Shipping one's possessions across land and sea

[Sam]

That looks like a nice little ground. And €18 to sit or stand in something called the Erasmus Stand is amazingly cool. Some of the trains take less than 40 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal, as well. Thanks, ursus!

[Toby Gymshorts]

Just go to Berlin, it's great.

[anton pulisov]

Ajax are playing Willem II at home on Nov 3. Tickets start at 13 euro. Hardly expensive. Although €26 is the cheapest I can find on their shitty search function at the moment. If you want even cheaper, if you show up at the stadium just after kickoff then they will re-open the ticket counter and sell you a seat for one of the season ticket holder no-shows for a tenner. And it's Willem II, so I can guarantee you there will be plenty of no-shows.

I think the prices you saw are what they advertise on their English language website, which are some tourist package things with hospitality included. They try to pretend the cheap tickets don't exist on the English website. In fact, Ajax are notoriously shit when it comes to marketing.

[Sam]

Ah, thanks ap. Yeah, the cheapest tickets I saw for sale when I looked were about €55. €13 is much more reasonable. I assume I'll be able to buy one the day before? Do they only sell them at the ground, or are there spots in town I'll be able to pick them up?

[Sam]

Just go to Berlin, it's great.

Yeah, I know. I've been three times, I love it. I don't want to intrude too much on my brother in law doing whatever he fancies though, and if I spend too much time travelling while I'm over my parents will think I'm ignoring them. Plus it would mean less time to drink cider.

[anton pulisov]

Ah, thanks ap. Yeah, the cheapest tickets I saw for sale when I looked were about €55. €13 is much more reasonable. I assume I'll be able to buy one the day before? Do they only sell them at the ground, or are there spots in town I'll be able to pick them up?

You can buy them now on the internet and print out a barcode that you scan at the stadium.

See if this link works for you:
https://sport.eventim.nl/ols/ajax/nl...ibuneId=148501

This is one of the cheap sections in the second tier near the corner flag. The red seats are 26 euros and pink are 'restricted view' and are 13 euros. In the case of Willem II, there will probably be quite a few empty seats, so nothing to stop you from moving to a 26 euro seat after kick off.

To buy:

Click on the pink seats you want. Then click "Toevoegen aan winkelwagen" (add to shopping trolley). Next page, select the Print@home option. Then, click "Naar de Kassa" (To the cash register). Then it appears you have to create an account, argh. You can probably figure out what to fill in.

Bizarrely, the English website doesn't have the ability to buy these tickets.

[Logan Mountstuart]

Because of Rip Off Britain, even yer continentals have cottoned on that Brits will pay through the nose for anything.

[treibeis]

It can only be a matter of time until treibeis opens up a branch of his crazy golf empire.

Nope. I went there last year, for the first time in 25 years. I found nothing but blokes with sweaty faces and their shirts hanging out, shouting in languages that weren't Dutch.

Rotterdam, on the other hand, was marvellous. Awful beer, awful food, awful buildings, people shouting in Dutch. That, for me, is proper The Netherlands.

[beak]

Yeah, Amsterdam really is a bit shit these days. Still, it's home by now. Just have to make do. Aside from living in the centre, I have the privilege of working in Overhoeks... complete gentrification dystopia, just one big building site. Still, at least there's a metro stop at the end of my alley now.

Anyway, good to see TPC back. And Sam: I've nowt to add about going to see Ajax that anton pulisov hasn't said better (aside from noting that the Arena is a terrible place to watch football). Unless you are willing to go incredibly non-league, Ursus' suggestion would be best: it's easy enough to get about the country.

And thanks all for the further advice. I think I've about got it sussed, so feel free to turn this into a dedicated "chatting shit about Amsterdam" thread. Have you tried cycling across Prins Hendrikkade to the station since they stopped cars from going down there? They've managed to make it even more difficult. Absolute farce.

[Sam]

Thanks, ap. I've got so many things booked and paid for for which I have to remember to print things off and take them with me that I really like the idea of just getting a ticket on the day or the day before, but I'll have a look at that.

I am a bit confused that a stadium built in the last *checks Wikipedia* couple of decades or so has any restricted views.

[anton pulisov]

The restricted view is due to being next to the away section part, which has a glass wall down the side of it.

[beak]

"chatting shit about Amsterdam"

It feels a bit distasteful to put this in the Cruyff RIP thread, so might as well stick it here. The ugly trainer company bearing the man's name has a new slogan emblazoned on their shop on the Kalverstraat: "CRUYFF: THE CITY'S FUNDAMENT". Whilst the general standard of English here is, of course, excellent, there are definitely some copywriters etc. about who would benefit from running things past a native speaker. Same goes for the daycare by the Vondelpark, that revels in the name VondelKids.

[ursus arctos]

Though in the latter case, it would need to be a native speaker familiar with the Dutch pronunciation of an initial "V"

[anton pulisov]

I actually heard somebody once say:
You do not want to fall on the dick and land in the slut.

dijk and sloot

[Wouter D]

To be fair, you do not want that.

[beak]

Chance'd be a fine thing.

Anyway, the riddle of the original post was solved and I just took delivery of all my shite. Presently giving the first ever spin to a record (Bullhead by Melvins) that I bought probably five years ago now.