Amsterdam Airport Transfer Minibus
Paul Cummins is a modern day man of the world:
I met Paul in a bar in Amsterdam almost a year ago. When I met him I will confess to having assumed he was what we in England gently refer to as a “piss artists.” However within a week I was fast friends with Paul, and have been every since. Paul and I have something in common — we both feel the grass grow beneath our feet.
At the time of meeting him and arriving in Amsterdam I was going through a break up, and it was over the course of several booze fuelled escapades in Amsterdam’s drinking districts that I really got to know him. He works with an Amsterdam minibus transfer service, but hails from Perth, Australia, where he’s a bricklayer by trade.
But he can’t stick it for more than a 5 or 6 months at a time, then he gives in to the travel bug again. “When you’re travelling, you’re always going somewhere” he opined sagely to me this morning, as he raced out the door to an Amsterdam Minibus Transfer pick up he was shockingly late to.
A man on the move.
From Perth Paul has travelled across a healthy stretch of the road. While out with him for a night in Amsterdam he rattles off tall tales from Germany, Spain, New Zealand, England, the US, New Zealand and Thailand.
Paul works half the time and spends the rest of his life satisfying his party instincts. They’re finely tuned. The other night while sat in a bar I watched him earn the admiration of the owner as he pulled a group of 15 tourists in off the street.
Paul’s your typical Amsterdam ex pat on a working holiday — he brings the party with him to work.
Amsterdam Airport Transfer Minibus.
I went on holiday solo this year, and chose Amsterdam as the site of this unique and courageous experiment in single handed holiday making!
OK so the truth is that at this late stage all of my friends are either married or have careers (real careers — being a travel writer doesn’t count I have been reliably told). But I’m not scared.
Almost a decade of travel has inured me to any awkwardness about being immersed in foreign cultures and surrounded by strangers — in fact at this point I find the familiar faintly off putting.
Sitting down in my office chair always gives me the sudden urge to get back up and head out the door, so I was glad to feel my feet hit alien soil in schipol airport.
It doesn’t take long to make friends in one of Europes most cosmopolitan cities.
I made a friend straight away at the airport, where I was met by one Paul Cummins, Amsterdam Airport Transfer Minibus driver debonair. “Where’s the rest of you?” he demanded as I wandered out of my gate. “In a bar in Tokyo” I replied like the lame Wombats fan I am, and instantly made a friend.
Paul split the time on the drive over to my hostel between loudly singing “Wolves and Vampires” and explaining to me that for some reason the cab company believed I was 8 people. I delighted him by informing him that I could be upwards of 9 people at any given time.
As he deftly manoeuvred the Amsterdam Airport Transfer Minibus through the city streets he explained how he had moved to Amsterdam briefly from Perth. A bricklayer by trade, he spent half his year travelling alone around the world because “When you’re travelling, you’re always going somewhere, you know?”
Although this was debatably profound, Paul did have the benefit of several months experience in Amsterdam, something he was eager to share with me.
Paul was kind enough to give me an authentic expatriate experience of Amsterdam.
Paul recommended a local bar called The Tribe, and I ran into him there later that afternoon. Happy to see me again he introduced me to a couple of his friends, and an hour later we were out on what would turn out to be one of the best travel experiences of my short life.
We sped efficiently across the city as Paul showed me some of the city’s best hidden gems, including a 300 year old liqueur tasting house.
I’d definitely recommend Amsterdam if you’re going on holiday alone this year, the expatriate community is very friendly. Make a friend and discover this amazing city!