Amsterdam 2015/16

This was the first holiday Raphael, Zain and James had experienced together and would become a blast before they had even left the country. Considering Zain had told his family we were going to Gothenburg, Sweden, it was a panic when we heard Zain's father marching up the stairs saying "This is bullshit, I want to see those flight papers!".

   By some miracle the trio were able to get to the airport and wait for their flight with an heightened mutual feeling of nervousness and excitement. Once through security and with James being the only one stopped and searched (this would prove to not be the last time), it was only then a short 30-40 minute flight to the wonderful city of Amsterdam.

**Notable events**

*The luxurious Taxi* - Stepping out from Schiphol Airport into the crisp Dutch air and full of excitement and naivety, the Warriors knew they wanted a taxi to take them to their apartment. This accumulated in a search effort lasting no more than 10 seconds, setting their eyes upon the first taxi promoter man they saw who directed them to the 'luxury cab' rank. The car was a beauty; a 4 door black sedan with a beige leather interior and a huge interactive screen for the driver. At this point no one batted an eyelid also suspicions were heightened. Our destination was only 20 minutes away and so we figured the journey would be relatively cheap - oh how wrong we were. Pulling out of the airport it had already reached 9 Euros and seemed to increase at a rate of 2 Euros every 100 metres. All the warriors could do was sit back and silently moan and tap each others leg as they witnessed the rising tirade of money. As we finally arrived outside our apartment, the total had come to a shocking 56 Euros or something to that degree. To top it all off the driver kept on driving up and down the same road "looking for somewhere to park", which of course pushed the cost up even further. Once the car had settled, the driver made a joke about not smoking too much Jabello and James gave him a 5 Euro tip - probably out of awkwardness.

*'To much Mr. Nice guy'* - The room we all stayed in was within the house of a lovely Dutch couple and itself would prove an eventful time, such as the time Raphael confused the light switch with the disability lift or the moment we realised they didn't have an oven. However the focus of this section was when Zain found out that after already paying them the agreed amount for the week, we actually had to pay another 40 Euros each. Raphael and James meanwhile were upstairs, oblivious to this revelation but were fully aware of Zain's overly gracious and arse-licking outbursts of yes, sorry and thank you's. Why he reacted like this is a mystery. Yet upon return to the room his persona had drooped to a distraught and defeated wreck, where he could only relay the information like a child whose favorite toy had been ripped from its hands.

**\*\* Receiving the news we would have to pay more \*\***

**Zain: "ohh yes yes, okay yes, thank you, yes, sorry about that haha, yes okay, great thanks, okay bye haha".**

**\*\*Zain walks up the stairs and enters our room\*\***

**Zain: "Guys we have to pay more...."**

*"Hold my Brosh"* - The term coined by James on the way back from the legendary Albert Heijn. It even has its own page you can find here.

   *New Years Eve's High and Low* - New Years Eve. In Amsterdam. The event of a lifetime and it proved to be extremely memorable, walking down to the cosy streets of Amsterdam, marvelling at the architecture, having some crisp pints and a spot of weed, sitting down outside a cafe and taking the piss and left when the owner got angry, being mesmerised by the surprisingly violent fireworks.

Then BOOM. NEW YEARS, THE CITY WENT MAD AND SO DID THE UNICORN WARRIORS - the crew went for some post-celebration chips but after that the Unicorn Warriors were quickly plunged into a nightmare.

Walking to the train station with grins around their faces the Unicorn Warriors went down inside the station, along with dozens of others to await the train to take us home. We were assured from the owners of our apartment that there would be post-midnight trains running. But to no avail. We waited hours.Tired. In the cold. Slumped on the floor. It was a long, gruelling experience but the Unicorn Warriors at some point decided to get up and leave the confines of the station to find a taxi - we found one but to where we needed to go it would cost over a hundred Euros. Dazed and frustrated the Unicorn Warriors then began a hunt for a night coach service. Raphael remain surprisingly upbeat during the whole experience, constantly saying "hey look at the postive" or "we had an amazing New Years at the start".

We did it. We found the coach service. We eventually found the right one and stumbled into it with a mass of people. Probably the most uncomfortable journey any of the Unicorn Warriors have ever been on. In the end we made it back. Older and wiser.

   *The Sickness* - During the night Raphael heard James come down from his top bunk to vomit but quickly forgot about the event in a sea of sleep that washed over him. The next morning, Raphael and Zain began to notice a plastic bag filled with... vomit. James wasn't feeling good and was vomiting often, he looked pale and rigid. Sometimes he just would lay down on his bed like he was a vampire in a coffin and not say a word. Raphael noticed some vomit that dried on the side of James's bunk and remarked that it looked like scrambled egg, Zain even enquired whether we had already had breakfast without him because of the uncanny resemblance.

Fanta Banta - During their time in Amsterdam, they had heard of a mysterious and luscious elixir in the form of blue flavoured Fanta. They sought it here, they sought it there but often it was found in the most rarest of places. Once instance in which it was found was during a walk down the city centre, Zain went off to look for a T-shirt whilst James and Raphael went in a perculair shop in search of a can of purple Fanta.