I left on a chilly, bleak Tuesday afternoon. My family drove me to the train station, and I got on the train and sat, disbelieving, as it headed south towards New York. I read, dozed a little, and tested the new data plan the Chaplain had set up for me that would work on both sides of the Atlantic.

I arrived in the New York after six. I wasn’t in a rush and had time to come above ground at Penn Station and wander a few blocks in a few different directions. I hadn’t been to that part of New York at night in ages. The huge LCD billboards were new to me. There was a man playing pop on a saxophone, the sound soulfully bouncing off the buildings. I dipped into a tiny pizza place and bought a slice, then stopped in another place for a fruit smoothie.

From Penn Station, a train to Jamaica would connect me to the Airtrain to JFK. The process was super easy and I made it to the check-in line at the airport in plenty of time, which is good, because check-in was long and disorganized. That was my first preview of what to expect from my budget airline, and it was a trend that would continue with abysmal and insanely expensive food on the flight.

Usually, flying for me involves a great deal of anxiety. I love travel, but flying is a means to an end. I don’t like the feeling of being trapped on a plane, and I dread the thought of using the airplane lavatory. I usually prepare for a flight with dramamine, and I’d brought my CBD oil. I did take the dramamine, but didn’t need anything else, and didn’t find the flight to be stressful. As it turns out, when you aren’t responsible for anyone besides yourself, a flight is surprisingly uneventful.

My flight left New York at midnight; I arrived in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport around 1 p.m. local time. It took me quite a long time to get through customs, change some cash into Euros, buy a train ticket into the city, and generally get my bearings.

The amount of daylight in Amsterdam is similar to what we have in Upstate New York, so I knew once I got into the city, I wouldn’t have a lot of time to look around while it was still light out.The first thing I saw coming out of Centraal Station in Amsterdam was rows upon rows of bikes. My whole stay in the city was characterized by the quiet whir of bikes flying past.

As planned, I headed to Schriershoren, which is the old tower where Henry Hudson departed in the Half Moon and ended up stuck in a rapidly narrowing (future Hudson) river next to what would become my city. Myth has it that Schriershoren was also known as the Tower of Tears, where many tears were shed by fisherman’s wives, unsure if their husbands would safely return after setting off for the day at sea. (That’s it below.) In terms of the myth, I don’t know if it’s that the fisherman’s wives didn’t cry, or if they shed their tears elsewhere.I had initially planned to start my time in Amsterdam with a self-guided walking tour of the city, but quickly realized that would only add stress to my visit. Instead, I used my mapping app to get to my hotel in the Red Light District, then set off on foot to explore the immediate area and scope out where I’d be meeting my group for the women’s retreat the next day, just a few minutes’ walk from both the train station and my hotel.Unfortunately, following GPS mapping on foot has never been a gift of mine – and the narrow, winding pedestrian and bike paths of Amsterdam seemed to make things even more confusing. It took quite some time to figure out which direction I was supposed to be walking, and I frequently turned the wrong way. But there are few things more fun than being lost in a new city when there’s no pressure to be anywhere at a certain time, and no one else to accommodate. And eventually, I found my hotel.The area around the hotel was beautiful, with a huge, old church, incredible Dutch architecture, and old canals. The sunlight slanted in sideways and lit everything up with golden light. After dropping off my bags and doing a little walk around, I opted to take the inexpensive 1-hour canal cruise near the train station. I wanted to get the lay of the land and cover as much ground as possible in a short period of time.The next cruise available was during the last hour of sunlight and was just beautiful. I took tons of photos, enjoyed sitting alone and listening to the tour in multiple languages, and mentally noted the Seven Bridges. It sounded lovely, but I was on the wrong side of the boat to see it properly. I planned to go back to it on foot the next day.It’s on my bucket list to take a road trip through Europe in one of these bad boys.For a non-religious city, Amsterdam had some fantastic churches. This is Basilica of St. Nicholas, or St. Nick’s, as they referred to it on the cruise.Once I got to the city, a lot of the worries I had started to evaporate. But I had this huge knot in my neck that kept getting tighter as the rest of me relaxed into the experience. I could barely look up or turn my head. I blamed my heavy hiking backpack.After the cruise, I was pretty tired, even though it was only 6 p.m. local time. I settled into bed with a book. I ventured out once more that night for some vegan fast food (it was a little better than the food on the plane, but not much) and to take a peek of the city at night.

It’s a good thing I had my book to get lost in, because it ended up being a long night.