Amsterdam: Hotel Kabul, A Turkish Nightmare

If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam and in dire need of a place to stay for the night, avoid the Hotel Kabul at all costs and consider a better alternative: bringing a raft and floating around one of the canals for the night. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, but this was the scariest hostel I've ever been a part of. First of all, the place was too expensive, dirty, and the staff seemed very shady. And perhaps my giant, 30+ year old Turkish roommate (my only roommate in a 10-bed room) who stumbled in at 4:30am, sat next to my bed on a chair, woke me up, freaked me out, and warned me to be careful when he found out I was American and didn't have any joints, maybe he had something to do with it, but who's to say, really. But hey, if you want to stay at a creepy hostel steps away from the Red Light District, then by all means, Hotel Kabul is your one. Personally, I'm looking forward to my train to Brugges, Belgium. Amsterdam seems like it could be a really fun place, but I think coming here by myself hindered that a bit. When I was on the streets, I was too busy watching out for myself, avoiding the window prostitutes and drug dealers to really enjoy it all. If I'm ever back in Amsterdam, I think it might be wise to stay a little further away from the RLD. The Boom Chicago show did make the trip worth it, though.