Travel and Culture

My Australian Wife Refused to Revisit Amsterdam After Two Dramatic Incidents.

A couple of unexpected incidents made her reluctant to visit an exciting city, but she changed her mind after seeing a worse incident in Italy.

Incidents and crime might happen in any country.

In the early 1990s, my wife and I used to work full-time and study part-time. When I was accepted to a doctorate study and she to a master’s program, we got delighted.

Before having our children, we decided to have a proper holiday. Gratefully, I was granted by the Australian Federal government a scholarship covering my pricy study fee. Thus, we planned a one-month luxurious holiday by our standards before our studies started.

We both enjoy traveling because it provides us with new perspectives, broadens our horizons, and improves our skills and experience.

In addition, each travel experience taught us valuable life lessons. Interestingly, after each travel, we appreciated the opportunities in Australia, where we live, and became more grateful for our blessings.

In this story, reflecting upon one of our Europe trips, I share two memorable yet sad incidents that happened to my wife in Amsterdam in the early 1990s.

I adore the Netherlands, which is a country that fascinates me from various angles. It is an innovative country with intelligent and caring people for others and the environment. I made many friends living in this country and built collaborative and synergistic social and work relationships.

Two dramatic incidents in Amsterdam left a lasting impression on our travel memories.

We flew to Germany, our favorite country. Then to reduce the cost, we purchased a $3000 train ticket in Frankfurt, allowing us to visit all Western European countries within that month. It was an excellent deal. Our Australian passport allowed us to stay in every European country without a visa for three months. During the visit, no one asked us for visas, even once.

In addition, I got impressed by the fast trains in Europe. Unlike Australian ones, they are connected so well and punctual, never delaying during our frequent trips. For example, going from London to Paris took only around three hours. In addition, the scenery from Munich in Germany to Vienna in Austria and from Italy to Switzerland was breathtaking.

After visiting several countries, the next destination was the Netherlands, another favorite country of ours. The first city in our plan was the famous Amsterdam. Many exciting items on our travel agenda about Amsterdam excited us. Our Dutch neighbor Gusta, who migrated to Australia from the Netherlands to visit her country every year, informed us of these items. For example, marijuana was an attention-grabbing topic we discussed a few times while listening to her fascinating stories.

By the way, I used to smoke cigarettes before marriage, but my wife never smoked in her life. However, I never used marijuana, and neither did my wife. In fact, she was totally against it and did not even want to talk about it when listening to Gusta’s stories. But I was curious how it was used in Amsterdam legally. I wanted to see the actual premises with real people as an ethnographic setting for my scientific observations.

Gusta gave me a coffee shop address in the middle of the city, close to the sex museum, which she also recommended to visit. I kept thinking about the coffee shop, having no interest in the sex museum but waiting for an opportune time to discuss it with my wife. Furthermore, I read hundreds of articles on the effects of marijuana on the brain. Therefore, I wanted to discover and learn more by observing people. Unfortunately, I did not have this opportunity in Australia as it is an illegal and controlled substance, so Amsterdam posed a chance to achieve my scientific goal.

First thing in the morning, we visited the Van Gogh museum near our hotel. Interestingly, I couldn’t hold my tears as soon as I entered the museum. I still cannot logically understand where the tears came from at the time. Precisely it was a euphoric moment when I saw the original portrait of Van Gogh. I read a lot about his life before this visit. Those stories must have assembled some subliminal developments creating special meaning in my subconscious mind.

After visiting the Van Gogh and Rijks Museums, we decided to go to the city center for walking. It was a beautiful and sunny summer day, around 24 Celcius degree. The walk was pleasant at this ideal temperature for us. Moreover, it was winter in Australia. Thus, the weather appealed to us.

When we arrived at the city center, I asked my wife whether she would mind if I visited the coffee shop and had a coffee while she did window shopping in the street. She was not very happy about it but agreed when I assured her not to take weeds. I promised her as I had no intention of ruining our beautiful holidays.

Inside, the coffee shop reflected a mystic atmosphere. I ordered a coffee which took me to consume in 15 minutes. It was sufficient for me to observe the people using marijuana. Everyone behaved peacefully. A few people looked sad, but the majority were cheerful. I thought it had different effects on different people. I was excited to share my observations with my wife.

I paid the bill and left the shop. Suddenly seeing tears in my wife’s eyes shocked me. I asked what happened, hugging her. She couldn’t talk for a few minutes. First, I thought she got sick or upset with me. Sadly, a thief took away her bag and ran fast. Despite her poignant screams asking for help in the busy street, nobody was able to stop the thief as he jumped on a bike after around a hundred meters and disappeared. Unfortunately, we didn’t have mobile phones in those days, so she couldn’t call me and felt lonely in the middle of this sad incident. Ironically, she was scared to enter the coffee shop to inform me.

Hearing this awful news activated my brain’s primitive and limbic parts instantly. I had to keep myself calm and composed to relieve her pain. I felt horrible and guilty for the situation but maintained my composure to soothe her pain. In addition, the policemen were very helpful reducing her suffering, but they couldn’t find the thief. My wife’s primary concern was the stolen passport. I expressed my thought, saying no problem, as there was an Australian embassy in Den Haag, South Holland province. It was an hour away by train or taxi.

In addition, she was saddened about the sentimental jewelry given to her as a wedding present. She always carried them in her bag in those days to refresh her memories. In addition, she worried about emergency cash and traveler’s cheques in the bag as we did not have an international credit card. I told her not a problem as we had good travel insurance coverage.

Fortunately, getting a temporary password was not difficult. We admired the workers’ speed, who completed it in a few days. Her worries diminished after having the passport and confirming the insurance from our Australian company promising to cover stolen materials.

However, on the final day, she decided to capture the surroundings around the hotel with a beautiful river holding a few historical art museums. I never enjoyed videotaping, but she loved it. So I was sitting in the sun, meditating quietly. Suddenly I heard a terrible scream. My wife was on the ground, hit by a cyclist shouting at her with irritated body language.

I ran to the incident area, which was around 50 meters away. I helped my wife to stand. She was fine but in shock. Then, in a solid European accent, the man said, “your wife is careless walking on the bike track.” I did not know what to say. He stayed a few minutes, and when my wife confirmed she was fine, the guy left, hopping on his bike as if nothing had happened.

When we went to the hotel, she said she would never revisit this country. I had compassion for her feelings, so I listened to her concerning words coming from her limbic system without interrupting. The next day, we traveled to Italy. She loved Rome, Vatikan, and Venice, which are surrounded by water.

Then when we were traveling to Milan on a gigantic train, we heard an awful scream. A woman’s bag was stolen by a thief who left the train when it stopped. Sadly, the thief injured the victim. The woman was crying, and everyone looked panicked. Seeing tears in women’s eyes always touches my heart, giving me sad feelings. Likewise, seeing smiles uplifts my spirit.

My wife’s anxiety highly increased after this situation. She held my hands tightly with teary eyes. I was about to tell her these situations were not only in Amsterdam and could happen in any city. I held my thoughts. But as if she read my mind, she repeated the same view after a few minutes which surprised me. So her negative thoughts and sentiments about Amsterdam seemed to change after witnessing this worse incident.

After visiting several more cities in Europe, especially Paris, London, and Zurich, she felt great again. We knew that life had ups and downs. As an Australian, she had difficulty adapting to frenetic life in Europe. Despite all challenges, we enjoyed the holiday. Gratefully, our insurance company paid generously for stolen goods when we returned to Australia.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Our hectic work and studies continued. However, we always talked about our travel experiences which enriched our lives. As a prolific traveler, in addition to valuable life experiences, I find traveling beneficial for mental health and overall well-being. Each country and city I visited taught me memorable life lessons that I want to share in my future travel stories.

Travelers in foreign countries are usually more vulnerable than citizens to potential crimes. Therefore, they need extra intelligence, caution, and support from governments and citizens. Many countries inform tourists of potential dangers. Reviewing this information can be invaluable for visitors. For example, after this incident, we revisited Amsterdam a few times for business trips with more intelligence and gratefully did not experience the same issues again.

Incidents and crimes might happen in every country. For example, my credit card was stolen in Australia multiple times. A beggar threw a donated coin to my neck. Our house was broken into once. My car and laptop were stolen. My car crashed while waiting at the red light. I was thrown out of an Airbnb house. There were more incidents that I plan to cover in my future stories.

Despite all my worse experiences in other countries, I still see Australia as a peaceful country to reside in. Generalizing and deciding on a single incident based on emotions does not help. Every country has its pros and cons for travelers. The critical point is to understand each country’s cultural norms, customs, and rules and adhere to them meticulously.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

If you enjoyed this story, you might also check out another dramatic travel story that happened in Singapore titled My Australian Son and Wife Gave Me Anguish in Singapore.

I dedicate this story to three top writers and supporters of my publications as senior editors living in the Netherlands Agnes Laurens, Desiree Driesenaar, and Bryan Dijkhuizen.

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