MAKING? LMAO
See this BBC article for a rather large typo, or very misinformed journalist. Although the BBC World television report did not contain this inaccuracy, the fact that the online version wasn’t checked properly is quite astounding. The idea that the Dutch are banning people from rolling their spliffs with tobacco is laughable. In case [...]

OK, so I definitely need to clear some time in the next week or two, and try to catch up with a lot of posts (and photo editing) on this blog. Although my memory of my holiday last September may be a little hazy by now, I’m hoping the pictures will either refresh said memory, [...]

If all has gone to plan, today Ira and I are in Amsterdam, celebrating my 29th birthday. Or should that be 30th - the day you turn 1 year old, is surely your second birthday, 365 days (or thereabouts) after the day you were born…
Anyway, despite the meandering style of this post, I’m not writing [...]

We will be leaving for the airport in the next hour, and things appear to be sorted in time. Everything has been packed, I think I’ve replied to all outstanding e-mails, and this blog has two or three posts scheduled to be published each day we are away. We are in Amsterdam from 19th - [...]

Well it is now just 118 hours until Irina and I leave for Amsterdam
I still have quite a lot to do work to do before we leave, not least is working out what to take with us for both the Netherlands and our subsequent trip to Britain. In terms of lightweight equipment, I am [...]

Irina has had her request for a Schengen visa (specifically to visit Holland) approved, which is a big relief, as we had to buy the plane tickets and book our accommodation before we could even apply for the visa. It is now just 30 days until we arrive there, and after that we’ll be going [...]

Thanks to a member over at an Amsterdam forum for this video…

I can’t work out if the cigarette the skipper smokes at the end is just tobacco, or with a relaxant added, and whether she is drunk whilst on the canal, or just nervous? I do love her reasoning that it was the weather that [...]

NSFW (Not Suitable For Work (viewing))
My thanks to Cheese over at the VDF forum for pointing these out to me. The first video is Bobby Burns’ track - “I’m From Holland”. Why NSFW? It has the ‘F’ word multiple times, so if you have headphones or turn your speakers down, you should be fine - [...]

DHL came through and delivered the tickets. OK, so it added a fair amount to the total price, but at least we don’t have to wait and hope the correct desk will be staffed on the day of our flight, as you do when picking up tickets directly from the airport.
That Barcorama link I promised [...]

For our upcoming trip to Britain and Amsterdam, we ended up finding the cheapest deal was to buy tickets from two separate suppliers (travel o city and ex pedia (without the spaces, but I’m not giving them free keyword advertising without knowing how their service turns out first )).
Anyway, one supplier just sent an [...]

Almost all the details are now sorted… We have bought the plane tickets, paid a deposit on the Apartment, now we just need to sort out a pet-sitter again. Either that or re-unit Karra and Muska with their Mum (Dasha) and younger sister (Tishka) that they’ve never met. Ira thinks 4 cats in one house [...]

Quick explanation for those of you who thought I had given up on posting here, or had no internet access - I am currently still deep in the process of setting up my other 18 sites. They were originally created as static (well almost, too long a story to recount here) pages, and whenever I [...]

Nothing at all concrete yet, but it looks as though Ira and I may be going to Amsterdam for my birthday, hopefully fitting in a short hop over to Britain as well. I need to start looking at the cost of apartments, canal houses and hotel rooms, as well as the flights. Last time I [...]

Dovetail
My thanks to the Beatles for that line…

This is the second and last post regarding my journey through Kaliningrad ‘International’ Airport. I made notes up until this point during the holiday, for some reason things get a little hazy during my time in Amsterdam….
The big screen I mentioned in a previous post was now visible to us. Wow, it was high quality, [...]

So, following on from the previous Amsterdam post, onto the trip itself…
I left for Astana airport around 6am on the 21st September, feeling happy that I would be meeting up with two friends very soon, going back to a city I enjoy for many reasons, but also sad as I would be apart from Irina [...]

I am going to start typing up my experiences during my trip to Amsterdam and Britain, before I forget them.
In case you happen to be a new reader, I’ll give a quick background to the trip…
I was born in Britain, and spent my first 27 years there. I met Irina back in 1998, and got [...]

I hope to write a few posts on my stay in Britain later, but for now I have a few things to sort out here at home.
A quick summary of some of the posts to come…
Kaliningrad Airport - Almost there in terms of earning its ‘international’ status
Amsterdam - How not to miss flights (learnt my [...]

It is Tuesday, Alex,ChrisD and I returned from Holland. Nothing bad happened, lots of good times.
I’m a little tired right now so, bye for now; more details in post over the next month or so.

The taxi has arrived, 20 minutes early, my bags are all expertly packed by Ira, I am finally on my way to Amsterdam and Britain….
Please excuse a short delay before normal posting resumes.