About Amsterdam; Handy info, with links. Please ask your Amsterdam questions here.

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Permalink Reply by Podbaydoor / Mother of Invention on June 12, 2009 at 6:49am

Public Transport
Okay, Amsterdam is a pretty relaxed, and small city, you could probably walk to your hotel/hostel. Frankly I bike everywhere, and it doesn't take me longer then 30 min to get from one side to the other. My advice is to rent a bike. But when your too drunk, or it's raining you might want to use the public transport.

Trams, buses and metro lines run from 06.00 in the morning to 00.30 at night. Between 00.30 and 07.30 in the morning, you can use the night buses. More public transport info, here.

Taxis I find very expensive.
Taxis in Amsterdam have a starters fee € 7,50 for the first 2 km, after that it's € 2,20 per km.
With 5 or more people, you can get a taxi van, starters fee € 12,20 incl first 2 km, and € 2,52 per km
They are not allowed to divert from these costs, this is a legal set fee. Tipping would be somewhere between 10 to 15%

To give you and idea of the distances, when you look at an Amsterdam map
Central Station – Dam: < 2 km
Central Station – Leidseplein: 2 à 3 km
Central Station – Museumplein: 3 à 4 km
Central Station – Rembrandtplein: 2 à 3 km
Central Station – Amsterdam Arena: 8 à 10 km
Centraal Station – Schiphol: 18 à 20 km

More Amsterdam transportation info, also how to get to Amsterdam from the airport, here

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Permalink Reply by elbowadeluxe on June 23, 2009 at 5:23am

Don't rent a bike if you can't ride a bike. The biggest annoyance of anyone in Amsterdam are tourists on bikes, standing still in the middle of the street/road, looking at maps and stuff, breaking for no reason, making a left without signaling. Really. The most accidents happen with British (indeed drunken) tourists.

Instead, take the tram, or subway. Or walk. Or take a tuktuk, or a biketaxi. Or a watertaxi!
Or walk.

Looking forward to seeing you all in sassy Amsterdam!

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Permalink Reply by Podbaydoor / Mother of Invention on June 23, 2009 at 5:44am

Oh, you're so right. And by being able to ride a bike; just because you're able to balance your ass on a bike and move forward, doesn't mean you're bike savy. You need to be able to stay on the right hand side of the road (harder then it seems), look ahead, look in all directions, make sure your tires don't get stuck in the tram tracks (happened to me, one of the first days I moved to Amsterdam, but I was also drunk)
Just the other day a tourist got hit by Tram 24. (Dutch article)
One day, this tourist on a rental bike (easy to spot, they're either red or yellow (the bikes, that is)) without looking, crossed the road, I ran into her, with my bike. Yelled at her, told her she should return the bike immediatly, and walk to everywhere. heh.
Stoopid Toorist!!111!!

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Permalink Reply by elbowadeluxe on July 23, 2009 at 7:41am

This may come in handy!

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Permalink Reply by elbowadeluxe on July 23, 2009 at 7:59am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjNNDPXVvT0

(linkthingie didn't work)

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Permalink Reply by Latter Day Heretic on June 16, 2009 at 8:38am

my question is what do we plan on doing for the party are we going to try and get a coffee shop/ bar rented out for a night, or is there a place you had in mind,.

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Permalink Reply by Podbaydoor / Mother of Invention on June 16, 2009 at 9:30am

No, since it will be 6 months for now, I have yet to make any final plans, and am open to all suggestions.

In general, here's my schedule of doing thing in this group.

July; Post suggestions to set a date for party, it could be in October, since my involvement with the AFX is so much, that I will not be able to organize both at the same time.
August; Post request of how many people will show up, and ask for age of participant, see who needs a hotel, budget, do a head count, plan accordingly.
September; Post suggestions what to do in Amsterdam, suggest boat tour during the day, see if people are interested, and willing to pay.
2 weeks before the party, Post final details, with maps, how to get there, etc.

Hope this gives some clarity

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Permalink Reply by Latter Day Heretic on June 28, 2009 at 1:32pm

cheers,

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Permalink Reply by Jvegi on July 6, 2009 at 7:23pm

Can you smoke cigarettes in pubs in Amsterdam? It's okey if you can't, but it's always nice to smoke a cigarette after a few beers.

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Permalink Reply by Podbaydoor / Mother of Invention on July 6, 2009 at 9:26pm

No, sorry, there has been a smoking ban as of January this year. But, there are pubs who don't care and allow customers to smoke. Some of them have a tip jar; if you want to smoke, you have to put money in the jar. That way if they do get a fine, they have money saved up.

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Permalink Reply by Podbaydoor / Mother of Invention on July 23, 2009 at 3:56pm

Great find Elbowadeluxe

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