This trip has been a long time in the making. My mum in particular has always wanted to visit the tulip fields in Amsterdam and so my parents pencilled in the perfect time to make the dream become a reality.
Travelling to Amsterdam
Mum and dad had expressed an interest in the Eurostar. I’d been banging on about it ever since my brother and I used it for the Euros football tournament in France in 2016. So, we booked a return from St Pancras to Amsterdam via Brussels for the three of us. It’s fair to say I gate-crashed.
I would recommend the Eurostar to any traveller, but particularly if you are a wheelchair user who, like me, typically uses a manual chair when taking flights. The Eurostar allows me to visit Europe more independently using my electric wheelchair. Plus, the disabled section is in the first-class carriage which is an absolute bonus.
So, we started our train journey from Birmingham to London before staying overnight at a nearby hotel. The next morning, we made the short walk to St Pancras to catch the 9am Eurostar. It was such a quick and relaxed process. Getting access to the Business Lounge at the Eurostar terminal all added to the experience.
The first time I visited Amsterdam was in February 2020, just before lockdown. That trip five years prior was with nine other lads, so it’s fair to say this would be a rather different holidaying experience to that one.
Arrival and First Evening
We arrived into Amsterdam Centraal Station and had a 20-minute walk to our hotel. The sun was shining and it was bustling. I was actually surprised it was so busy being the day after King’s Day (Koningsdag) which is a massive celebration with street parties, everyone dressed in orange, probably having a beverage or two.
Anyway, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel, settled into our room, unpacked and went to explore the city in the evening sun before an early night.
Exploring the Museum Quarter
On our first full day, armed with step-by-step instructions from one of the hotel staff, we took the tram straight to the Museum Quarter to see if we could get into one of the most famous Amsterdam attractions – the Van Gogh Museum.
After a little confusion around the direction we needed to get the tram and how we paid for it, we arrived and joined the museum queue. I am not sure what happened next, but one minute we’re stood in a rather long queue and the next, after a conversation with the security guard who told us to speak to a young lad on the gate, we were pointed in the direction of a check-in desk and boom, we were paid and inside the museum. It was like magic.
I would highly recommend this as a stop. I’m certainly not an art gallery regular in the UK, but it was amazing to see these famous paintings in the flesh and to read more about his life.
Tulip Fields
The second full day was tulip day! Fortunately, the hotel came up trumps once again, recommending a specific taxi-vehicle which had a tail-lift and clamps which could take my chair. It was actually the type of vehicle we used for school trips thirty-odd years ago, but no complaints as it did the job just fine.
One downside was it’s further than we thought out of the city (a 45-minute drive) so we probably paid a little more than expected. However, it was definitely worth the investment as this was THE experience we had come to Amsterdam to see… and the sun had come out for us to make things even better.
The tulip fields were an amazing sight, busy with people from all over the world. It was immediately clear why it’s a must-do. It’s such a spectacle with vast displays of every colour and variety of tulip. We had booked tickets for a specific time, but it was all very relaxed and we took our time as we went around.
This was hands-down the highlight of the holiday and you can see why my mum was so eager to have this experience.
Canal Cruise
The following day we had a very relaxed stroll around the shops in the morning before doing a canal boat trip in the afternoon. The hotel booked the boat trip. It’s fair to say we were a little sceptical about how accessible the boat was going to be, but I tried to keep the faith!
They then unleashed what looked like a plank…which turned out to be a neat hydraulic lift. I drove on and down I went into the boat.
The tour was a 50-minute round trip which took in the spectacular architecture of the city and talked us through the history of the canals of Amsterdam. Dad wasn’t sea-sick which was a bonus!
Visiting the Jewish Quarter
On our final day we went to hunt out the famous Ann Frank House. We walked into the Jewish Quarter and, whilst we couldn’t get into the house itself, went to see her name on the National Holocaust Memorial, Annelies Marie Frank!
There were also houses with bronze plaques containing the holocaust victim’s name, birth date and fate before we explored the remaining area of the quarter which was in a really nice part of the city with a beautiful park. This finished off a memorable trip.
Reflections on the Trip
We were very fortunate with the weather and the people we met along the way. When you travel in an electric wheelchair it comes with risk. But, I’m always taken aback by how willing strangers are to help, from pushing me off the metro in Berlin last June when my chair had flicked accidentally onto manual mode, to the hotel handyman repairing my breathing machine on this trip.
The kindness of strangers when we have run into issues, has always added to the travel experience of this disabled individual making me increasingly confident about taking my wheelchair on many more holidays abroad.
