Rotterdam

It was late when we got into Rotterdam. The architecture had a modern motif to it, and walking out of the train station we found ourselves among the techno rats, punks, and strung out faces of the night. We took the last public transit to our hostel, we thought. We had virtually no information on our hostel, just a vague name that Derek and I didn't agree on.

Two hours and three tram routes later and we're right back at the train station where we started. I was exhausted and ate a damp egg sandwich, then tightened my pack. We abandoned all hope and began walking in the general direction of a stop that we debated on earlier, but skipped. It was our best lead.

When we finally found the hostel our room had been given away. We had missed our 11:00 P.M. arrival time by over two hours. The man behind the counter must have seen our last ounce of hope evaporate in from of him because he quickly offered to set up mattresses in the basement for 5 euros, with breakfast in the morning. Once I hit the mattress I was out, regardless of the permanent glow from the exit sign above my head.

The next morning I woke up early, feeling good, and a little greasy. Today we were headed for Amsterdam. After a good breakfast of cereal, toast, and decent orange juice we hiked back to the train station.