From London to Amsterdam and back again in under 24 hours, Tyla Fergusson-Platt, along with two mates set out to experience a New Years Eve to remember. 

The plan. To travel from London to Amsterdam for NYE, for one night only. 18 hours. No accommodation. A whole night of possibilities. We booked the last possible flight out before midnight, arriving at 10PM. Delays aside we’d be arriving into the centre of Amsterdam with the party in full swing.

We were playing a dangerous game. Only one guy was manning passport control and seemed intent on pissing everyone off, probably because he was forced to work the graveyard shift. Double, triple checking every passport, waving and talking enthusiastically with families of children and then looking at the queue of faces with a smug grin. The clock was ticking. It was 11:15PM by the time we made it out. Then a rookie mistake I always make, see cheap flights for £30 and don’t think that the short taxi ride from the airport to the City will be triple the ticket price. We had no choice and took the hit.

We arrived just outside the centre and the taxi driver unenthusiastically told us that he couldn’t go any further, it was too busy ahead for him to make it. A little annoyed we got out and with comical timing the heavens opened. Like a years worth of rain on top of us in a few seconds. There was no shelter, so we sprinted towards the bridge for the sanctuary of the canal tunnels below.

Fireworks and Anarchy on the streets of Amsterdam

11:45PM. The rain had died down and the party in the city was alive and kicking. We walked into the City shocked at what we witnessed; anarchy surrounded us. Fireworks exploded on all sides, from above and below. Huge booms echoed under our feet, like bombs during a war and the sounds cascaded along the bridge tunnels creating a wall of sound. The air was fizzing and crackling with electricity. In front of us stairwells leading to metro stations underground flashed with light. Everybody was setting them off and it didn’t matter where people were. In metro stations, under bridges, in the small alleyways of the red light district, celebrations were anywhere and everywhere.

We walked into the red light district in a haze. In the small cobbled streets people continued to let them off and didn’t care where they aimed them. A firework behind us narrowly missed the top of our heads as it exploded into a window high above us. Around the corner a huge Cathryn Wheel sprayed out multi-coloured sparks across the Amsterdam streets. After this we decided to shelter and picked a promising looking bar on the main strip. The entry was 10 euros and when we made it inside it became apparent that the owner took ‘dive bar’ a little too literally. It looked like a squat. It wouldn’t usually matter but spending 10 euros entry and 20 euros for a vodka and coke, the least you expect is that the toilets aren’t overflowing with s***.

One Of The Best Bars in Amsterdam

We quickly cut our losses and along the river found one of the best bars in Amsterdam. It was one of those pubs that looked like it hadn’t aged in 200 years and still had the camaraderie of an old school tavern. The atmosphere was raucous and alive with conversation. We perched ourselves near the pool table, which happened to be right next to the queue for the toilets.

A couple of drinks in and feeling the social buzz, we made small talk with those around us. It was a remarkably diverse international gathering for the lavvy. One American backpacker explained he had travelled all the way from Northern Norway by train to make it to Amsterdam for New Years Eve. French, Spanish, American and Scottish nationalities were all represented in this small corner of the bar. When we made it to the Scottish travellers we could barely make out what they were saying. They were both from Aberdeen and as anyone who lives in the UK knows the further you travel north in Scotland the more indecipherable the accent. However what we did make out was hilarious and had us in stiches.

The Main Attraction – Shelter Nightclub

Shelter nightclub is in one of the most interesting parts of Amsterdam. It’s located on the cities northern waterfront and the most scenic route to get there is via ferry. It was 1am now but there was still the odd firework going off over the impressive cityscape. We arrived on the other side and it took us only a few minutes to get to the club from there. Google maps took us to the iconic A’DAM skyscraper but where was the nightclub? Then out of the corner of our eyes we noticed an underground stairwell which looked like the entrance to a WWII bunker.

The club was unbelievably directly underneath the skyscraper. We traversed the long concrete stairwell down into the netherworld and at the bottom of the steps a catacomb of brutalist style passages led to different parts of the nightclub. The main dancefloor looked like the inside of a UFO with the combination of concrete and strobe lights. Inside the clubgoers were dancing to a monotonous beat that changed little all night. On the screen in front of them there was projected a hypnotic psychedelic pattern that the people inside faced towards like some tribal ritual. A lot of people were wearing sunglasses which perhaps tells you how people were getting their kicks that night.

Finding breakfast the morning after

10AM we danced too. Not even at the height of my Uni days did I stay at a club that long. We left the remaining gurning, sunglass wearing crowd behind us and went to find the exit to search for breakfast. Again we climbed the steps but this time the light was bright above us. It was disorientating and suddenly sped up the oncoming hangover. The cold winds blew violently from the river while we drunkenly laughed at how late it was.

On the ferry the sickening hangover began. Our flight wasn’t until 3PM and yesterdays plans that we could spend the day shopping in Amsterdam were now laughable. We found a café that served a full English breakfast like true Brits abroad. Zombified we sat inside trying to process last night and contemplating the hangover ahead. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we could have slept but because we hadn’t had recovery from the night before the morning wasn’t going to be an easy one. Subsequently we didn’t do a great deal more after that. However the traipse through security has to go down as one of the worst feelings of my life.

On paper an 18 hour excursion to Amsterdam sounds amazing, and it was a great adventure, but the lack of accommodation really put a dampener on the next day. If you are looking to do something like this next year, it might be an idea to get an early morning flight to prevent the all day wait to leave and sleep. However in Amsterdam there is always fun to be had whatever you decide to do but one recommendation would be too find places off the beaten track. The tourist traps are expensive and you will find more interesting characters in the bars away from the main strip. Overall an 18 hour round trip on NYE is highly recommended for your next trip to Amsterdam.