When we left off, I was still in Nice figuring out what to do next. Luckily for me I was able to call up a friend and after a long nice chat, Stefanie said “come stay with me for a bit.”

So, I booked a ticket 20 minutes after hanging up to Eindhoven from Nice and repacked my suitcase (after a failed attempt to wash a few pieces of clothing in the shower) with a new plan – at least I knew what was happening for the next 24-30 hours.

My last day in Nice I checked out of my hostel room, leaving my luggage in their luggage storage until the afternoon, and wandered around just taking it all in. At one point I made my way to the beach, because how can you not, and enjoyed a lovely sorbet sitting near the water before taking a nap in the sunshine.

When the time came I went back for my suitcase, dragged it down the street for about 10 minutes and then got on the train stop closest to me that would take me to the Nice airport.

While I had gotten there early for my flight I was not that early and was surprised to find that my check-in gate to drop my bag and get my boarding pass wasn’t open yet. After about 40 minutes I finally was able to check in and tried to find a place to sit in the very busy, but very small airport.

Here I got a notification that my flight would be delayed an hour.

Then about 40 minutes later I got a notification that my flight would be delayed another hour.

Then about an hour later I got a text from the airline stating that instead of landing in Eindhoven the plane would land in Amsterdam and they would provide bussing to Eindhoven from there.

Luckily for me, Stefanie is a phenomenal friend and drove an hour to come pick me up from Amsterdam so I wouldn’t be stuck trying to navigate a transfer bus at 12:15 a.m. in a new country. I’m so thankful for that. Not to mention that when we finally got to her place the airline sent another message letting me know the transfer busses would be ready to go at 2 a.m!

 I would have been waiting for hours at the airport for a transfer had it not been for Stef- who originally had just planned to pick me up from the much closer Eindhoven stop.

So, after all was said and done I was finally at Stef’s, where I was able to start making plans and actions towards my next steps.

Somehow the timing had worked out that Stef had just started a school break and the week I was there was one of the Netherland’s big national holidays – King’s Day.

Despite being somewhere safe and having the space to think, I was still emotional over the events of the past week.

I went between feeling disappointed, sad, angry and like I just wasn’t good enough. On top of this I was still dealing with trying to locate part of my Visa which kept not getting delivered and thinking realistically about what kind of money I had in my bank account to work with.

However, I didn’t want to give up just yet so I decided to give it one more shot and try to use my visa as much as I could, so I made my mind up to go back to the UK. I’ll get to more of that later.

First, all the fun things about the Netherlands!

On the Sunday after I arrived, I got to go enjoy a birthday lunch and meet Stef’s family living in the Netherlands. It was also cool because it was where she grew up before moving to Canada and it was nice to see a piece of her story.

Then on the Wednesday something fantastic happened. On my travel bucket list I always wanted to see the tulip fields in the Netherlands and as fate would have it Stef and her best friend Natalie, whom I had also hung out with in Canada before, had tickets and like the little leech I am I begged Stef to get me a ticket for their time slot and to join them.

And so we were off to Kuekenhof!

I was in awe. The colours, the tulips, the absolute beauty. I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole day.

Although the tulip fields could never be beat- the next day promised to be full of fun as it was Kings Day!

On Kings Day every city has parties in the streets and orange is EVERYWHERE. While some of Stef’s roommates decided to go into Amsterdam, after a lovely brunch with the whole house (including mimosas of course), we decided it would feel wildly too crowded for us in Amsterdam so we stayed in ‘S-Hertogenbosch.

But even there the streets were full of party goers. People filled the cobblestone roadways and city centre dancing, singing along to the multiple performers and stages set up and drinking beer.  To be able to celebrate it with Stef was extra special.

The next few days were full of movie nights, walks in the park by Stef’s house and thinking ahead to what was coming next.

I didn’t have to wait long to find out. A hostel that I reached out to looking to volunteer in exchange for accommodation got back to me the same day I sent out an email.

And so- knowing I had a roof over my head I booked my ticket… to Scotland! And as a bonus after days of back and forth emails I had convinced the shipping company and Visa office to have my BRP for my visa re-routed to the new location.

Like an angel on Saturday night Natalie had slept over so on Sunday morning when I was due to fly out she dropped me off at the Schiphol Airport on her way home. 

I really couldn’t have done this faze and figured everything out without the help of my friends. I will be forever grateful for my week of ‘what the fuck do I do next’ in the Netherlands.

But with that week ending a new chapter began in Edinburgh Scotland- one that you will have to wait until my next post to read about!

Cheers,

-Shaela