Mindy and her family (parents and young adult children ages 20 and 18) ventured to London and Amsterdam in celebration of her son’s high school graduation in June.  The trip began in London with a five-night stay at a self-catering, two-bedroom apartment in the Knightsbridge neighborhood.  The apartment was on a quiet cul-de-sac off a major street, with easy access to pubs, grocery stores, retail shops and dining. Their time in London was chock full of experiences with a variety of prebooked tours, dining reservations and entertainment which helped maximize their time and avoid long ticket lines.  The family began their visit with a city orientation tour.  Their private guide/driver took them around the city and understood the best places for viewing events while avoiding the crowds such as the practice sessions for the Changing of the Guard.  After the tour, the young adults enjoyed an exciting speedboat tour along the Thames River while mom and dad relaxed with a picnic lunch in a nearby park.  Among other sites, they visited the Tower of London, Spitafields Market and the Churchill War Rooms.  A guided tour of London’s Graffiti and Street Art was more educational and fun than expected.  Evening entertainment was also a special part of their time in London.  They saw the limited engagement of the Billy Holiday show on the West End (Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill), Tape Face as well as Van Morrison.  The later was a real highlight as the intimate concert took place at the historical Hampton Court Palace in one of the courtyards.

The family then flew onto Amsterdam for three nights.  Their first lesson was how to avoid the city’s bike riders.  With 880,000 bikes on the city’s roads; they quickly figured out who has the right of way – not the pedestrians! They stayed at an apartment-hotel well located just a 10-minute stroll from the Central Rail Station. The new Erik Vokel Apartments offers spacious one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with lovely river views. Their visit to Amsterdam began with a private walking tour followed by visits to the Anne Frank House and a privately guided tour of the renovated Van Gogh Museum. While in the Museum Quarter, the family happily stumbled upon a special Banksy Laugh Now exhibition at the Modern Contemporary (Moco) Museum. It contains around 50 original works by London’s Street Art-legend whom the family learned about on their earlier street art tour.  For the first time in history there is a Banksy exhibition in a museum!  In addition, visits to the Amsterdam Cheese Museum and the Amsterdam Tulip Museum provided good entertainment along with yummy samples of Gouda cheese. The culinary highlight though was the local pancakes (pannenkoeken) served either savory or sweet and they indulged in these thin crepes multiple times. Another highlight was the city’s newest icon, the A’dam Lookout with 360 degrees views.  The young adults went Over the Edge on Europe’s highest rooftop swing atop the building. Dinner is served inside at M’adam where a spectacular sunset, nice ambiance and good food created a memorable occasion. On their last day, a small canal cruise allowed them to see Amsterdam from the water and to learn about the dam systems and bridges that are essential to the city. They also learned about of a rite of passage tradition that is unique to The Netherlands that was also significant to the Valencis.  Putting the country’s flag out and hanging your child’s school bag on the pole is a sign that they have passed their high school exams.  The family saw bag-on-a-flag all over Amsterdam in fitting celebration of their own special graduation celebration.