Visit The Netherlands - The Don'ts of The Netherlands

Hey there, fellow travelers, Mark here with Walters World, and today we are in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We're here in our little tiny hotel room, and today what we have for you are the don'ts of visiting the Netherlands. Now, the last couple months, Jocelyn and I both have come here. Me, I've been here for a while, but myself and Jocelyn came with some friends. We kind of collected some stuff about what you should and shouldn't do when you come to the Netherlands. And so today's video is the don'ts of visiting the Netherlands. And, you know, I've been here in Amsterdam, going to Ireland and Leiden and stuff like that. And Jocelyn's going around, too. She's at the Keukenhof for the flowers and the tulips and stuff like that. So I thought we'd do is kind of give those don'ts to kind of help travelers when they come here. And the first don't we have is just remember, don't call it Holland, call it the Netherlands. Because Holland is actually two of the 12 counties here in the Netherlands. And yes, it's the one that has Amsterdam and Leiden and Harlem and stuff like that. So a lot of the tourists only see the Holland part, but don't call it Holland, call it the Netherlands. You'll make more friends here in the Netherlands if you call it that instead, okay. Now, my second don't I have for you is don't think that the Netherlands is just Amsterdam. Yes, you have the canals all over the place, you have these things, but you know what, those canals are in other cities as well. And you can go and explore, go to Harlem, and literally, it's a 15 minute, or if you get the slow train, 18 minute train ride out there. And you can see the guild houses, they're just gorgeous there. You can see St. Bob's Cathedral in the center with the organ there that Mozart played as a kid, you can go see the, the Frans Hals Museum, you can go out to Leiden and check those things out. You can go up to Maastricht, Groningen. There's so much to see and do in the Netherlands, besides just coming to Amsterdam. And yes, Amsterdam is cool, you should come here, don't worry. But don't think that the whole country is just this, because once you leave Amsterdam, you start to see a much different country without the crazy tourists and stuff like that. And that gets us to the third don't we have for you is don't be a stupid tourist when you get here. I'm not saying don't be a tourist, I'm saying don't be stupid about certain things, like the drugs and the red light districts and, and the alcohol and stuff like that. Because when you come to Amsterdam, you'll see the people that are just stoned out of their mind walking around, you will smell the drugs and these kind of things. And the Dutch don't like that either. And you don't want to be that tourist. For example, last night, my hotel room, about midnight, we had a big group came in, they were all just out of control. And the manager had to come after half an hour to calm them down. If there was, they're going to kick them out. So you don't want to be that way. So if you're going to come and you're going to experiment with drugs and things like that, like, you know, some tourists do, I don't judge or anything like that. I don't do it. But I know a lot of tourists do be safe when you do it. You know, don't do drugs in the street. Don't buy it from the people in the street and things like that. Go to the coffee shops and do those things there. It's safer for you. And it might help not to be one of those, you know, bad tourists when you are here. Now my fourth don't for you when you come here to the Netherlands is you'll notice that there's a lot of like fried street food that's really tasty and fried little snacky do's around the country. And the thing is, is my don't for you is don't just bite in. Okay. Whether you're getting the kroketten or the bitterballen or the fries or the mayonnaise or peanut sauce has been my favorite. You get those things. Don't just start eating because you'll bite into it and they are so hot. They serve their food really, really, really hot. I think I've gone through like four or five layers of skin in my mouth just today. Okay. So do blow on your food to save your taste buds and save your stuff because there's a lot of really cute, tasty little tiny treats you can have here, but they serve them like still with the oil boiling on them hot. So do be careful, especially if you're coming with little kids because you don't want Junior going, ah, when he's trying to enjoy a tasty treat here. Okay. Now my next don't for you is anywhere in the Netherlands, you're going to see bikes. Okay. And my recommendation for you is don't go into the bike lanes. Don't walk in the bike lanes. Remember, red dead, because if you're walking in the red where the bikes are, you can get hit. And the Dutch are cool and all, don't get me wrong, but if you get in their way, when they're riding their bikes, they become like, I will take you out. And it doesn't matter if they have their baby in front of them and their three year old in front of them. They're going for you. Okay, so don't walk in the bike lane. All right. It is a serious thing. And you, I mean, you can't get hurt hitting, hit by those bikes, man. They're old fashioned, like steel kind of stuff and you'll get, you'll get whammoed. Okay, so don't walk in the bike lane. Also don't with that, if it's a pedestrian zone, don't ride your bike through there either. Okay, make sure you get off the bike and walk it. Because you can actually get a fine for that. So just a heads up. Now my next don't for you when you come here to the Netherlands is don't take it personally. Look, whether it is you're, if you're a little prudish or whatever, whether it is the red light districts or the coffee shops, or the fact that the Dutch are very direct when they talk to you, like they'll say, hey, dude, why are you so fat? Like they don't mean to be mean, they just want to know and they're really to the point. And some tourists get kind of offended by that, especially in the service industry. So I would say like, another don't is don't get in too much of a hurry when you go to a restaurant, because it'll take time until they come to your table to take your order. And another don't going along with that is don't forget to ask for your bill. They're not just going to come by and say, oh, would you like your bill now? Sometimes you got to go up and say, hey, can I get my bill, And so you might have to do that. Just just kind of a heads up on that one. And the thing is, is with that, just don't take that personally, because that's just how it is here. They don't mean in a bad way. That's just the way they are. Now my next don't for you is if you come, don't forget to bring a credit card or a debit card with a chip in it with a pin number. There's a lot of places here that you actually just pay without talking to anybody, and you're going to need a chip card to put in and put the pin numbers in and stuff like that. So just make your life easier. So you can go and pick up stuff very easily. So that is nice. Another thing is, is don't forget to have a few coins, though, because there's actually some vending machines where you can get food out of vending machines like hot food for a euro or two to save a lot little bit of money, but you need some coins for that. Some of those places will exchange money or change it into coins, but not always. So do have some of those coins ready. Another don't I have for you is don't worry about the Dutch stereotypes of the clogs and the windmills, the canals and the beautiful buildings, and the really tall people and the cheese and things like that. Because yes, you really will see a lot of cheese shops, you will see a lot of windmills going throughout the country. Yes, you will see very tall people on bikes all over the place. And yes, you will have pancakes and cheese and all these kind of things. You do see those stereotypes you've seen and seen the movies and stuff like that. And the beautiful buildings. Yes, you will see those too. So be prepared for that because you're gonna see these cool buildings like, oh, wow, that's cool. That's cool. So don't be surprised if you do see a lot of those stereotypes you've heard of and be like, wow, it is really gorgeous here. Wow, there really is canals all over the place. Wow, they really are tall here. You will have that when you come and it is kind of a fun thing. Oh, and one more thing. Don't forget if you're gonna be going around the country to buzz your ticket in and out when you go, because that's how they kind of check people. So make sure you when you get to the train stations, you'll see this little like buzzy thing and some doorways. Make sure even if it's already open, you pass your ticket on there and it'll say you can go in, go in and then when you leave, make sure you check it out. Because if you get return tickets and stuff like that, that's how they check them. So make sure you buzz in and out with when you take the trains around the country. And they're super easy to go to, they're clean, they go all over, they're efficient. You know, take you can go place in half an hour, an hour or so to get a most place in the country, maybe an hour and a half, you know, two with the longest, but is really easy to use. But don't forget to buzz in and out. Okay, now my last couple of notes I'm going to kind of put in there for specifically for Amsterdam, because I know a lot of tourists might only watch this video in Amsterdam. One, don't take pictures of the girls in the red light district. It's not a good thing to do. Another thing I would say for you is if you're looking to do the hop on hop off bus, you don't do the hop on hop off bus here in Amsterdam, because it's canals everywhere. And the buses can't go to a lot of places. So the hop on hop off bus just kind of goes around the periphery of the city. So it might not be worthwhile. I mean, there's a there's a canal while that might be worth it, but not the bus one. So don't do that. Also with Amsterdam is don't think that Amsterdam is just the red light district. There's so many things to see here so many great museums to go to. And I mean, you can go and you can go see, you know, of course, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, you know, the Anne Frank house, all these kind of things, you can see that, but there's more than that here. And a lot of tourists when they come, they come for like a party weekend or something like that. And they just stay in the red light district, the bars, the coffee shops, and look at the girls in the windows and stuff like that. And the city is completely different once you leave that part. And if you don't like those kind of things, you can love this city without that, because you go around and you have all these canals, all these different museums, you can see and all kinds of stuff to truly enjoy. So don't think Amsterdam is just the red light district, just like don't think Netherlands is just the Amsterdam, there's so much more to here, okay. And I think my last little don't for you when you're here is don't forget to bring a jacket. I don't care if it's summer and they say, oh, it's going to be warm every single day here and sunny, the rain will pop up. Today, we were supposed to have beautiful skies like this all the time. And we kept getting rained on and rained on and rained on off and on. So just heads up with that. Okay. Anyway, those are just some don'ts about visiting the Netherlands. I know it's not the greatest site because I'm here in my hotel room, but I'm heading home tomorrow. So I wanted to get this video done before I packed up and headed out to the airport. So anyway, I'll say bye from the Netherlands. And don't worry if you come here because you have a good time. They speak English, lots of hotels, lots of people here that will help you out. So it is pretty cool. So bye from Amsterdam. Hey, that video is over. But there's more to come. Click over here for a video that you might actually like because it's related to the video that you just watched. 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