Money Matters
hoffse
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Short Amsterdam trip report
H and I returned from Amsterdam last night. We had a great time even though it was a short visit. Here's my MM trip report.
Highs: Shopping at the antique stores. I bought a Delft tile from 1800! We also made it to the Rembrandthuis on this trip, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Lows: We landed in Houston yesterday afternoon and discovered United had cancelled our flight to Atlanta. Thank goodness we have global entry and did not check bags. We cleared customs with lightening speed and were the first people at the United desk. H got the last ticketed seat to Atlanta, and I got the last ticketed seat to Birmingham. I ubered home last night, and he drove in this morning. He had 37 people on standby for his flight. I'm so glad we didn't get stranded there overnight!
Best Splurge: Economy plus upgrades on our flights. We paid about $350/person for the flights to begin with, and we were going for such a short time that we decided spending a little extra for the upgrade would probably help us adjust to the time change better. It sure did! We both got a few hours of sleep each direction, and it totally solved any jet lag issues.
Bad Deal: We bought 3-day tram passes and didn't need them. I think we used the tram a whopping 3 times total. The city is small and totally walkable. It would have been cheaper to buy tickets as we went. Luckily we didn't spend very much for them, but I will know better next time. I forgot how small the city was!
Best Eats: We found a little restaurant called Cote Ouest that's right next to the Nieuwe Kerk. We were surprised to find such a good restaurant in a really touristy part of the city, but it was close to our hotel so we gave it a shot our first night and loved it. They serve traditional French and Belgian bistro food that was wonderful. We went there twice for dinner because we liked it so much. They charged 20 euro for a very generous serving of moules frites, which we thought was a pretty good price, and they did a fantastic job with them. Highly recommend for anybody who is going there in the future.
Museumkaart: We each got a museumkaart and saved about 20 euro over the cost of individual admission prices. It's a pretty good deal if you are going to be there long enough, especially if you plan day trips around the Netherlands (it's good at nearly every museum around the country). You have to do the math on it though. The cards are 60 euro each.
Day Trip: We had planned to go to Delft and the Hague, but there was construction on the train tracks that would have made it a pretty long trip. Instead, we went to Utrecht for a half day since it's only 30 minutes away. We enjoyed it and used our museumkaarts twice there!
3-day turnaround: We landed Thursday morning and came back yesterday. Our total time on the ground was just under 3 days. I was a little worried it was going to be too much, but the economy plus upgrades made the time change a nonissue, and we had a blast. We would 100% do it again. In fact, it worked out so well that we are going to consider this as an alternative to the 8-10 day trips we normally do, especially if I can find similar deals on flights. Vacation time is pretty limited for us.
Overall Budget: I always budget 150 euros/day for food and shopping (I budgeted for the tram passes and museumkaarts separately on this trip). I was happily surprised to find that this was more than sufficient even in a city as expensive as Amsterdam. In fact, we even finished all of our Christmas shopping, stopped for drinks each afternoon, and still came in right at our budget. We didn't even have to spend our Christmas budget. I will take it!
Highs: Shopping at the antique stores. I bought a Delft tile from 1800! We also made it to the Rembrandthuis on this trip, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.
Lows: We landed in Houston yesterday afternoon and discovered United had cancelled our flight to Atlanta. Thank goodness we have global entry and did not check bags. We cleared customs with lightening speed and were the first people at the United desk. H got the last ticketed seat to Atlanta, and I got the last ticketed seat to Birmingham. I ubered home last night, and he drove in this morning. He had 37 people on standby for his flight. I'm so glad we didn't get stranded there overnight!
Best Splurge: Economy plus upgrades on our flights. We paid about $350/person for the flights to begin with, and we were going for such a short time that we decided spending a little extra for the upgrade would probably help us adjust to the time change better. It sure did! We both got a few hours of sleep each direction, and it totally solved any jet lag issues.
Bad Deal: We bought 3-day tram passes and didn't need them. I think we used the tram a whopping 3 times total. The city is small and totally walkable. It would have been cheaper to buy tickets as we went. Luckily we didn't spend very much for them, but I will know better next time. I forgot how small the city was!
Best Eats: We found a little restaurant called Cote Ouest that's right next to the Nieuwe Kerk. We were surprised to find such a good restaurant in a really touristy part of the city, but it was close to our hotel so we gave it a shot our first night and loved it. They serve traditional French and Belgian bistro food that was wonderful. We went there twice for dinner because we liked it so much. They charged 20 euro for a very generous serving of moules frites, which we thought was a pretty good price, and they did a fantastic job with them. Highly recommend for anybody who is going there in the future.
Museumkaart: We each got a museumkaart and saved about 20 euro over the cost of individual admission prices. It's a pretty good deal if you are going to be there long enough, especially if you plan day trips around the Netherlands (it's good at nearly every museum around the country). You have to do the math on it though. The cards are 60 euro each.
Day Trip: We had planned to go to Delft and the Hague, but there was construction on the train tracks that would have made it a pretty long trip. Instead, we went to Utrecht for a half day since it's only 30 minutes away. We enjoyed it and used our museumkaarts twice there!
3-day turnaround: We landed Thursday morning and came back yesterday. Our total time on the ground was just under 3 days. I was a little worried it was going to be too much, but the economy plus upgrades made the time change a nonissue, and we had a blast. We would 100% do it again. In fact, it worked out so well that we are going to consider this as an alternative to the 8-10 day trips we normally do, especially if I can find similar deals on flights. Vacation time is pretty limited for us.
Overall Budget: I always budget 150 euros/day for food and shopping (I budgeted for the tram passes and museumkaarts separately on this trip). I was happily surprised to find that this was more than sufficient even in a city as expensive as Amsterdam. In fact, we even finished all of our Christmas shopping, stopped for drinks each afternoon, and still came in right at our budget. We didn't even have to spend our Christmas budget. I will take it!
Re: Short Amsterdam trip report