rink set up perfectly between the museum and the beautiful park. I wanted to ice skate and decided I would somehow get my friends here tomorrow morning to have fun.

But for now I went to the scenic park and just absorbed the serenity, walking around I found a very nice group(6 people) from India and sat with them, discussing stories, one of which occurred with me and my friends just hours ago. We sat and spoke for about 2 hours before one of them suggesting that we should go a club for the rest of the night. I told them that I had initially planned to see the casino which was nearby, hearing which they got really excited, turns out that they were all gambling lovers. We reached and had a look around, until a few of them started playing. I wanted to only see it but they encouraged me to play too so I played a few rounds of poker, and a round of roulette. I know roulette is mathematically the worse game to play in a casino but that night I bet €10 on an individual number and actually won, converting €10 into €300 in a matter off seconds.

Following this I decided to treat my new friends to a few rounds of drinks in the club, where we had a lot of fun and there was plenty of shouting. By now it was 3 am and they were tired and drunk, one beyond control, trying to dance with pedestrians, a first for me. Luckily their hotel was nearby so I helped drop them off to make sure none of them ended up swimming in the canals(spoke to soon).

From there I wanted to go to another club but realised that it was too late and I wouldn’t get entry anywhere. So instead I got coffee, opened my map and started walking again. It was then I realised that I should avoid any dark and empty streets and stick to the main roads. Although the shops were all shut they were all still lit up, owing to Christmas season. By 4:30 am I had reached the other end of Amsterdam, on foot. By the end of it all I had seen things which I still want to forget, heard stories from random strangers, enjoyed the cool and calm weather and made good use of my time in Amsterdam, I was fully satisfied with my decision.

Little did I know that more was in store.

On my way back to the hotel, at about 5:30, I met that same group again near the club, when I walked up to them they were surprised on first sight but then told me that one of them(S) had lost their passport and they were going to look for it in the club, I decided to help them. We couldn’t find it. They were still quite drunk at this point since they had more to drink after I left them at their hotel.

We made our way to the casino to see if they had found the passport. Only me and one of the girls(V) got to go inside since we were the only ones who didn’t drink. The sun would rise in some time.

I suggested that we go to the park to check if they dropped it there. We reached there and had a look around but to no luck. They conceded defeat and we were headed back when S suddenly shouted “I see my passport, there”. Pleasantly surprised, I turned around, only to see him jump into the canal thinking his passport was floating in the water, when in fact it was a poster, no doubt that he was very drunk.

Me and V looked at each other and immediately knew what we had to do. We started striping off our jacket, money and tech and jumped in to rescue S. Luckily the canal walls were short so it only took us a few minutes to get him up. While pushing him up I felt something in his back pocket, similar to a passport. The group confirmed this as me and V got out. Me and V both looked at each other, and once again we knew what we had to do. We both pushed S back into the canal and this time let him be for a few minutes. He needed to be punished for making us go into that filthy canal, although we had to rescue him a second time too.

We had wasted 3 hours for nothing, not to mention that 3 of us got wet, all because S was too drunk to check his back pocket when looking for his passport, which was now wet.

I accompanied them to their hotel since it was on the way to mine before I said goodbye to all of them.

I got to my hotel, still soaking wet. As I walked in I got a very peculiar look from the receptionist, to which I just responded “It’s a long story” before taking the stairs. As I got in my room I got a call from the reception saying that breakfast was being served, in case I was hungry. I just smiled(to myself) and thanked him.

In only 30 minutes A and D met me at breakfast, not knowing what happened, I decided not to tell them, and until this day only 2 people know, not anymore though.

I didn’t get the group’s numbers or even emails because I read somewhere that some things aren’t meant to last long, that the memory of a single day can be ruined if you meet them again. So if fate is to have us meet again, we will.

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