It worked out in the end but DAMN.

Inauspicious beginnings. 

Pretty view from plane does not fortell future events

This trip feels jinxed and I'm still on day one (and really need to pee). I don't know if it was the two hour delay on the Tarmac in Kiev that was my first warning or if I should count my airport driver going to the wrong damn gate to pick me up was the legit first bump in the road, but 26 hours in and I've already had, not proud to admit it, tears of frustration. 

So. I get to Amsterdam. Which is lovely. 

I'm gonna eat all of you. 

And, before I leave the airport, I need money. Usually, and at 37 countries now "usually" seems like a safe precedent, I hit up the ATM and just move on with life. Well. The Netherlands doesn't think 1.7 billion people is a wide market and they don't recognise my bank, Union Pay. Okay, this is why I have a backup American account. 

Which isn't working. My American card has been turned off.  Okay, annoying, but I find a pay phone bank, they still exist, and call my bank. 

Try to call. 

US Bank's collect call number, the number the card says to call collect if outside the USA, doesn't accept collect calls. Like, I'm on the phone with operators (s!) and they are like, nope. And, fun fact, you can't even pay to call 800 numbers? So, kick me in the buns, I cant even call my bank (at 1.5 euros a minute) even though I tried 'cause, you know, the Netherlands doesn't know about Union Pay and my bank card is off. Cool. 

So I call my mom at 5 am (sorry mom) and have her call my bank. Okay. Crisis adverted. 

This is why I carry a little US currency at all times just in case. I was looking at bus schedules to the German border 'cause German banks have no beef with Union Pay. 

Message my AirBnB guy that I'm on my way, find my bus, message my guy again confirming I'll be there in an hour (like he asked me to), get in Haarlem (which is charming!!!), get to my AirBnB. 

This is a bad photo of my town for the next few days. 

No one. Okay. I wait awhile. Nothing. I put a note on the door and wander the neighbourhood looking for wifi. I find a hot spot at a grocery shop but can't connect. I go back to the Airbnb. The note is gone but no one is home. I put another note after waiting fifteen minutes. I walk the neighbourhood again looking for wifi. Nothing. I come back. Note is still on the door. So I decide to drag my pitiful ass to a bar ("cafe") and ask to use their phone. The bartender lets me use her cell and recognises the number! This happens all the time!!!

I call him, no answer. Fine. I put my now-dead iPod on the bar's charger and message the guy again. Poof. Messages. Pretty much a, "ahuck, I'll be back at 5:30."

Cool. 

I finish my beer, go back to the apartment 'cause, Jesus Christ, I don't want to miss him again, and... It's 5:45. 

On New Years Eve. 

I'm fucking hungry and cold and this dude still isn't here. 

Town Square. 

Did I mention I have to pee???

So, instead of going to downtown Amsterdam for NYE or going to the grocery store before they close or getting a meal (I left Beijing 24+ hours ago), I'm pacing the street outside some jackass's apt. Everything is closing up. I'm hungry... Gotta find food somewhere...

Fuck you, 2016. Well played.