A bit of mile stone around my work is hitting thirty countries before turning thirty yourself. As of the last wee weekend away I have just clocked it up as well as 186,652 km plus or minus. Although the Western Sahara is a bit of a dodgy one and could be argued that it isn't really a country. So thats leaves roughly 163 to go, better get a move on :)

Australia Austria Cook Islands Egypt England

France Germany Netherlands Hungary Ireland

Italy Luxembourg Malaysia Mauritania Monaco

Morroco New Zealand Portugal Russia Scotland

Senegal Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland

Thailand The Gambia USA Wales Western Sahara

Where I have been Worldwide

While on trading weeks, I actually get public holidays. Its a nice feeling of normality to get and be able to use holidays, So Abby and I flicked through some last minute options and decided to go to Amsterdam for Easter. In an airport ordeal only Heathrow can provide, I was happy we had only carry on luggage. A 55 minute flight took a total time of about 8 hours from house to hotel. Mental note: be prepared to pay a little more for the Eurostar in future.

Obviously known for its red light district and 'coffee' shops - I was pretty impressed with the place as a whole. Amsterdam is a stunning city, a city which was planned at every step and not just sprawling out weed through organic growth. Canal after canal and the trams make almost every street post card perfect for photos. People tell you of the bikes in Amsterdam, but you just don't understand, they are everywhere, people riding them, bikes locked up everywhere, millions of them. Shame is was snowing most of the time, would have been nice to hire some bikes bike the city.

We ended up at a mystery hotel which turned out to be a 5 start hotel in the top end of town. So it was a bout 10-15 min tram trip to the center of the city where all the excitement was. First on the list of things to do was Van Gogh’s museum. This was more for Abby’s benefit then my own as its not really my cup of tea. IT was recommended that you get there for opening, which we did and there was already a queue. 3 hours later when we came out there was an even longer queue and the museum was almost packed. It was interesting, but art is art in my eyes - either like it or not. From there we went to the Coster Diamond center.

We strolled through the red light district twice, once during the day and again late one night on the way home from going out. The B-team dominates the day time activities, and that is being nice - maybe it would be better to call them the C or D team. The narrow little streets are package with tourists, stag and hen parties and a few locals no doubt. All the girls are behind glass, looking extremely bored and half of them strung out. Not shy, people just tap on the glass, it opens, a curtain is drawn and the rest goes to your imagination. Amusing to wander around.

Other thing Amsterdam is known for is the legalized 'Coffee' houses. Which we had to take part in. In what could only be described as a Bill Clinton affair - we both don't smoke, so between coughing and not inhaling it was time to get out of the smoke filled hippy commune. We strolled the streets, checked out the flower markets, bought some bulbs for the new garden, went to the National History Museum which was a great into to the history of Amsterdam.

With a day left, we jumped on a bus to the Hauge, a miniature city, the Delft pottery factory (where I was talked into buying egg holders??!!), past some fields of flowers, some wind mills before heading back to Amsterdam for our flight back to London.