Preparing for the Philippines

Of all the countries in Asia, you might ask, “How did I end up in the Philippines?” for Christmas and NYE this year. I’ve been living in Sydney, Australia for the past year and had just been back to the States so I was eager for a new adventure.  A colleague was keen to come along and had a friend in the Philippines so boom – country locked.

The Planning:

I know ZLITCH about the Philippines.  There are 7,500 islands to visit (yikes) so it’s a daunting task to build an itinerary.  I quickly discarded the South since it isn’t particularly safe for tourists (I’d be traveling alone for the first week).  Usually I pick a country because I’ve read a book or done some research in advance and know what I want to see.  This was a new experience for me so I asked Facebook.

I received tons of feedback but the one that stood out to me was a 5 day sailing trip with TAO Philippines.  My experiences sailing the British Virgin Islands and Croatia’s coastline has taught me there’s no better way to knock out a country of sea and islands than seeing it by boat.

I submitted my application to join the crew.  Yes, you have to submit an application so they can weed out the “princesses” who won’t be able to handle the sunburns, bug bites, smelly toilets, random dogs and hard floors of the bamboo hut sleeping quarters.  I received my confirmation a few days later.

This made planning the first half of my trip easier as the boat goes from El Nido to Coron (you can also travel the other direction).  There seemed to be more to do in Coron so I decided to end there.  It does take about 3 days to get to El Nido from Sydney and I had to time it to arrive for the 5pm boat check-in the day before departure.

Next up was determining where I should meet my friend for the second half of my trip.  Originally I was thinking Coron because I'd already be there but soon learned it's best known for diving – no thanks, I’m terrified of the ocean.  I also wanted (no shock here) a party location for NYE.  More Facebook consulting and Boracay filtered to the top.

An Itinerary was born...

Day 1:               Sydney to Manila

Day 2:               Manila to Puerto Princesa

Day 3:               5 hrs Bus to El Nido (5pm Check-in) 

Day 4:               8:30am El Nido departure on TAO

Day 5 – 8:        On the Boat

Day 9:               Arrive in Coron (5:30pm) 

Day 10:             Fly to Boracay by way of Manila

Day 11 – 13:     Boracay

Day 14:             Manila to Sydney

Now, looking back on this itinerary here is what I'd change with the same timeframe:

Day 1:               Sydney to Manila

Day 2:               Morning flight direct to El Nido (boat check-in) 

Day 3:               8:30am departure on TAO

Day 4 - 8:         On the Boat

Day 9:               Arrive in Coron (5:30pm) 

Day 10:             Fly to Boracay by way of Manila

Day 11 – 13:     Boracay

Day 14:             Manila to Sydney

Why?

1. It took three days to get to El Nido because from Sydney you can only arrive in Manila at night.  No real way to get around this.
2. I stupidly booked an early afternoon flight to PP.  Book a morning flight because they are less likely to be delayed and then you get almost a full day to see PP (the underground river is apparently awesome).  Better yet, just pay a little more for a direct morning flight to El Nido. I took the bus which was a great experience (ride with and befriend locals and see the countryside) but it’s definitely a one-time experience.
3. If you do go bus; Don’t book a bus in advance.  When you arrive in PP, have them take you to the private van hires - cut 2 hours off my bus trip.
4. Definitely glad I didn’t spend any extra time in Coron – it’s is ONLY diving and pretty boring otherwise.  No beach.  If I'd had more days I would've ended in El Nido and stayed extra time.  Something to think about if you have more than 14 days. 
5. Definitely book a "one ticket" flight from Coron to Boracay instead of two separate flights (you have to go through Manila).  This allows you to have your checked bag go through to your final destination which is awesome and means you skip the security line.  At Philippine airports you have to wait in an airport security line to get INTO the airport AND THEN do the regular security line to get to the gate.
6. Boracay is a bitch to get to/from the airport so leave yourself PLENTY of time.  One of the best choices I made was booking the $25 USD transfer to/from the airport to Boracay Beach Club. 

If I could've had my ultimate itinerary and taken three more days...

Day 1:               Sydney to Manila

Day 2:               Morning flight direct to Coron (boat check-in) 

Day 3:               8:30am departure on TAO

Day 4 - 8:         On the Boat

Day 9:               Arrive in El Nido (5:30pm) 

Day 10:             Full day and night in El Nido

Day 11:              Fly to Boracay by way of Manila 

Day 12 – 15:     Boracay

Day 16:             Manila to Sydney

So what did I pack, purchase and wish I hadn't bought?

Usually I refuse to check a bag (since usually the airline loses it for me).  But unfortunately this time, due to the things I needed to bring for the boat trip, I would have to check.  Below is my packing list of must haves, optional items and items that you can buy there before the boat (this list is post-trip to it's been updated with any changes I would've made to the original list).  

Must Haves:

• 3+ swimsuits: I brought like 5 and wore them all (you live in them)
• 3-4 changes of casual clothes: You are roughing it and nothing feels nicer than fresh clothes in the morning. I recommend T-shirts and shorts.  Maybe 1 nice sundress for the pub crawl in Boracay if you decide to go on it.  I was there for NYE so I brought a cute dress for the celebration.  Otherwise it’s literally singlets, swimmers, shorts and thongs all the time.
• 1-2 long sleeve shirts and pants: The mosquitoes don’t mess around.  Bring something long and light because it’s still hot but you will want the coverage.
• All terrain shoes or “aqua socks”: you are swimming and nature walking and hiking and climbing and boating.  Thongs are annoying because they fall off.  Protect your feet and be prepared for anything!
• 2-3 Bags: Sounds weird right?  You basically have 2-3 bags for the boat. 
• The “Big Bag”: ideally you hand over the first day and don’t access until the end of the tour (I used my Country Road bag).  Store items you won’t use on the boat.
• Dry Bag: Wait to buy in El Nido unless you already have one.  I highly recommend 30+ size so that you can store all overnight items (i.e. multiple changes of clothes) so you don’t have to repack it every night.
• Day Bag: Leave topside on the boat to access stuff during the day.  I used my small CamelBak.
• Waterproof bag:  Just something large enough to separate dirty/wet clothes from dry/clean clothes like a trash bag.
• 2 towels: Both a beach and “shower” towel.  Definitely bring two – again you feel super dirty by the end of each day and using a cleanish shower towel is so much better than repurposing that sandy beach towel.
• Sea sickness pills: I like the preventive kind that you take every morning regardless. 
• 3 bottles of Deet: I used ALL of them.
• Sunscreen: Face sunscreen and waterproof spray for your body.  Particularly traveling alone I didn’t want a “single girl sunburn” so good to have a spray that you can get your own shoulders.

Optional/Buy There:

• Flippers: If you have them or insist on them for snorkeling; bring them.  I didn’t have them and later realized how tiring it is to snorkel with “regular” feet.  Hard to find flippers for a reasonable price in El Nido so bring or buy elsewhere in advance.
• Rash guard/wet suit top: You can buy these for super cheap in El Nido if you don’t have one.  Really just need a top and it’s more for sunburn on your back while snorkeling than sea creatures.  It makes me feel safe so I bought one there.
• Snorkel/Mask: TAO provides this but mine was pretty terrible and keep fogging up.  Might want to bring your own or buy in El Nido.
• Alcohol: A case of beer is included in your boat trip but they recommend also buying a liter of alcohol and a list of mixer per person.
• Portable speaker: if you like to have music on the journey/campsite.

Lastly, I purchased an Optus Travel Plan and it was so pointless.  There is free wifi EVERYWHERE.  Get a Philippines SIM if you desperately need to call or text people.  They do 7,14, etc day plan options.  But I honestly don't think you need it.  All airports have free wifi except Coron and Boracay beach basically has wifi even on the beach.

Now you've got all the basic information, feel free to plan a trip.  But if you want the dirty details and travel tips stay tuned for my next post with reviews of my hotels, the boat, my activities and the islands themselves.

Investigating Egypt

It's that time again! I have essentially fallen in love with Egypt and think it might be my next destination.

To start, I googled "top places to see in Egypt" as well as going to my go-to website, Frommers.com. Between the two I've started to put a list together:

• The Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx
• Medieval Cairo
• Abu Simbel
• Temples of Karnak
• Felucca on the Nile
• Valley of the Kings
• Siwa Oasis
• Hurghada
• Luxor Temple
• Mount Sinai
  

Of these they are mostly found in or near Cairo, Giza and Luxor. The only ones that are a little out of the way are Siwa Oasis, Abu Simbel, and Hurghada.


So I'm thinking I'm headed there December 23 - January 2. I looked and the flight from LAX to Cairo is about $1,300 on British Airways with a layover in London. You do arrive a day later though. I checked Luxor and the flights are far more expensive. So Cairo it is! The flight from Cairo to Luxor is an hour so it really isn't a big deal.

You also need a visa to get into the country but you can get it upon arrival and it is $15 U.S.

This place is getting better and better. Time to do a little more research on these places of interest to make sure I'm not missing anything awesome.

Last Stop Rio

The final leg of my South America trip is to Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Not known for tourist safety, I'm a little nervous about going. I've done some research and determined that when staying in Rio avoid staying at the hotels on Copacabana Beach because that's the main area that tourists get mugged. So I narrowed my search down to Ipanema and Leblon beaches.

My friend stayed at the Sheraton just south of Leblon and loved it but Expedia says you need to take a shuttle to get to the beaches. My one requirement is to be able to walk right to the beach and plop down and not worry about getting knifed.

This limited me to about five hotels all of which had TripAdvisor ratings around 50-70% and Expedia price tags around $170-220. Not a lot of great options and essentially a blind test because not a single one stood out. I ended up going with the Mar Ipanema Hotel which is about a couple blocks from Ipanema beach, is said to be safe, and had the highest TripAdvisor rating of the five.


It feels good to be have all my flights and hotels booked. Now, I can start researching the activities in each place like wine tours, horseback rides, etc.

Argentina Itinerary

Next stop on the trip : Argentina

I've already booked a flight to Buenos Aires, but it is pretty European so I want to head to wine country as soon as possible - Mendoza.

From my preliminary research, flights from BA to Mendoza are pretty frequent and often regardless of the day so I'm less worried about getting to Mendoza as I am about finding a good place to stay. Normally, I would really research the area to find the best location but since you spend most of your time on wine tours it doesn't really matter where your hotel is as long as the wine tour will pick you up from there.

Using a combination of TripAdvisor and Expedia Hotels, I narrowed it down to a few choice options. Casa Glebinias eventually won me over with its perfect scores on TripAdvisor and the fact that it is run by an old, extremely cute looking couple. I was even able to call them and had Alberto (the husband) answer the phone. He was very sweet and extremely helpful in terms of offering a car to come get us at the airport.


My Google research did mention that it was better to avoid the weekends in Mendoza because some wineries are closed, especially on Sundays. Thus, rather than book-ending Mendoza with BA like I'd originally planned I changed the itinerary:

LAX to Lima
Lima to Cusco
Cuzco
Cuzco (Machu Picchu)
Cuzco
Cuzco to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Mendoza
Mendoza
Mendoza
Rio
Rio
Rio
Rio
Rio to LAX

This also means that I'll be in BA for Friday and Saturday night ensuring a couple great nights of partying.

I booked Casa and also booked my flight from Mendoza to Rio with a layover in BA. One thing to be careful of is that the BA domestic airport (AEP) and international airport (EZE) are not the same. Since we are flying domestic to BA and then international to Brazil we have to switch airports which involves taking a shuttle. On a good day it takes the shuttle about 30 minutes to get from one to the other so be careful.

Now, all that is left for Argentina is booking a hotel for Buenos Aires and the wine tours for Mendoza. For wine tours, I'm currently looking at a group called Ampora who do small tours of 2-8 people for about $135/person. There are two different wine regions you can tour. I'll be back with more information on this later.

Unlike Mendoza, it does matter where you stay in BA so I had to do some major research. I started on WikiTravel checking out the different neighborhoods. Essentially there are four main areas that are then broken up even more:

1. San Telmo: The original wealthy neighborhood of BA that was vacated when yellow fever broke out. Thus, it still retains old world architecture and wonder. It is south of downtown.
   
2. Microcentro: This is the main downtown area where a lot of the tourist attractions are but it is noisy, dirty, etc.
   
3. Recoleta: North of downtown, this is the new wealthy neighborhood and where customers of the Four Seasons stay. Too expensive for me.
   
4. Palermo: North of Recoleta, this area is a little bit more up-and-coming, trendy and youthful. Sounds like me!

Once you start looking into Palermo though you find even more districts which hilariously are named after famous areas of U.S. cities like Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho. Palermo Soho is known for its laidback style and beautiful parks but also its crazy nightlife.


Thus, I looked for a place here and found multiple great options all at a cheaper price than I anticipated going in. I finally landed on Mine Hotel Boutique because of the Expedia pictures and the, yet again, flawless reviews on TripAdvisor.


All that's left now is to figure out Rio de Janiero.

International Flights and Peru Booking

Today, I'm going to tackle the international flights and the Peru portion of the trip.

For international flights I'm looking at the following:

LAX to Lima to Cuszo - March 27-28
Rio to LAX - April 11

Turns out that Expedia had pretty decent prices when compared to the South American airlines. Also, I've learned a secret trick to share with you. If you know that you are traveling internationally and has to pass through a major city (Lima) to get to your true destination (Cuzco) then it is best to use the multiple destination option on Expedia's flight search rather than doing two separate one way flights.

For example:Select the multiple destination option

1. First Destination: LAX to Lima (3.27)
2. Second Destination: Lima to Cuzco (3.28)

Doing it this way I knocked off a couple hundred bucks and ensured that the second flight will wait for me if the first gets delayed. SWEET.

Rio to LAX was standard. What's awesome is that because of the time change and the close proximity of South America, I can fly home in one day! So different from losing two days flying to Africa.

So I've got my international flights. While looking for international flights I suggest also checking flights on the approximate days you will be traveling around South America. This just ensures that you don't spend all your time researching hotels only to find out it is too expensive for you to fly there.

On to Peru...

I arrive in Cuzco at 7am on Sunday, March 28th. I plan on checking in to the hotel and just relaxing in Cuzco for the day to adjust to the change in altitude. Maybe we will catch a few sights.

Since Machu Picchu is more important to me than seeing Cuzco I decided to start there. First I think it is important to give you a lay of the land. Essentially you have Machu Picchu at the top with Aguas Calientes right below it (closest hotels). The mountain is only accessible via a 4 hour train or 4 day hike. As you descend by train, you hit Ollantaytambo after a 1.5 hour train ride, then Poroy after about 3.5 hours, and then Cuzco is the last stop at about 4 hours.


Since you have to take a train it is important to check the availability of the hotel and the train before you book either because it sucks to pay for a hotel you can't get to or take a train up only to sleep on the ground outside. Also since it is 8 hours round-trip to the mountain I wanted to stay 2 nights up there to make it worth it.

The train is run by PeruRail (www.perurail.com) which has three options: the Backpacker ($48 oneway), the Vistadome ($71 oneway), and the Hiram Bingham ($294 one way).


I was able to get a Backpacker from Poroy to Machu Picchu. Poroy is 30 minutes from Cuzco by taxi which costs about $7 US. The trains no longer run all the way to Cuzco. For the way back I could only get the Backpacker to Ollantaytambo. From there I will need to take a bus. There are apparently tons of buses and it is way cheaper than the Hiram which was the only other option for that day.

I also researched hotels in Aguas Calientas since it is closest area to the mountain that has places to stay. Unfortunately, you are looking at crappy hostels at $40 a night and $800 a night resorts. Not much in between.

After scouring Google and TripAdvisor, I found a brand new boutique hotel called Hatun Inti that was $280 a night. A little steep but I figure I'll save it in other hotels on the trip. Hatun Inti doesn't have a site, nor does it show up on Expedia or Hotels.com, so I ended up going through Peru Gateway Vacations (peru-explorer.com). They seemed legitimate (I'll let you know how that goes).


Thus, I booked both Hatun Inti and my two railway tickets at once, locking in my trip to Machu Picchu. The rest was easy - I just needed to find a room in Cuzco for my first and last nights in Peru.

At this point, I researched flights from Cuzco to Buenos Aires to ensure that before I booked my last night in Cuzco I knew I could get out the next day. Luckily, there was a flight so I booked that.

I'm staying at one hotel the first night in Cuzco and then a second one when I come back down the mountain. They both look really nice and weren't very expensive. The Terra Andina Hotel is more your standard hotel.

Second Home Cusco is a B&B where you have a little living space. It looks more like a home than a hotel so we'll see which style I like better.


After some tricky combinations, I've got Peru booked now and am now into the Argentina part of my journey.

Check back tomorrow for my next steps in the land of wine!

Two Continents Left - Time to Cross One Off

I am officially planning my next trip! Only two continents stand in my way - South America and Antartica. They haven't put a Four Seasons on Antartica yet so to South America I go (jk).

I apologize that I've been getting busy without keeping you up-to-date but 2010 just won't slow down. I'm really interested in almost every country in South America so I needed a way to slim down the countries because I've only got two weeks.

So I went to my friend, Frommer, because he puts together mini-itineraries. They are pretty generalized but give you a great place to start. After reading them, I really felt drawn to Argentina, Peru and Brazil, so I grabbed some of the places he referenced and put them in their raw form in Excel.

It looked something like this:

PERU
Lima
Cusco
Cusco
Cusco
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Fly to Puerto Maldonado
Puerto Maldonado
Puerto Maldonado
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca
Arequipa
Colca Canyon
Colca Canyon
Lima

ARGENTINA
Mendoza
Mendoza
Wines of Luján
Wines of Maipú
Alta Montaña
Wines of the Valle de Uco
El Calafate
Perito Moreno Glacier
Estancia Cristina
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires

BRAZIL
Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo
Iguaçu Falls
Iguaçu Falls
Salvador
Salvador
Manaus / Amazon (MAO)
Manaus / Amazon (MAO)
Manaus / Amazon (MAO)
Manaus / Amazon (MAO)
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro

From here I had to think in terms of the weather since we'd be going during my boyfriend's spring break from law school. This meant we had to find something that worked from about March 27 - April 11.

Based on my favorite travel weather map, I wanted to stay somewhat north which really only cut out southern Argentina.


From there I just started to prioritize. Machu Picchu was at the very top of my list and Rio was at the very top of the boyfriend's. So Peru and Brazil were definitely in.


The second priority was a trip through the Amazon. Unfortunately, this just put us in a bit of a bind because it takes up a lot of time and is relatively expensive. We really felt like there was so much else to see that we'd rather do the Amazon on the next trip.

Based on this information we were looking at about 4 days in Peru to see Cuzco and Machu Picchu and then 3-4 days at the end of the trip to see Rio. This left 4-5 days smack in the middle to fill in. Again this used to be where the rainforest was going to be fit in but again just a huge hassle.

The first inclination would be to see other places in Peru and Brazil right? Well besides Machu Picchu and the Amazon, you've got Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon. At this point in my travels, I've seen a lot of lakes and a lot of canyons so these just weren't interesting me.

In terms of Brazil there was Iguaçu Falls, Sao Paulo and Salvador. I just got back from seeing Victoria Falls in Zambia so Iguacu was out. Sao Paulo? Just another big city in my opinion so that was out. Unfortunately, I really do want to see Salvador but it is on the other side of Brazil and thus a long and expensive flight from Peru for just the one city. Also, Brazil isn't the safest country to visit so we wanted to give ourselves to a few days in Rio at the end of the trip. Ya know, make sure we had our tans before we came back.


So, that left Argentina. Flights from Cuzco to Buenos Aires were cheaper than to Salvador, I love wine, and Mendoza is just so frickin cute in pictures. So we decided to fill in the middle of the trip with a little time in wine country. Relaxation after climbing ruins in Peru before some hardcore beach parties in Brazil. I like to switch it up!


Based on all this our tentative itinerary was shaping up:

LAX to Lima
Lima to Cusco
Cuzco
Cuzco (Machu Picchu)
Cuzco
Cuzco to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Mendoza
Mendoza
Mendoza
Buenos Aires
Rio
Rio
Rio
Rio
Rio to LAX

An initial look at flights showed that you can do the long haul directly from Cuzco to Mendoza and Mendoza to Rio but you can easily cheapen the trip and the layover with stopovers in Buenos Aires. We decided to extend the stopover to and from Mendoza to a day each time in Buenos Aires. BA isn't a huge sell for us since it is so European but why not enjoy it for the day rather than spending it in the airport. That's why in the itinerary above BA is surrounding Mendoza.


I feel really good about this itinerary so the next step is to start locking it down.

South Africa Itinerary

So I have 11 days to see Africa this winter. Here is the step by step process I go through to create my itinerary:

1) Pick a country

This was easy. The only two continents I hadn't been to were South America and Africa and for some reason Africa beckoned to me as a place unlike anywhere I'd ever been.

2) Where in the country do you want to go?

You can determine this one of two ways. Search for popular cities OR search for popular sights to see. Between the two you will get the best idea of where you want to go.

I began by googling "cities in Africa." Naturally, Kenya and South Africa were the two that popped up the most seeing as they are probably the most touristy. The reason being that they tend to have some of the best places to spot wildlife and a booming safari business has grown thanks to this.


I then googled "best things to see in Africa." One of the top things that came back was Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It was beautiful. It was breathtaking. And above all it had a bungee jump. Nothing suckers me like a good bungee jump. So that had to be added to the list.


Another place was Capetown in South Africa. I realized that South Africa has hiking, wine, sharks, and safaris - pretty much everything I was looking for. Kenya would have to wait.

So I'd know determined that I would go from Capetown to Victoria Falls and somehow manage it in 11 days.

3) International flights

This is around the point that I started looking up international flights. I had to go Dec 23rd to Jan 3rd to maximize my winter holiday from work. Since I only had 11 days I decided I would be flying in to one city and flying out of another. In otherwords I was going to have to shell out a fair amount of money for my flight because it was so specific. Luckily, I was doing this six months in advance. So I determined I would fly Los Angeles to Capetown and then Johannesburg to Los Angeles. Leaving on Dec 23rd I wouldn't get into Capetown until the afternoon of Dec 25th. It also meant I would be spending Jan 3rd getting home. So now I am down to 9 days.

4) Order the Importance of your sightseeing

To determine your itinerary, the best thing to do is to list items in order of their importance to you and how long it will take to do them. For me, the list was:

Safari: At least 3 days / 2 nights
Diving with Great White Sharks: 1/2 a day
Victoria Falls: 1 day/1 night
Wine Tasting: 1 day or more

The Safari was my top priority and would take the most time so it would determine everything else. And I would definitely be partying with Great Whites.


5) Plot Them to determine the order

Starting in Capetown, diving with Great Whites would be first because you do this at Shark Alley in Gansbaai. Next would be wine tasting in Stellenbosch because it is close to Capetown. Then it's a toss up between Victoria Falls or the Safari since you go through Johannesburg to get to both. So I decided to get Victoria Falls out of the way and then end with the Safari. Granted it is usually dangerous to put what you most want to do at the end of the trip because you never know if something will go wrong. But I had to be flexible due to the time constraints.

This is also the point where you will want to plan your flights within the country. While trains and cars are cheaper I had little time so I would be flying as much as possible.

6) Put everything in order with timing!

Dec 23-25: Depart and arrive in Capetown
Dec 26: Diving with Great White Sharks
Dec 27: Wine tasting in Stellenbosch
Dec 28-29: Travel to Zimbabwe and see Victoria Falls
Dec 30-2: Safari (3 days / 2 nights) and depart for Johannesburg
Jan 3: Headed home

As you can see I easily filled the trip just with the top things I wanted to do.

7) Fill in the blanks

Obviously, these activities won't take up 100% of my time, but my suggestion is to always plan out your top priorities and then leave the rest of the trip unplanned. For example, on Dec 26th, diving with Great White sharks only occupies about 4 hours in the early early morning giving me the rest of the day to explore the surrounding area and see the Cape Peninsula. It doesn't hurt to research things near your main priorities so that you are aware of them but don't actually book anything. This allows you time to actually take in the place you are visiting.

So that's how I planned my Africa trip. As it gets closer to December I will give updates on what I'm doing to prepare!

Layover in Amsterdam

Question:

I have a 5hr layover in Amsterdam in August. Is that enough time to go into the city for an hour or two? I'll be coming from the Middle East, so I have to go through immigration and Customs, which will cut into the time. However, I really want to make the most of my time there and am hoping I'll be able to, but my mom keeps nagging me that it probably wont be possible. It's pretty early in the morning, so I don't know if anything will be open anyway, but I just wanted to check. Do you think it's doable?

Answer:

It takes about 20 minutes to take the train straight from schipol to central station, the middle of amsterdam city. I would say you have enough time to see the city for at least an hour. You could walk up damrak, or just take a stroll to explore some of the canals. Trains run about every 15 minutes, and it costs about mm... 6 euros? probaly 13 round trip. You can buy ticket right in the lobby of the airport, definitely do it!

-Information provided by Lindsay O.

Check out my Netherlands page for more information.
www.travel-addict.com/Trips/Netherlands