Greetings from Amsterdam!
I am breathing in the cold misty air over a small boat harbor, through the window of our couch-surfing host William in Amsterdam. I have been traveling with yogi 
who will be teaching yoga here at SteemFest. (Do yoga with Sara on Sunday--sign up here. )
These great possibilities for this journey exist not only through the generosity of all our new Steemian friends in cyberspace, but especially by the founder of the 
It took us 42 hours from home to home-- 4 airports, 3 planes, 2 trains, 1 tram and lots of foot power to get here.
We slept on three airport benches, on the ground in an outdoor airport space, and on an airplane.
We slept on the bench behind this fountain too!
Since we are committed to supporting "the man" as little as possible, we opted not to eat in restaurants along the way.
Instead we carried our own dried fruits, nuts and cricket bars for our first 24 hours in transit, then enjoyed a meal on our last flight that held us over for the next 24 hours until we reached our destination with William.
We slept here on this plane too!
Though I truly love food I'm really quite good at fasting, so being without substantial sustenance was not a big deal for me, but being without good hydration was more trying. The only beverages available at airports are those you either buy or chemically treated water you get from the drinking fountain. So we basically dry fasted for a good portion of our journey as well.
We had hours and hours of time for meditation, sporting our sustainable steemit gear, some availability to charge our devices, and some limited use of wifi.
We slept here on this bench too!
We slept here on this ground too!
I've made lots of interesting observations on this journey.
One thing that really stood out to me at the Miami airport was the use of shrink wrap. People pay $15 per bag to put their luggage on a twirling stand, that goes around and around sealing the bag inside of layer and layers and layers of plastic. And then they turn it over and wrap it again and again and again, completely enveloping each bag in plastic, then cutting holes so the wheels can roll and the handle can be utilized. Re-wrapping after security is free!!! I couldn't believe the number of people who actually paid for this service and, in my mind, waste such precious resources. Though I understand the concept behind this practice, the unsustainable nature of it blows my mind.
The luggage on the cart and all those blue pieces of luggage in the background are all wrapped in plastic.
We are traveling a little heavier than I generally desire. One of our suitcases is full of custom made, hand-painted sustainable Steemit hats and clothing for our steemyphotoshoot on Friday. I'm grateful they made it all the way here in one piece without any plastic wrap!
Our host wasn't available for hours after our arrival in Amsterdam, so
This is the busiest Starbucks I have ever seen, and it's not an exaggeration to say about 90% of the people were in the digital world packed in the coffee shop like sardines. Nearly everyone was wrapped in coats, hats and scarves of black or dark grey.
In general, the people here are quite the contrast to most Americans (I've been to nearly all 50 states, so have some experience in observation and awareness of the contrast). Their step is lighter, their heads held higher, their backs and shoulders more straight, their eyes are brighter, and they carry much less weight. From my perspective they appear to be jollier and more friendly, more fashionable and in less of a hurry.
More people have talked to us about the U.S. presidential election than anyone did in the States. Perhaps in the States we are so inundated with it in a constant stream (it was playing on the news in every airport, in restaurants, waiting areas, and even at the baggage claim) that no one wanted to talk about it any more. But Amsterdam is quite concerned with the climate in the states and what the outcome of this election means for the entire world. When people found out we were from the U.S., that was what they wanted to talk about.
Lots of connections were made along the way, and with nearly every interaction Steemit was a topic of conversation. We ought to have some new followers joining in on this revolutionary platform.
We arrived at our home away from home after dark, 1 tram and many blocks of trekking with luggage.
Our first night's "meal" was wine, cheese and chocolate, so graciously presented us by our new friend William. We talked into the wee hours of the night and gave thanks for a dry, warm resting place--with a hot bath and plenty of fresh water to drink.
Last night (Wednesday) was our first real meal since Monday's flight. We made our host rosemary lemon Quinoa (rosemary we harvested from neighboring gardens) and garlic coconut lentils with fried eggs on top to eat by candlelight.
Our return trip will likely be lighter by utilizing the dried goods we brought to cook up and share, the dried fruit and nuts we consumed on our journey here, and hopefully sharing a bunch of Steemit gear we made to enhance the Steemit community in exchange for donations to further our cause of Eden 2.0.
More to come on our Amsteredam Steemfest Journey. Follow to see more of our luscious together journey: https://steemit.com/travel/@saramiller/journey-to-steemfest/h3>
A big thanks to everyone making this trip possible through collaboration of art, posting and gifting articles on my behalf, and the gifting of a Steemfest Ticket by 
.
The greatest possibilities gifted me by that expand way beyond my presence here in Amsterdam are without a doubt the greatest gift of all--infinite perspective and unconditional love. I am grateful beyond words.
Without all of you I would not be here in support of this potentially life-changing event.
. that expand way beyond my presence here in Amsterdam are without a doubt the greatest gift of all--infinite perspective and unconditional love. I am grateful beyond words.