babes and dudes,

I will start off by saying that this being my first trip to Europe was just as serendipitous as it was overwhelming for me, considering I managed to see 4 cities in about a week. By day five, we had walked almost 41 miles -- WILD! Not to mention, I almost didn’t make it had it not been for Denise at the Passport Agency that held me down with a renewal less than 24 hours before my trip. It was stressful, but so damn worth it. I could have easily stayed in the Netherlands or in Barcelona and abandoned my life in NYC. easily.

With that being said,

first up: Amsterdam!

Soon as I landed in Amsterdam, we were in full GO! mode. My boyfriend Andrew has been living in The Netherlands for almost 2 years now and knows his way quite a bit. In order to make the most out of our days together, he made sure to keep me wide awake and push through my jet lag so I could be on the right time zones (PRO TIP AF: push through the jet lag!)

What didn't he show me in Amsterdam?? I landed at like 8:30am and nothing really opened until 12pm so we walked around and he showed me around town. He took me around De BijienKorf (which is their version of a Bloomingdale's), the canals, we took a stroll through the Vondelpark and even through the Red Light District (not as trippy as everyone makes seem, btw).

After all that walking and venturing around, I was sincerely pooped. Jet lag was on 100 and we ended up heading home soon after our late lunch at a spot called G's Really Nice Place, where I had a spectacular french toast. Next day we had big plans so it was nice wrapping up our evening semi-early in order to wake up on time and stop jet lag from getting in the way of the rest of the trip. :)

Saturday in Lisse + Den Haag

Saturday we spent the day at the Keukenhof (bucket list ting checked) and after we went to the Voorlinden Museum to check some sick exhibits out. The Keukenhof, by the way, is this MASSIVE festival of tulips at these old castle grounds turned public park and there were over a thousand types of tulips! It was insane and beautiful to see how many were out there and to obviously see the way they'd landscape them into designs. It was just me and my person and it was a sweet, sweet day.

Sunday in Den Haag + the beach

this is the oldest and most boujie beach hotel in Scheveningen (say that 10x fast).

Sunday was extra ~chill~. We slept in, had a little lunch with his friend Suba, then later met up with more of his friends and headed to the beach. The day was beautiful (actually the weather was beautiful the entire trip) and going to check out the boardwalk + beach dunes in the sleepy Hague was actually pretty tight. We had tapas at a little beach club and talked a while before heading back into the city -- it was picturesque, honestly, and I couldn't help but soak up being in the moment.

Monday in Rotterdam with Laura + Lou

I spent Monday with longtime Instagram pal @Seraphizm and her cutie patootie babygirl, Lou. I had a blast getting to connect with Laura and seeing the city through her eyes. I had poffetjes (little baby pancakes covered in powdered sugar) for the first time, saw their version of a market hall, the library and some local sneaker shops like Woei. She even introduced me to a local brand, Susan Bijl, that makes the coolest environmentally friendly bags (yes of course I got one, thanks to Laura!). Not to mention, Lou is a ham! Peep her little baby Cortezes -- they were so precious!!