I think everyone of you remembers the first time, they visited Amsterdam and it got late and the city became so much more alive! it's like trying a drug & trying to get back that first high you got lol.

I remember mine all to well, I remember me & a friend strolling about wondering where all the windows and everything was? we got on a plane, silly enough, we had no map, no real sense of direction around damrak/dam square and we came out of the train station, I guessed the correct direction to go, but chose to go the opposite to please my friend.

Ultimately we got lost and was actually a good thing as we explored really well, some say the best way of exploring is to get lost and that was what we did lol. we checked into Hotel Old Quarter and tbh? we both didn't realise we was in the heart of the RLD our trip was planned, but we was so busy, we didn't even begin to study a map or anything before hand, we then went next door to Hunters, got seriously high and went back hotel as we was both seriously stoned and he had a map from reception, it was then he looked at me and said ''shit we're in the RLD they must be up the road... literally.''

As, silly as it sounds, but we was just unaware. we knew our hotel was situated close, but we didn't know how small and together Amsterdam damrak is? but anyway, we was walking all along by the main canals and we seen the odd window with no one in and so on, but nothing to get our attention, later it got to night and prior before it got dark, we went back the hotel and took a nap, as we was seriously high, we woke up and seen, how busy the streets were? they was jampacked! with people and we was shocked! we walked up a main canal and was overwhelmed, we'd both never seen nothing like it! The atmosphere, how beautiful & dimly lit the city was ect and all these stunners in windows! it was a truly beautiful, yet unexpected moment.

I really miss Amsterdam and it's a shame, I cannot be back sooner, such a beautiful sightseeing city full of great people. but, I'll never forget my first night there, truly an amazing experience.

I like your thread. It was like that. Overwhelming, but I don't get high. Only beer for me.

Addictive city.

My first trip here, I arrived around noon or so and slept the rest of the day and night.

I woke up in the morning the next day and after getting breakfast, I decided to go check out this Red Light District that's so famous. That was a "holy shit" moment, walking out into De Wallen the first time and seeing all those gorgeous girls in the windows. My brain almost went into overload. I was like "you mean if I see any really hot girls that I really want to have sex with, I can? AWESOME!".

And then I did.

No going back from there. Between the RLD, the beautiful city, the weed, the food, the bars, the people, I'm absolutely hooked. The only problem now is that I've been trying to date, but I don't want to stop coming to Amsterdam. Really not sure what I'll do if I wind up meeting someone. I'll get the itch eventually, and if I come here, I'm gonna be visiting the girls. Not sure how to handle that. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

First trip I went with the girlfriend and we had a great time but I got the impression that there was more to the city that I was missing!

It was the second time that I went, sitting outside Susies Saloon with a pint and watching the world go by that I really got hooked on the city.

on my first trip i went on a day coach trip.10 hours travel overnight i was sleepy but first sight of the windows i was buzzing and left with the impression how do they get away with this.i walked into a kamer blind just based on looks had a great time.ended up 3 or 4 times a year after that day trip......if my first visit had been a ripoff who knows.......

I had been to Amsterdam 3 or 4 times with some mates then met someone. We were pretty serious and i had not been to Amsterdam in a few years then the chance came up to go with a few friends and i took it with the intention of looking but not touching.
We arrived around noon and had done a good few laps of de wallen and i was resisting pretty well. By around 9pm i was fighting it and by 11pm i had been in and out my 1st karmer of the trip :-) Think overall i visited 6 girls in 3 days, went home and didn't feel any guilt whatsoever!

Anyway back to the topic of 1st time, was around 12 years ago now, myself and 3 mates were going to Germany for football and decided to have a night in Amsterdam before travelling to Germany the next morning. Was around November time, we arrived around 4pm & it was already getting pretty dark. My mate had booked the hotel and said he could remember from a map he looked at back home where we had to go! We came out centraal and he did not have a clue. We ended up walking up Zeedijk and it was so busy, could hardly move. Eventually after some wandering we found the hotel, checked in got changed and headed out. We all wanted to go to the RLD and unknown to us we had been right at the back of it earlier! We went to McDonalds on Damrak then cut across to the Grasshopper (yes we fell into the tourist trap). Instead of heading to de wallen from there we walked up Damrak to Dam square, then left along Damstraat. When we got as far as OZA and looked left we could see the red lights in the distance and headed down. None of us could believe it. We walked up and down OZA and the surrounding lanes/streets for about an hour just looking at all these stunning girls. We went for a few beers and got talking to a few English boys who mentioned the area over at de oude kerk so we quickly drunk up and headed over. We were in heaven!!! A few hours later, with our pockets and balls a lot lighter we headed home. Only 2 out of the 4 of us made Germany. I wasn't one of them!!

I arrived at the Mcdonalds on Damrak from a coach that came from the Hook of Holland. I decided to find a hostel first and the one that I spotted was the Flying Pig so I chose it.

I remember leaving the hostel after dumping my stuff and walking up the street that the Flying Pig was on, looking down the side streets to see if I could spot red lights. I took a look at my map and then realised I had to cross the bridge so backtracked. The first windows I saw were the the bottom of OZA and I remember walking past and sheepishly looking, turning my head immediately if they interacted with me. I must have then spent hours upon hours going through every street in the RLD. I knew I wanted to go in a window, but as it was my first time, I didn't want it to be crowded when I did. My first ever time in a Kamer was in a middle one down Goldbergersteeg. It was a Dutch girl and I remember when I told her it was my first time she had a shocked expression on her face and thought I meant for sex, and I had to say no it was first in a kamer. Following the sentiments of an earlier post, I was lucky she didn't rip me off, especially with the info I had given her (ie. she knew I didn't know the ropes).

Then in night fall the red lights were amazing.

That day really made me fall in love with Amsterdam.

Just to add, like how the 'Mcdonalds on Damrak' features in the two Glaswegians first time memories of Amsterdam