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The City I Swore I’d Never Return To
I kept my word for 30 years. Then this happened.
Alex Mustaros
May 28, 2025
In partnership with
I was a teenage backpacker on a summer adventure with a friend.
We were young, broke, and excited.
Mostly clueless.
I was so excited about Amsterdam; everyone raved about it.
As we stepped off the train at Centraal Station in 1987, the city welcomed us with... chaos.
Cold drizzle falling, streets were extra noisy, the air smelled like weed, and two very tall guys started following us as we made our way to the hostel. I remember clutching my backpack a little tighter.
It surely didn’t feel like the laid-back Amsterdam everyone talked about.
Then came Bob’s Youth Hostel…
Still around today, still holding onto its reputation like a badge of dishonor. The guy behind the “front desk” (a generous term) was stirring something unidentifiable on a hot pan, barely acknowledging us with a lazy “hey.”
My friend and I looked at each other.
Hey! I said happily.
The guy doing the cooking didn’t even bother.
Another voice behind us chimed in, and with a 40-pack-of-cigarettes-a-day voice said, “Room A.”
Room A was up three flights of rickety stairs. Eight stained cots that smelled like they’d been through a decade of bad decisions.
But hey, we were kids.
We dropped our bags and went out to explore.
Except… every single museum in the city was on strike.
So we wandered, disillusioned and a little freaked out. A few hours later, we were back at the station, catching a train to anywhere else.
I told myself, “I’ll only return to Amsterdam if I absolutely have to.”
Years passed. Then decades. And then… I had to return.
But this time, I came back as a different traveler.
A traveler with more time, curiosity, and just enough wisdom to know that no place can be understood in a single night.
I was stunned.
Amsterdam was nothing like I remembered.
It was warm, human, and full of life.
I walked the canals, took many photos, met the locals, and suddenly felt the city’s rhythm: quirky, stylish, easygoing, and unapologetically itself.
I fell for it. Hard.
Turns out, Amsterdam hadn’t changed all that much.
I had.
And I realized something that changed the way I travel forever:
A city isn’t just a place; it’s a moment in time, a mood, a version of yourself reflected back at you.
If you’re lucky, you get to visit a destination more than once.
And if you’re wise, you let it surprise you.
Have you changed your perception about a place?
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For the “been there, done that, back for the good stuff” kind of traveler…
The Savvy Traveler | Amsterdam
750 Years Young, and Still Full of Surprises
You wake up in a sun-drenched suite at The Hoxton, Lloyd — an old-school icon reborn in exactly the kind of quietly cool way Amsterdam does best. The parquet floors creak just slightly, the linens are linen (of course), and your windows frame the morning canals like a painting.
It’s a city in celebration — Amsterdam turns 750 this year, and while banners and events will mark the milestone, the real magic is still in the everyday: the scent of bread from the corner bakery, the rhythm of bikes at dawn, the quiet hum of the canals as the city wakes.
You slip on your shoes and step outside. It’s early. Amsterdam hasn’t put on its show yet. It’s just being itself.
First stop: Saint-Jean Bakery. You’ve heard rumors about the cardamom buns. They’re true. You sit by the window with a flat white and watch the city blink awake — locals on bikes, trams humming, water lapping. No rush.
From there, you stroll toward the Jordaan, turning corners at random. No destination, just discovery. You pass flower-filled stoops, a boutique where every object feels handpicked for a life well-lived, and a gallery with no name but a quietly magnetic pull. You step inside.
By late morning, you’re perched at a quiet table inside Toki, sipping your second coffee — this time slower, stronger, deeper. The kind of moment that asks for reflection, not a photo.
And then? A walk along the Prinsengracht, where Amsterdam feels less like a city and more like a secret passed between locals.
Your phone stays in your pocket. You’re not lost — you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Lunch is a few bridges away at Café Binnenvisser, where the playlist is better than it needs to be, and the wine list reads like poetry. You order whatever’s fresh, and it’s perfect.
You’ve only been out for a few hours, but somehow, it feels like you’ve arrived.
Because here’s the truth:
Amsterdam isn’t timeless because it’s preserved — it’s timeless because it’s alive.
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It’s the guide Amsterdam would hand you — if it knew you were cool.
Amsterdam lives and breathes creativity. One moment you walk into a building from the 17th century, and the next you find yourself in a hub of creative start-up companies.
— Marcel Wanders
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