Backpacking in Europe - How a dream, an idea, a close call, and some mushrooms changed my life forever - Part 4) Amsterdam and the Mushrooms

Part 1) A Dream

Part 2) An Idea

Part 3) A Close Call

Part 4) Amsterdam and the Mushrooms

I couldn't wait to get to a coffee shop when I got to Amsterdam. I found the Flying Pig Hostel, signed up for a shuttle at 5pm, and took off walking to find my first coffee shop. I had learned from travelers that they call the weed places coffee shops and that you can also legally buy psilocybin mushrooms at stores called smart shops. I had no idea that mushrooms were legal in Amsterdam before I left the states, but now that I knew, I planned on taking advantage of that fact.

The first coffee shop I found was a Rastafarian themed place with reggae playing loudly in the lounge. I walked up to the counter, looked at the menu, and ordered a couple different kinds of cannabis. I looked around for regular sized papers, but all I could find were the really big ones (I later found out that you can't really find any smaller than that.) so, I got the papers, sat down and rolled the biggest joint I had ever rolled!.

I smoked almost the entire thing, before deciding to hurry to the smart shop before I had to be back to catch the shuttle from the Flying Pig Amsterdam to the Flying Pig on the beach in Noorwijk. I had decided to stay 3 nights there because it was incredibly cheap and I was only able to get 3 nights at the Bulldog Hostel, Coffee shop, Lounge, and Bar in Amsterdam, which would immediately follow my stay on the beach.

The only smart shop near by was La Canna, a 3 story coffee shop, bar, and smart shop. I walked around the entire building before I went to the smart shop area. I saw a girl sitting at a counter and I asked where the mushrooms where. She pointed to a door. I walked to the door, opened it and there was a long stair well going down to the basement. The girl, alarmed, said, "Are you the delivery guy?" I said no and she shut the door and pointed to the menu that was on the door. WHOOPS!

There were several different kinds to choose from - everything from medium strength body feel shrooms to super strong visuals mushrooms. I asked her for her recommendation of what I should get for 15 euros. She suggested a full trip of the mexican red caps. I took her suggestion, paid for the fungus, and headed back to catch the shuttle. As I was walking back I realized I was going to be about 10 minutes and that I would miss the shuttle. I came into the Flying Pig, told guy at the desk that I was late and needed to sign up for the next shuttle. "They're waitiny for you" he said, "You can still catch this one."

"Oh, thank you!", I said, as I quickly ran around to the back of the building, where the shuttle was full and waiting, I began to apologize to the driver, but he said, Ahh, no worries. I sat down in the only open seat, and we took off. Nobody seemed to care at all that I was late. I had not expected them to wait, especially as patiently as they did. We dropped everyone off at the Flying Pig across town and then headed for the one in Noordwijk. At this point, it was just me and the bus driver. He asked if I smoked. I said yes and he asked if I wanted to sit up front with him and smoke a spliff on the way the beach. Sure, I said, as I offered to use my weed and roll as he was driving.

I rolled up a huge doobie, took a couple hits, and passed it to him. When he looked at it, he said, "holy shit! Is there no tobacco?" I said, no. He said, "and no crutch?" I shook my head. He offered to re-roll it with some tobacco mixed in and this filter like thing that he called a crutch. While driving, he rolled a beautiful cone shaped spliff, lit it up, and then passed it to me. It was the first time, I had ever smoked a mixture of tobacco and cannabis at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed the spliff and the bus driver got a good laugh at my "crazy american reefer".

When we arrived at the hostel, I went to lock my pack up, but the lockers were tiny - only big enough to store money and other small valuable things. As I looked through my inventory, to see what to lock up, I found my mushrooms. Excited to have them, I opened the clear plastic box and began to eat them. Fresh, closed cap, little beauties, they were very easy to eat and tasted much better than the dried mushrooms that I have eaten before. I ate about a third of the box and then put the rest away, with the other things, I deemed valuable.

As I was continuing to go through my pack on my bed, I began to feel a rising energy in my solar plexus. I realized what was happening and I started to get uncomfortably nervous. I thought about the fact that that I hadn't eaten or slept in 24 hours and I might not be ready for the magic mushrooms. But it was too late, I could see intricate geometrical patterns everywhere that I looked. I laid down in my lower bunk bed and took several deep breathes, as I told myself to calm down. It worked and I relaxed into a comfortable state as I laid there and studied the geometrical patterns on the bunk bed above mine.

I'll try to recall and express this next part to the best of my ability, but I will not fully be able tell you exactly what I experienced and can only try to relay what I thought, saw, heard, and felt during the next few hours.

There was an energy pouring through the center of me. It was powerful and filled me with such immense Love and Joy that I could barely contain the energy any longer. I had a realization, that the geometric patterns were the book of life. I started to float upwards towards the book, and then I went into the book of life. I was then floating in the Hostel Bar which was full. I could see everyone and it seemed as though they could see me. I had a telepathic conversation with a girl that was tending the bar. I continued to float higher until I saw all of Amsterdam, the The Netherlands, then Europe, the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy, and the entire universe.

I went to a place where all the sounds and colors where in perfect harmony. I cannot express to you what that was like. Tears of joy streamed down my face. The immense beauty of life was almost too much to handle. I knew that ALL IS ONE. I was one with the universe. I completely lost awareness of my physical body in the hostel.

At one point, it was like I was in a crowd with people tightly packed all around me, and we were moving forward. After a minute, I noticed that we were going in a huge circle and there was a man sitting in the middle it. When I became aware of my body again, I got out of bed and walked up to the hostel bar. I saw the bartender that I had a telepathic conversation with earlier, but she didn't seem to remember me.

I walked out of the hostel. I guy seemed to know what I was going through and he led me on a short walk to the beach and then left me there. It was raining on the ocean but not on the beach. I stood in absolute awe of the beauty of nature. After a while I went back to the hostel. Some people were watching a movie in the lounge called, "The Guru". I watched the movie as I came back down to my normal point of view.

Over the next couple days, I was a bit lost in thought, but I met a lot of awesome people in Noordwijk . It was a quaint little town with some nice little coffeshops and the hostel was awesome. I met so many people that were traveling and sharing stories, happiness, and love with each other.

Pic at the Flying Pig on the beach. I'm in blue, back, center

When I got the Bulldog Hostel, the bar was huge, but it was also completely packed! I had a bottle of wine but no cork screw. I looked around the bar and every table was full. I scanned a bit more until I spotted a table of girls. I walked up smiling and introduced myself and ended up chatting with them for the evening and drinking the bottle of wine with them, after the bartender opened it for us.

We decided to meet in the morning to explore the city together. We said goodnight and started walking up to our rooms. As we were walking, we realized that we were on the same floor that our room must be close together. I think each room there had 6 beds. Anyways, we walked right up to the same room door and realized that we were all staying in the same room, out of several floors of rooms! We continued chatting as we settled down for the night.

The next morning before we left the hostel I stopped in The Bulldog Coffeeshop and found 5 pack of White Widow reefers. I was excited to see it as I have always thought that one day we would see cannabis packaged this way in the U.S. I decided to go ahead and smoke one, but I had no idea that White Widow is pretty much on it's own level when it comes to cannabis strains. It was delicious, It gave me a feeling of extreme relaxation, and lethargy. I realized it was not the best thing to smoke first thing in the morning, but we still had a great day, checking out the city.

A couple days later I took a flight from Belgium back to the states. There are many more details I could share but I want to share what was important to me. My european vacation was a lot of fun, but some things stuck with me that have never left me. I have continue to grow and transform and change since that time, but that trip was an important step for me.

Note: One of my main reasons for telling this story is to express my struggles and to share an experience that made me more comfortable in my own skin. Through it, I overcame some of my anxiety and depression issues. I don't think the entheogens in this last installment are for everyone, but I personally value them as plant medicines, that I believe are a powerful tool that can help people overcome addiction and other tough problems. The real solution is to take a hard look at yourself and to think about the things that are really important in life. For me, mushrooms were just a tool to help me do this.

Thanks for reading. I promise to get back to posting more about plants - growing them and consuming them! but I'll probably tell a few more stories and share a nugget if you don't mind. I don't do, or recommend doing, anything illegal. I did what I wanted to do and I expect you to do the same, with respect to other others of course.