Destination Amsterdam | Road Trip With Friends

Destination Amsterdam | Road Trip With Friends

• March 17, 2016

From as early as my college days, my friends and I adored road trips. Back then, only a couple of us owned a car (I wasn't one of them!) so it wasn't that often we would go on such trips, but we managed to do trips from Blackpool to Brighton. Oh the fun we had.

Fast forward a few years, when we all started working full time after university, most of us had a car and it was in 2010 we took the road trip of a lifetime.

2 cars and 8 of us later, we drove from London to Amsterdam with a stop in Bruges on the outbound journey and via Rotterdam on the inbound. I was glad not to be the driver since driving on the wrong side of the road would just mess with my head and it was lucky for me that my friends didn't trust me enough either, haha...

Our first stop in Bruges. We couldn't pass on the chips with curry ketchup of course. Belgian fries are always tops.

The Heineken Beer museum in Amsterdam. Even back then I had a thing for copper interiors!  

These vending machines dispensing hot meaty snacks were too awesome for words!

Outside the Van Gogh museum.

Visiting the flower markets and taking home colourful tulip bulbs to plant.

Sailing down the canal with our 4 in a boat, pedal boats!

En route back to London, we stop by Rotterdam and visit these unusual little cubic houses.

And of course we need snacks for the long car journey home.

Before we embarked on our epic road trip, we made sure to sort out a few things first since the cars we took were our own, and split all costs evenly between us.

1) Buy insurance for both cars. Even if you have insurance, a trip outside of your home country will need additional cover.
2) Make sure the designated drivers are legally able to drive in Europe. You can check this at the Post Office.
3) Check car tyres. This is so important to ensure the safety of everyone in the car and those on the roads. Not only will defective tyres result in hefty penalties (£2500 fine!) but you can also lose 3 points on your licence. Get them checked at a car tyre dealer like Point S*, they operate all around the country. Mandy has some great tips for a quick check using a 20p coin, and this goes for whether you are taking a long road trip or not.
4) Make sure you start the journey on a full tank. You never know when you'll see a petrol station in a foreign country.
5) Stock up on plenty of food, drinks, cushions and warm blankets for the journey, and spare a thought for the driver who won't be able to enjoy these comforts until they take a break!

What's the most fun road trip you've ever been on? I'd love to know!!

*This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.