Amsterdam - February 2026

After visiting Amsterdam for the very first time in April 2024 we have fallen in love with the city and this marked our fourth trip.

The catalyst for this trip was the chance to see my favourite band, White Lies, on tour. When they announced their tour dates back in May 2025 we very quickly booked the closest venue to us in Manchester for late January 2026. But when we saw that Amsterdam was also on the schedule, and having never been to a concert abroad, and it being in a city that we have grown to have a deep affection for it was a complete no brainer and tickets were bought instantly.

So with concert tickets secured we set about booking hotels and transport. As the gig was just outside the city centre, by about 10km, 

we opted to book a hotel close to the venue for a couple of nights and then book elsewhere, closer to the centre, for a few more days. How long we stayed was dictated by the mode and cost of transport, and being retired we had no reason not to spend time in the city and reconnect with places and friends.

For our very first trip we had flown to Amsterdam from the UK and while the flight was relatively short at just over an hour there were some downsides. First, there were no direct flights from our local airport (15 minutes from where we live) so instead we had to travel over an hour and pay for airport parking. Times; to get a reasonably priced flight the departure times were either stupidly early or late in the day. Cost; we have quickly discovered that cheap flights are not as easy to come by as we thought! Heaven forbid you actually want to take luggage with you or sit together! So that cheap base flight suddenly increased with all the little add-ons! Once in Amsterdam there is more cost with simply getting from the airport into the city; we chose an Uber which was simple and convenient although train links would have worked out cheaper, but back then as a first time visitor we wanted to make life as simple and as stress free as possible. 

All of that had resulted in a change of attack for our subsequent visits when we discovered the benefits of rail travel. Using the Eurostar from London, St Pancras to Centraal Station Amsterdam provided us with a much calmer and cheaper (and greener!) option to flying. Previous trips had seen us take a train from our local station down to London to stay overnight in a cheap hotel before embarking on the Eurostar the following morning. But this time we were trying something different.

Our day started pretty much as any normal day in our house. We'd done the majority of our packing the evening before so we only had to throw in a few last minute essentials, have some breakfast and tidy around before meeting our pre-booked Uber at 9.30am.  By 9.42am we were getting dropped off at our local train station. This did mean we had an hour to spare before our booked train but we had done that on purpose. Not only did this mean that we would be on time, it also gave us time to enjoy a coffee before we stepped on the train. 

Fuel for the journey ahead

We are fortunate to have a lovely independent coffee shop across from the rail station so we could enjoy a coffee, make use of their bathroom and still be at the station in plenty of time to start the journey in a calm and refreshed manor. Although as we arrived at the platform we were met with an announcement that our train was running six minutes late!

First train of the day!

When we'd bought the tickets we'd been assigned seats so I knew we were looking for carriage B seats 31 and 32, and if you use the trains in the UK, you know that there is a little LED display above the seats that says ‘Reserved’. But it was still no surprise to me to find someone sitting in one of our seats! I politely said that he was sitting in our seats to which we were met with ‘oh are they reserved?’ I couldn’t resist saying ‘err yes like the sign above you says’!! He moved without issue so we had our seats. The only wrinkle was there was nowhere for our suitcase to go; the luggage racks were full and while some trains have space between rows of seats this train did not. Somehow we managed to squeeze ourselves, two coats, two back packs and a medium sized case into the two seats! It was a little compact but at least we were sitting down…oh and travelling backwards (this has been a pattern of the majority of our train journeys, so much so that facing the correct direction of travel has turned into quite a novel experience for us!). Despite the cramped conditions Simon was still able to use the time to get out his digital art pad and work on his latest creation. 

We arrived at St Pancras about 8 minutes late but this wasn't an issue as we'd picked a Eurostar departure that not only gave us plenty of time to allow for the allotted check-in time but was also the cheapest ticket available! So with time to spare we were able to enjoy a light snack and coffee at Pret A Manger…although I was very tempted by EL&N and their lovely cakes and bakes but perhaps we can reserve that as a treat on our return journey. 

Snack time

London, St Pancras has numerous places to eat and shop so we took advantage of M&S Food to grab some snacks for the journey ahead! M&S may not be the cheapest option but they do have some good quality items that satisfy our way of eating. We grabbed some hard boiled eggs, some cocktail sausages and some overnight oats! We had the obligatory bathroom stop before heading to Eurostar departures where we were let through before the allotted check-in time. In fact we were through security and passport control (times two as you pass through both UK and French border controls) four minutes before the actual check-in time!

Now a word of warning when travelling with Eurostar out of St Pancras, the departure hall gets very busy! We walked all the way around and the best we could do was find a piece of wall to lean against! Thankfully when the train before ours was called for boarding we did manage to grab a couple of seats.

And wait...

About 30 minutes before departure we were called to board at Platform 9. Be sure to know what your carriage number is as this dictates which exit from the departure hall to use. We were amongst the first to get to the platform and found our carriage (number 5) with ease. As we found our seats we discovered that there was luggage storage right behind us as we were located towards the centre of the carriage. 

Our journey was uneventful until we arrived at Brussels, our second stop of the journey. There had been an earlier announcement advising that the crew on board would be swapping over during this stop but it became noticeable that we'd been stopped for a good amount of time and that was when the first of many announcements happened. We were going to be delayed because the crew joining our train were stuck on another train that had broken down! What followed were numerous announcements, texts and emails from Eurostar letting us know what was happening and ultimately the predicted 45 minute delay turned into 75 minutes! It was slightly annoying that we would now be arriving at 9.35pm and not the scheduled 8.20pm and we still had to find our way to our hotel about 10km away from the city centre BUT at least a delay of over 60 minutes did mean we would be able to claim compensation! And because our outbound tickets were the ones which had cost us the most, that's a win?!

Interestingly Eurostar did not mention in their texts or emails about compensation and the only reason I knew was because I searched for it on their website. And the reason I did that was because on a previous delayed journey using East Midlands Railway we had experienced a similar situation but on that occasion the train manager had made an announcement advising all passengers that they would be entitled to a compensation claim. So kudos to EMR for their customer service but not so much for Eurostar. The plan was to make a claim once we were home…but more about that on a future post!

Anyway back to our journey! Our original plan had been to catch a local train from Amsterdam Centraal to the arena area where our hotel was located but by the time we got off the train and got our bearings we just wanted to make life as easy as possible for us. Trying to interpret signs both pictorial and in Dutch just felt too much for 10pm after almost 6 hours on a train! Instead we stopped by a small Albert Heijn store and picked up some nibbles and water before ordering ourselves an Uber…and that's when the next round of fun began.

Centraal Station, Amsterdam

We dutifully ordered a nice electric Uber, found our way to the correct pick up point with ease and waited. We could see the driver was only a couple of minutes away but what we, and the driver, didn't know was that construction had closed the road that led to where the pick up point was with no alternative route in place. Thankfully our driver phoned us and we had a mad few minutes trying to figure out where he was in relation to where we were in the dark with a very busy, multi-laned road in-between us! Finally we saw each other (I think it was using my pink hair to locate us that did the trick).

Easy to spot, even at night!

We found a safe place to cross the road so that we could get to where our driver was waiting for us. He was very apologetic, although none of it was his fault, but at least we were all able to have a laugh about it. He then got us safely to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Arena by about 10.45pm! Once in our room and unpacked we were able to enjoy our snacks, put on our PJs, chill and try to defrazzle our brains!!

Finally made it!

Thursday 26th February 

The day started very slowly; the effects of the long travel day and an hours time difference meant we surfaced later than our normal routine. But as we had no real plans for the day until the evening we decided to take things nice and steady.

We had breakfast included with our stay and the name ‘Express Start’ kind of summed up the affair. It was very much a ‘continental’ breakfast buffet with pastries, bread, meats, cheese, yogurts, fruit and scrambled eggs! Not our usual preference but as it was ‘free’ we made the best of it. It was a very busy service and although there was a section with lots of free tables we were told not to use them and to stay in the main section which was rammed! Thankfully a table came free and to give the staff credit they were all very polite, very busy and cleared the table for us quickly. 

Despite being away from home we did have a couple of online jobs we wanted to get done around Simon’s art projects so we took advantage of the hotel's WiFi before heading out to explore the surrounding area and locate the venue for that evening’s concert.

It turned out that the venue was no more than a 5 minute walk from the hotel and opposite the main Johan Cruijff arena. Consequently the whole area is very modern, and straddles a busy rail intersection with shops and restaurants. As we were in need of a decent size coffee we were very thankful to find a Starbucks based just inside the rail station. We explored the area around the station and the arena which was a mixture of shops and restaurants. The further away from the arena the older the shops appeared and at one side we found a market that had a surprising number of Crane birds hanging about like they owned the place! 

At the opposite end to the market we found a very modern shopping mall to explore but soon discovered that every shop, with the exception of one art gallery, had something to do with home furnishings…it was all a little surreal. But located within the mall we found a kooky restaurant called Booven where we enjoyed some food, coffee and cake to keep us fuelled for the evening ahead. 

Booven

Villa Arena Mall

We returned to the hotel for an hour or so before heading back out for the concert later on. White Lies were playing at the AFAS arena and I have to say the venue was very efficient at getting everyone inside; tickets scanned, bag check, pat down and a small wooden token given to each of us. Although we had no idea what the token was for…maybe the toilet? But no it's handed over when ordering your first drink as a way of avoiding the overuse of plastics. And for each subsequent drink you hand over your used glass otherwise you have to pay a nominal fee! 

AFAS Arena

White Lies were as awesome as ever, although I did feel for Harry, their lead singer, as his voice was a little croaky after almost four weeks on the road. We found ourselves towards the back of the venue, which was fine by me as I am not great if the crowd is too intense, but we did discover that the Dutch (or at least those around us) were all rather tall! We managed to find moments when we could see the stage but we were just grateful to be there and enjoy the experience. 

Interestingly the constant stream of people moving to and from the bar area that we'd experienced in Manchester in late January was exactly the same here. As someone who only enjoys a glass of wine very occasionally I do find it all rather peculiar that at a concert when you've paid good money to see a band people are moving back and forth fetching drinks and missing out on the performance. Also, as this was our first concert abroad, I became very aware that we were singing our hearts out to all the lyrics of all of the songs but the crowd around us only became vocal at key chorus moments; which makes perfect sense when the band playing is not in their natural language. All in all a great gig, fabulous venue and a wonderful night that ended with a five minute walk back to the hotel…perfect!

More about our Amsterdam adventure in my next post as we move closer to the city centre.

Well...It's been a while so I better get typing!

Well....here we are once again, and once again the time between posts has been so much longer than I would have liked, and had planned for. But sometimes things happen that cause the best of plans to go astray! 

In fact as I type I realised that this post has been sat waiting to be finished since late July!! So I think we need to get this done!!

Since retiring our focus on life has changed and the direction in which we find ourselves going has emerged organically over the last few months. I have always said that being retired gives you the opportunity to do what you want, when you want, where you want, if you want and with the people you want! This approach has enabled us to tackle life differently to all those years when work, inevitably, was the constant, and by default, the driving force behind how our lives played out.

But this retired way of life has taken a little time to adjust to, and being able to live in the moment rather than conforming to day to day demands has been interesting, especially as I am someone who likes (and has a need) to be organised and have everything planned out.

Simon often refers to us as Peter Pan and Wendy...he is Peter wanting to fly and explore in all directions while I am Wendy always wanting to keep us safe and calm. But together we compliment each other; Simon will push me outside of my comfort zone and I will temper his desire to fly too high and in that way we find our way through this crazy thing called life.

So just what has life dealt us these past few months? Well at times it has all been a bit of a whirlwind! 

We have been able to get out and about with our fellow Star Wars cosplayers as part of The East Midlands Garrison. Devoting time for this at weekends is now much easier as we no longer have to juggle work and free time. We have also been able to get involved with special troops during the working week. In July we were able to support a local charity called Ducklings at the children's school within Nottingham Queens Medical Centre hospital. We have also taken part in our local comic con in Nottingham, Emcon; both during the event and helping with their promotion leading up to it. We were also able to get out to a special cinema troop which celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, along with some smaller events along the way and at each event we helped raise money for The East Midland Garrison's chosen charity of Pasic.

Promoting Emcon in Nottingham - May 4th 2024

Cineworld Sheffield - The Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary

Simon’s extensive, four decade, career in video games has opened up the world of retro gaming with invitations to take part in various events. We had a lovely weekend at the Nottingham Video Games Expo where Simon not only spoke at the event but he was able to share some of his original game design documents along with selling some of his game related art. He was even able to produce a piece of canvas art live throughout the event. He has also worked with a local college to share his experiences of working within the industry with their students and is looking forward to more collaborations in the future.

Nottingham Video Games Expo - art in progress

Nottingham Video Games Expo - completed art

Earlier in the year Simon had used his knowledge of electronics to help a friend with their university project. They were completing their final year in costume design and needed help with the programming of LED lights in their Neuromancer inspired outfits. After attaining a first they had one last thing to complete; a catwalk show and we were invited to attend. It was a great evening filled with friends, laughter and too much Chinese food. 

My favourite band, White Lies, we're out and about with some special gigs playing two of their albums in full; Ritual and Big TV. We were able to make one of their gigs in Manchester and got to experience Big TV in its entirety. As this album features one of my all time favourite songs, First Time Caller, I was very happy and excited to be able to hear it live! And as a bonus we had a great couple of days in Manchester too!

White Lies at Gorilla, Manchester - July 2024

There have been lots of opportunities for catching up with family and friends. We've had movie nights, a dark arts craft fair, a retro computer museum evening and multiple cinema trips. There was a weekend visit to Bournemouth to see Molly and Dan to help celebrate Mollys birthday. They then came to see us a couple of months later which resulted in a trip to a local Ninja Warrior centre...I was the official photographer for the day and let everyone else throw themselves around!

An earlier trip to Amsterdam in April had opened up an opportunity for Simon which resulted in another visit, at very short notice, in early August. And that visit resulted in an art commission for Simon in which he had 3 weeks to create 6 paintings for a fashion show!

August also saw us make a trip to London to meet a new friend for lunch while Simon spent every spare minute drawing to ensure that his commission work would be completed on time. 

Grabbing every spare minute to draw - sat on the train home from London

We also made it to the Droid Builders UK event where Simon was able to show off a couple of his own builds!

Droid Builders UK meet-up - Simon's creations - August 2024

Ethan finally completed on his first house at the end of July, almost a year after first seeing it! But as there was a fair amount of renovating required there was a lot of work to be done; quotes, planning, house sitting and more to squeeze in around our busy schedule and Ethan's work! In fact as I write the house has now been rewired, plastered, decorated, a new boiler fitted, a new bathroom installed, numerous deliveries have been managed and the kitchen and flooring are now being fitted! All very busy, and all very exciting for him. And I think Simon and I have become unofficial project managers!!

Ethan finally getting into his first home for the first time...now waiting for all the renovations to be completed!

And while all that was happening Simon received an invite to speak at an Amiga event in Spoleto, Italy. An invite with some of the expenses paid...well that was an opportunity we couldn't turn down! We also decided to make the most of the flights and extend our stay by a taking a few extra days in Rome. So as Simon was busy drawing away for his art commission I was busy organising flights, car parking and hotels.

Oh and as September rolled around we also had our second Disney cruise and this time we had the kids join us. And four days after we returned home we flew out to Italy for a week!

And breathe...I am hoping that as life calms down I will be able to find more time for blog writing which will mean I can share more about our recent travels to Amsterdam, Italy and of course our time on the Disney Dream. But for now I will stop and recharge my batteries!