12 Days, 4 Countries, 2 Women, 1 Car (and 1 drivers licence) - Mum Diaries #6

Log Six, May 20: Well it finally happened... Mum got angry with me. Up until now Mum had kept her cool throughout all of the times that I had gotten us lost, Mum had no trouble finding the bright-side to all of the poor-choice hotels I had booked, even that day in Edinburgh when we (I mean she) had to pay 460 pounds in fines! Mum didn't get mad!
But now that we're nearing the end of our trip, heading towards our final destination, Amsterdam, her patience with me had finally worn thin because I couldn’t pronounce the street names in the Netherlands… Yep.
5 hours of me giving directions such as; “turn right onto Burgemeester Boersweg”, “turn left onto Oranjebaan” and “continue onto Meester G. Groen van Prinstererlaan” became too much for my mother to handle. Mum yelled at me for a good 10 seconds saying, "STOP PRONOUNCING THE NAMES STUPIDLY! JUST DON'T BOTHER IF YOU CAN'T F#@KING DO IT! ARGH!" and we both fell silent. I didn't argue with her, I just slumped back into my seat and sulked...
That was, until Mum had to ask me what the next direction was... I spoke as seriously as I could, [deep breath] “turn right onto Van Heuven Goedhartlaan”... Mum sighed with an annoyed tone and then immediately burst out laughing! We both were in hysterics for ages - I think we were both very tired. Haha.

Our accommodation in the Netherlands wasn’t amazing (my fault - if you ever travel with me don't let me book the rooms). Mum and I originally wanted to stay in one of those lovely houseboats that are parked in the canals of Amsterdam, but I just couldn’t justify spending 200 Euros a night compared to 35 Euros.

Instead I had chosen 3 nights in a wooden cabin – that smelt like a sauna – at the Het Amsterdam Bos in Amstelveen. Now, if you’re travelling on a budget with a small group of friends then this place would be fun, but if you’re travelling with your 55 year old mother who has back issues, then I would highly recommend forking out the extra dollars - or in this case euros - for a more comfortable bed. The first issue we had was that we arrived late, after 8pm – we got lost. Now that wouldn’t normally be a problem because the owner does leave the key out with your name and cabin number for late arrivals BUT someone had locked the gate, so we couldn’t get in and no one was around to unlock it. We had to sleep in the hire car that night. The following morning poor Mum got sick, the long hours of driving and constant moving plus an uncomfortable nights sleep made for a terrible cold. Once I was able to get the key for our cabin Mum went straight to bed, didn’t get up until the mid-afternoon. I stayed close in case she needed anything, I spent the day walking around the nearby town - not much to really say about Amstelveen, it's nice and quiet and the locals are pretty friendly :-)
Once Mum had enough energy to get up we went for a drive to find food, it was about 3pm and every restaurant/pub we popped into had their kitchens closed - reopening at 5pm for the dinner shift. One VERY lovely chef - at a pub I don't remember the name of - was kind enough to cook a meal for us even though the kitchen had been closed for over an hour! Oh we were so happy! Of course we couldn't really read the menu though, surprisingly it was all in Dutch!
Mum amazingly recognised the words "steak" and "mushrooms" from her days in high school, so that's what we ordered. I really wish I could remember the name of this pub because they were the best steaks Mum and I had ever had! Even to this day, we still talk about those steaks. Haha.

Our last day in the Netherlands was so much fun! Mum had taken enough cold & flu tablets the previous day to feel – somewhat – normal, so we jumped on the metro from Amstelveen to Amsterdam! Actually, before we had gotten on the metro we had met a very friendly local who was pretty excited to meet a couple of tourists such as ourselves. He gave us a huge list of things to do and places to see! He was so lovely. We didn't really get to do any of it though (thanks anyway stranger!).
Our day in Amsterdam was the best! The weather was great, we had such a great time shopping for gifts and souvenirs. Walked along the beautiful, narrow streets by the canals, and relaxed in the coffee shops. ;-)
The only (slightly) negative thing I would comment on are the locals on the bicycles. They are frightening.

All the other locals are wonderful though and Amsterdam is a beautiful city.

***

I just realised that this is actually my last log for the Mum Diaries! After Amsterdam, early the next morning we made our way back to London to return the hire car and to put Mum on her flight back to Australia. It was about an 8 hour drive, including our rest for breakfast and a coffee. You’ll be surprised to know that we didn’t get lost – though Mum did doubt my directions most of the way. The hire car didn’t have a scratch on it! Mum did so well with all of the driving! When the car was being inspected for damage, Mum was talking about our grand adventure in the UK and over to Europe and we were so lucky to have such a nice member of staff because it turns out we were never allowed to take the car out of the UK in the first place! Not without paying much more than we did. Haha.

Now, I’m going to give you two measures of distances and you can choose which one to believe… The kind member of staff calculated (from the mileage on the dash when we picked up the car to what it was when we returned it) that we had driven about 9,400 miles (15,127 kilometres). I calculated (roughly, using Google Maps) that we drove about 2,280 miles (3,670km). I’m putting in both distances because my mother refuses to believe anything logical. Watch for her comment to backup the member of staff with their calculations (robyn58 on steemit). :-p

Thank you for reading! I look forward to sharing next years addition of the Nana Diaries – Myself, Mum and Nana will be doing a Europe trip – to bring you all of my Nanas (unfiltered) thoughts! It’ll be great.

For the mean time, I’ll share with you other trips I have experienced and possibly the odd recipe or two.

Lots of love!