In the coming weeks I shall be doing more and more posts for new arrivals in Amsterdam as late August early September is a time where many students, tourists, and working people arrive in Amsterdam to stay for some amount of time.

Fact- Lots of people arrive in Amsterdam and their first idea for calling home involves getting a prepaid mobile phone and dialing their loved ones.
Fact- This is very expensive. You will eat through minutes faster than you can say "Yes, I saw a drunk guy fall into the canal." And worst of all, many people think that is how it has to be. Which is absolutely not true.

Simple Solution - In this day and age it is very likely you're coming to town with your laptop. Therefore you're bound to get some internet time, either in your hotel, apartment, or one of the neverending list of places in town where you can use wifi. And if you're using the internet than you may as well use the beautiful voice over IP programs out there to make a free or almost free phone call. That's right, Im talking about skype. You've probably used skype or use skype regularly but did you remember that the rates for calling land or mobile numbers in the US is dirt cheap? By dirt I mean .017cents per minute.

.017 cents a minute! Thats 1 hour for about 1 euro that you can talk with aunt Sally or your secret boyfriend back in Chicago. And if you don't like skype for some odd reason, there are plenty of other choices out there... including the open source Gizmo project. Once again, dirt cheap rates and you can call anyone with a phone! And of course if you call someone who's sitting at their computer back home.. well that is free. And FREE is good.

YOu'd think everyone knew this by now. But I must tell you... with every new season I see the same pattern over and over... buying the prepaid mobile to make pricey international calls... only to get very angry at the cost afterwards.

Friends don't let friends make expensive international calls.

Haven't found a place to stay in Amsterdam yet? Ibis Hotels is offering 10 Euro discount when you book your hotel room online at www.ibishotel.com. They have four hotels in Amsterdam of which two are located in the city center. All Ibis Hotels are basic but comfortable with 24 hour reception and food & drink facilities.

This deal runs from July 9 - August 26 and is also offered in 18 other European countries.

The good people at the IBIS Stopera Hotel were kind enough to show me around when I walked in the other day. If you've never been to an IBIS, neither had I! This is a video entry of what I learned and what I saw....

Several years ago, when my student life was new and social activities were almost daily, I tolerated the smoke. So well in fact that I started smoking. About two years ago I managed to lose that terrible habit, and now my tolerance for smoky places is very low. Which is unfortunate, as Amsterdam (and most of Holland) seems to thrive on smoke-filled environments.

While searching for a clean-air establishment in which to meet some friends, I found another great resource: Smoke Free Netherlands! From smokefreeworld.com, this website lists a small but comprehensive variety of hostels, hotels, restaurants, and even one bar that has a smoke-free room. Hopefully in the future the list will grow longer, but for now I've found a goldmine.

Finding a cheap and decent place to stay in Amsterdam is not always easy, especially during the busy summer months. Qbic Hip Hotel is therefore very very welcome! It's a new low cost design hotel, with rates starting at 39 Euro. The earlier you book the cheaper the room, the most you'll pay is 139 Euro. It's located a bit outside the center, near the WTC in the south of the city, but well connected by tram, train and Schiphol airport.

Rooms are cube-shaped (surprise surprise), called a Cubi, only 75 square foot but very practical in size and set up with Philip Starck design, beds from Hästens and wireless internet. You can adjust the lighting in the room according to the mood you are in, Mellow Yellow, Red Romance or Deep Purple Love... In the lobby you will find a digital concierge service, recommending local restaurants and places of interest.

The hotel opens in June but since you should book early we didn't want to keep it from you.. Reservations can already be made on their website.

Despite having my little place in the Oud West of Amsterdam, I do manage to hang out at quite a few hotels. Thanks to a steady stream of visitors, I often get to put my feet up, flip through the cable channels, and test how fluffy the beds are at some of this city's finest hotels.

Recently I found myself in a double room at the American Hotel, very prominently located at Leidseplein.

I've seen the hotel many times from the outside. I've also crossed through the very simple lobby during some infrequent visits to the fancy-shmancy American Café. But this was my first time hanging out in the rooms and wandering the halls.

My friend was busy finishing some work, so I threw myself onto one of the beds and proceeded to flip through the channels. Immediately I noted the very very soft bed under me... fighting the temptation to sleep. Channel one on the TV was some kind of permanent camera pointing down at Leidseplein. Perhaps not interesting to most people, but I sat there for a good 15 minutes trying to see if I knew anyone riding by.

A quick visit to the bathroom, which was very small. Lots of little toiletries so you can polish your broken buttons and sew your shoes back on. Luxury hotel bathrobe that we'd all like to take with us but wouldn't want to suffer the extra charge -- check. Surprisingly weak built in hair dryer -- check.

Everything else was pretty standard for a good hotel, except one very irritating detail. Internet. Whether you chose to stay in your room and plug into the ethernet line, or walk down to the mezzanine and use the hotel's computers, you have to pay a pretty price for use of the information super highway. Some swiss company apparently made a deal with the hotel so that every guest has to pay for either one hour, one day, or one week and it is quite the opposite of cheap.

Do we get charged for having standard cable channels? No. Do we get charged for the fancy bathrobe, the comfy bed, or the nice shampoos? No. So in the year 2007, in a city like Amsterdam where internet is cheap and everywhere, why oh why, American Hotel, do guests have to pay all this extra just to have some internet?

My verdict: No good. Nice hotel otherwise, but in an era where most of us need the internet to do our work and do the most basic and necessary tasks, I would rather choose a hotel that understands that need. Especially in a city like Amsterdam, where you can certainly find such a place.

With Amsterdam as busy as it is it's a good idea to plan ahead when looking for a place to stay. Ibis Hotels, who offer basic but comfortable rooms, have a new deal called "Happy 30". Rooms in Amsterdam are offered for 49 en 69 Euro when you book at least 30 days in advance.
Ibis also introduced this campaign in 15 other European countries. The interactive maps will tell you where the hotels are located exactly.

So plan ahead and save some $$$!

We here at Trippist are about more than just recommending things we like and writing of our adventures in and around the Netherlands.

We are also into giving advice and tips, just in case they come in handy for your trip to the land of wooden shoes.

Therefore I have yet one more simple tip to pass onto you... it involves credit cards.

Like any young and healthy person living in Amsterdam, I travel. And as I travel I often have a credit card with me, just in case. While it is mostly only for when I don't have another option, I make it a habit to check if the place Im eating in, shopping at, or sleeping in, accepts credit cards, and which ones.

After much research and years of experience I can tell you within Europe it still varies a great deal. Sometimes the country you least expect, like say Croatia, turns out to be a very credit card friendly country. While the country you'd most expect, like the Netherlands, is surprisingly anti-credit card.

Now I'm not talking hotels, let's leave them out of the equation. When it comes to cafes, restaurants, shops and other miscelaneous places where you need to purchase something, it is very common that the business will not accept credit cards. They might even have a little machine that looks like it takes credit cards, but you'll be surprised to find it only works for Dutch debit cards and not much else.

Beyond that, if you're a VISA or Mastercard carrier, you'll probably have better luck. As in my experience, AMEX isn't very loved amongst the small business community in and around Amsterdam.

So if you do go, try to get some cash flow going. While cash machines can sometimes be quite hard to find, they're out there, and there's no operational reason why you couldn't get some cash from there and hold off on taking the gamble to see if your credit card is accepted at that next place you go to.

Oh, and on the off chance that you use travelers checks, my personal opinion is that you're trapped in the 80's and I hope it's fun.

Amsterdam has plenty of unique corners you may have never heard of. Often its the most amazing of places you may never have noticed before. That's what it was like during my visit to the Lloyd Hotel. Here.. watch it for yourself.

ps- Add your own NL themed videos on our youtube group.

While there are lots of charming hotels and hostels one can stay at while in Amsterdam, I've noticed some of the other options people have been exploring. Lately, my visitors - who don't want to sleep on my couch - choose to use the wonders of CraigsList Amsterdam.

While Mr. Newmark's (Craig) List is most famous for all the magic it brings to cities in the US, a growing number of people are making use of it right here in Europa. And my friends seem to have found a couple of very charming private houses that people offer for a few days for a reasonable price. Best of all, you're in a private home with someone who must be somewhat cool if they're listing themselves on Craigslist.

Recent visitors told me to meet them at their private found-on-craigslist rental, in the beautiful Jordaan! Just a block over from Anne Frank's house, I went to the door of this lovely old-fashioned house, and there I found my friends. Happy as happy could be; going on and on about "how cool the lady is" and how comfortable the beds are or how charming the cat is. As the days passed, I have to tell you I was a bit jealous as the host woman seemed like one very fun person to know... all because of that dam Craigslist.





(additional tip: look under temporary rentals)