On 23 to 27 November, the liberal city of Amsterdam will host this year’s Cannabis Cup. And, in honor of this extravagant celebration of Holland’s famous (and perennially popular) travel attraction, The Flying Pig - one of the most popular hostels in Amsterdam - is giving away two nights accommodation for two people, anytime in December, absolutely free!
To enter, just let us know what your ideal itinerary for a weekend in the city would be. The competition will close on the 17th of November, and itineraries are to be written in the comments box below. A small tip: They should include more than just ‘get baked’!
Here’s a quick lowdown on the Cup itself, for those interested…
Cannabis Cup Background
The festival was first started back in 1987, and today it’s just about the biggest stoner’s event going, with weed being sold, smoked and evaluated everywhere you look.
This year’s Cup will mark a point of departure from those before, however, with Amsterdam now enveloped in a tobacco ban. The law banning tobacco smoke indoors was introduced a few months back - as a result, coffeeshop smokers can either roll with a herbal substitute, or enjoy a more traditional joint outside on the cold pavement.
While many thought the ban would adversely affect Amsterdam coffeeshops’ trade, few have reported a downturn in business. It’s still uncharted territory for the Cup, however, and only the judges will be able to say whether those prized strains of marijuana entered into the competition are affected by this new substitute and law.
All in all, there’s normally around ten different categories, including Best Hash and Best Overall Strain (to which the Cannabis Cup is awarded). There’s also a prize for the Top Coffeeshop - a category that’s been through the travel blogosphere washer recently, after Matt of Matador Nights bravely nominated his favorites with, let’s say, a teeny bit of a backlash.
Well, never one to shirk a challenge (or a whack of vitriol), I thought I’d put my cards on the table. So here are my top five coffeeshops in Amsterdam:
1. Katsu, Eerste van der Helstraat. In a city packed with coffeeshops, it may be tempting to head to the nearest one to your hostel, but Katsu is definitely worth heading south (and off the beaten track) for. Winner of the Highlife Cup in 2008, they mix award-winning strains with a great buzz.
2. Abraxas, Jonge Roelensteeg. With its mosaics, sofas and chessboard tables, Abraxas is the ultimate place to head in Amsterdam for a relaxing vibe and a friendly welcome. This doesn’t mean a compromise in quality, though - from the hash milkshakes to the classic rollies, Abraxas is top-notch all the way.
3. Resin, Hekeveld. Resin (formerly known as The Pool Dog) has a deservedly good reputation among both the local and backpacking crowds. Unlike many shops this close to the center, the weed is consistently good quality and value, plus the pumping sound system and friendly staff, all add up to a great atmosphere.
4. Grey Area, Oude Leliestraat. Down in the Jordaan, the tiny (and always packed) Grey Area may be a little more on the pricey side but it’s actually famous around the world as the original home of Double Bubble Gum, Wobbler and more. Its reputation for these specialties puts it firmly on the Cannabis Cup map - as well as making it popular with bands and celebs passing through town.
5. Barneys Coffeeshop, Haarlemmerstraat. Barneys has been recognized at the Cannabis Cup multiple times, although it’s about more than just smoking here. Get one of their awesome breakfasts from 7am and settle into the slightly surreal interior for a long day, and let the good times roll (yes, pun intended).
While we’re on the subject of adventure travel, we’d like to share the whispers we’ve been hearing about an exciting new television show…
Basically, they’re trying to hunt down a female traveler and survival enthusiast to front an upcoming travel project.
The premise will be similar to that of hit British program ‘Born Survivor’ with Bear Grylls in which the explorer eats grubs, climbs up some very steep cliffs and generally proves his mettle in extreme situations. Only this time, they’re looking for a woman to take on the challenge.
So if you think you’ve got the know-how and the spirit to be cast as the first female survival star on the telly, please leave a comment saying why you’d love to be the female Bear Grylls (with your email address) and get ready for an adventure!
Over on the HostelBookers Facebook page, there’s been a competition to see who’s got the best adventure travel pictures.
What’s an adventure travel picture, we hear you ask? Well, it’s a photo you’ve taken of the most extreme, wild, and maybe even downright scary adventures you’ve encountered on your travels. Maybe it’s a pic of you careering down the Yungas Road (aka the Road of Death) in Bolivia, or a pic you’ve taken of a friend coming face-to-face with a killer whale in the San Juan Islands.
And the prize? A copy of Rough Guides’ Adventure Travel Guide, so you can work out what perilous situation to put yourself in next! Here’s a taster of some of the entries we’ve had so far…
And finally, Alex Lichtenburg camps out in the Adirondack Mountains during -10 degree conditions. We felt this last one was so extreme that it stood, somewhat defiantly, in a category all of its own. Alex - you’re made of much, much sturdier stuff than HostelBloggers. A noble effort.
Following in the footsteps of such illustrious names as Che Guevara (well, so the hit 2004 movie would have us believe…) and Ewan McGregor (in the BBC’s The Long Way Down), entrepreneur and all-round adventurer Mikkel Thomsen has just completed his own epic motorcycle journey.
Traveling to raise money for charity, he spent eight months exploring South America from Chile to Colombia - and all the awesome sights of 12 different countries in between.
Mikkel has recorded his journey in video snippets over at www.race2aid.org and, quite frankly, they’re fascinating. There’s just enough mix of stunning scenery, intriguing commentary and personal musing to give a real sense of both the overall trip and each place he documents. And the ambient rock music in the background isn’t half bad, either!
But the video diaries (and his adventures) are far from over! Having settled down (temporarily, at least!) in Colombia, the Danish-born travel enthusiast has just opened up Casa Blanca hostel in the vibrant city of Cali.
If the energy he brings to helping his guests is anything like that which he shows in his video diaries, it’s bound to be one the very best hostels in Colombia!
Calling all adventure enthusiasts! Rough Guides have released their latest travel book - Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide to Adventure Travel!
It’s packed with insiders’ tips on every imaginable type of adrenalin-fuelled activities around the world. Whether it’s kayaking with Killer Whales in the San Juan Islands or white-water rafting in Cherry Creek, if it’s dangerous or death-defying it’s in there!
And being the kind souls that they are over at Rough Guides, they’ve rather thoughtfully tossed a load of copies over to HostelBookers to give away.
To be in the running to win one, all you’ve got to do is go to the HostelBookers Facebook page, become a fan (if you’re not already), and then post your own adventure photos into the ‘fans photos’ section. The winners will be the photos that are judged to be the most interesting/hair-raising/amusing - or perhaps all of the above! Simple as that, really.
So let the best - or, at least, the most adventurous - traveler win!
Uk television channel Channel 4 have a brand new weekend show lined up that’s sure to be of interest to all fun-loving travelers out there. It’s called ‘Ultimate Gap Year’ and it’s a competition set in the exotic world of backpacking.
Basically, it’s offering would-be contestants the opportunity to go somewhere as-yet-undisclosed-but-bound-to-be-awesome… FOR FREE! Or rather, for the price of a T4 camera following you about in what could turn out to be a sort of backpacking version of Edtv. (Which some outgoing types may even see as an incentive!)
And the only criteria for applying? Being a UK resident, over 18 and free to film/travel between October and December of this year. Oh, and the ability to fill in this short form, of course.
We’re not quite sure how it’s going to play out yet, or even what the rules and incentives will be, but it’s certainly got adventure written all over it.
It’s not always silly games and cheap pints in the world of budget travel. Today HostelBloggers learned of the premature death of inspirational backpacking enthusiast and genre-defining author, Dave Freeman.
The advertising-exec and natural born wild-child wrote the book 100 Things To Do Before You Die back in 1999 - the original adventure bible which not only produced a rash of other such lists but also motivated a whole generation of travelers to pick up a rucksack and head into the unknown.
Among the clinically sane activities he recommended are running with the bulls in Pamplona and ‘land diving’ on the Pacific island of Vanuatu which is basically an extreme version of bungee jumping (yes, such a sport apparently exists) that involves launching yourself off a cliff attached to a vine rather than a bungee.
Freeman was just 47 years old when he fell in his family home and died. That he had completed just half of the book’s adventures seems to have a particular resonance in the context of the slightly morbid introduction he penned nearly ten years ago.
“This life is a short journey,” he writes, urging readers to try and “visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last time.”
We wonder if he had any inkling that his last of those great 100 journeys would be his final adventure. But if ever there was a moral from this sad tale it’s that life really is too short.
It’s not a bad life being part of the HostelBloggers crew. But whether we’re out on the road gathering content for a great new post on the EXIT Festival in Serbia, or feverishly searching the web, our fingers curled over into keyboard tapping claws, for the latest curios from the world of budget travel, a fair bit of hard graft goes into it.
It’s all worth it in the end, though - and never more so than when we find something like this little gem:
The whole thing bubbles over with the enthusiam of an adventurer and it just works in so many ways.
Despite only being made up of the shortest of snapshots, it manages to convey a real sense of journey - that’s undeniably helped by the way his hair and beard grow as it progresses! It’s also packed with vibrant images, ranging from breathlessly iconic landscapes to the intriguingly mundane, and it bounces along on a great little soundtrack.
But if the video’s cool, then digging a little deeper dredged up a whole load of other brilliant stuff. The author, Chris Rehage, is a free-spirited German traveler, blogger and filmmaker, who left his home in Bad Nenndorf, Germany, a few months ago to retrace the old Silk Road through China.
The latest musing from his time on the road can be found on his blog, The Longest Way, while a whole load of stunning images (like the one above, of his time spent following the Great Wall) are crying out to be marveled at on his photo site.
All in all, it’s an impressive body of work, and HostelBloggers for one will be glued to it over the coming weeks and months.
With all eyes currently turned to the Olympics in Beijing, it’s easy to see how much China loves its sport. And when you consider the activities available at the famous Macau Sky Tower, it seems that they’re also fans of the extreme stuff.
The Macau tower is the 10th tallest in the world and, along with its conference center and cafe with great views over the city (for more sedate visitors only of course), it offers high adrenalin adventures incluing the new craze - ‘Skywalk X.’
This involves strolling (!) around the edge of a narrow rim near the top of the 1,109 ft tall tower… Without a handrail.
If that doesn’t sound quite hardcore enough, you could always do a quick sky jump off the tower. Or have a bash at the world’s tallest bungee…
Really enjoying sleepinginthemountains, a fantastic blog from adventure travel writer Tim Patterson.
He’s just got back from Patagonia (and before that Uruguay), and HB picked up the thread of his time there from an article he wrote for worldhum.com.
Like much of his writing, it’s a curious, thought-provoking piece taking in reflections on Bruce Chatwin’s brilliant In Patagonia, branding and what it means to be a traveler in the 21st Century.
“In the brave new world of a California-based search and technology information company, a California brand takes precedence over a place that is half the size of California.”
