ATTENDING THE LAST SENSATION WHITE IN AMSTERDAM…
Look how many “White” folks were gathered for the Last Sensations White in Amsterdam
After our 1 month trial run we went back to the Netherlands to attend the Last Sensation White (we booked our tickets 6 months ago while still in Thailand) and to say hi to our cat, Nikita…and oh yes, family of course 😛
If you’re wondering why we didn’t have loads of pictures and crazy status reports on Facebook about our attending this festival…well, let’s just say…we felt like we were like ducks out of the water.
Perhaps popular music has changed…
Perhaps prices for drinks and refreshments at music festivals have gone up… (7 euros for little plastic cup of Gin and Tonic…really…at least put it in a pretty glass!!)
Trying to “happy” with our tiny glasses of drinks..LOL!
Perhaps we are no longer used to long ques and ridiculous dress code requirements…
Or…
Perhaps we have gotten older…
But at least we were able to say we attended The Final Sensation White together 🙂
While I’m sure thousands of others had the time of their lives, our experience was a bit of a disaster from start to finish…but no regrets…it was a night to remember.
Massive Statues of Ladies in all corners of the auditorium
The lighting and the shows were pretty cool…
Disaster 1: We realized we were online scammed into buying tickets that were 50euros more expensive than everyone else.
Disaster 2: We parked our motorbike about as far away from the from the entrance we had to enter, that meant we had to walk around the entire stadium which made us one of the last ones in the que.
Disaster 3: Massive ques to get in and Stefan got stopped because his light blue jeans weren’t WHITE…we had to go out and buy a pair of 30euro jogging pants to get in! And oh yes, they made me throw away my expensive mini-bottle of Burberry perfume…apparently no liquids were allowed in!
Stefan with his new WHITE jogging pants
Disaster 4: It was like a stampede to get in for the start of the festival. Since the ques and security checks took so long everyone was worried the festival would start without them. I so regretted wearing high heels and was worried if I was going to get trampled.
Disaster 5: I spent 30 minutes at the que to use the bathroom. Never again!
Disaster 6: We left around 2am and we drove back to Den Haag (in our white party gear) on the coldest night we had experienced since getting back to NL. It wasn’t so cold when we left home, so we didn’t bring our winter motorbike gear, but after the festival the temp went down to around 12-13degrees and when riding a motorbike it seems even colder! We were so cold when we got home…we had to take a long warm shower and brew tea to warm up…which we thought was ridiculous. It was supposed to be summer after all! 😛
The whole she-bang wasn’t as fun and exciting as I hoped, but I can say I ticked off “Attending Sensation White” off my list of “really want to dos” and I still want to say Thank You to Stefan for making it happen.
Braving the wild dancing crowds for a short while 😀
A BIT OF A HICCUP…
After much research and writing letters to the different legal offices concerning my visa we realized there is NO extending a Schengen visa. No matter how valid the reason.
This means I could stay in the Schengen countries for 90 days, but I have to be out of the Schengen zone for 90 days to be allowed another 90 days.
This was a major hiccup in our Euro Trip Plans.
The dilemma was WHERE to spend 90 days wandering around before re-entering the Schengen Zone. Fortunately, there are enough countries still in Europe that are not part of the Schengen agreement, but our next concern was how to apply for visas for each of those countries.
FYI there are 26 Countries currently in the Schengen Zone (Year 2017)
The 26 Schengen countries are:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
After another round of emails and phone calls we found out to our relief that most of the non-Schengen countries have open border policies (no visa needed) for those who have a valid multiple entry Schengen visa.
This was wonderful news, I guess we just have to make sure I get some sort of stamp in my passport proving I really did indeed exit the Schengen zone after 90 days and then a stamp when I re-enter to prove that I entered again after 90 days. I’m not sure how this will work out but we’ll let you know later.
We had planned to stay in NL for a month to focus on our website, blog and online fitness training. But with my visa clock ticking we headed off to continue our journey the next weekend.
Here’s a list of countries in Europe outside of the Schengen Zone:
1. Serbia
2. Georgia
3. Albania
4. Romania
5. Cyprus
6. Bulgaria
7. Croatia
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina
9. Moldova
10. Belarus
11. Kosovo
12. Republic of Ireland
13. United Kingdom (UK)
14. Montenegro
ON THE ROAD AGAIN…
Being on the road is addicting. And even though I thought I wanted to stay still for a month I found myself excited to jump on our bike and see a new place.
I felt sad to leave Nikita, our cat, again and staying and mum Alice’s home is always comfortable. But we gave up everything to go on this journey…so on the road we must go…
Working with Nikita beside me
First stop was Saint Mihiel, France. We dropped by to visit Uncle Carmelo and Tante Tineke’s family at this gorgeous horse farm owned by Dutch folks, of course 😉
Stefan’s cousin, Sanne, is quite the talented equestrian and it was lovely to see her so happy with the horses. She can tell exactly which horse is who..their names…their characters etc.
Sanne telling us the names of all the horses
After a delicious BBQ dinner we went to bed in the cozy tent cabin lit up with only candles and gas lamps.
Grillin’ Time
Stefan far too happy to be building a fire
Thanks Uncle Carmelo and Tante Tineke for letting us stay with you.
Family Pic in front of the “tent” cabin
Cozy inside with a coal stove and lit with candles and kerosene lamps
Our next stop was the Black Forest in Germany.
I am not sure why, but I have always wanted to visit the Black Forest in Germany. I can’t even explain why. Perhaps the name of the place made an impression on me when I was younger, but when Stefan asked is there any place a I really wanted to visit during our Euro Trip, the Black Forest was on my list
It was a beautiful drive through those mountains. We didn’t really get to explore the “forest” but we camped in a campsite smack in the middle of the Black Forest mountains and were able to take a couple hours stroll to see the Blindensee Lake. It was dark by the time we arrived but it was magical being out there, in nature with absolutely no artificial light our sounds distracting you.
Sitting beside that lake and seeing the sky covered in stars was breath-taking.
***Sadly no pictures because our phone cameras don’t take night pics very well 🙁
But hopefully you enjoy our video…