What? You left BEFORE 420?!

[Arsonist]

First and foremost, my apologies for this delayed travelogue. Since I've returned home, I haven't had much time for posting as summer months are a busy period for industry. I hope I can get back into the swing of things!

To address the subject of this thread, YES, I did leave before April 20th...and this is why.
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is regarded as the largest music festival in North America and it just so happens to take place in the desert town of Indio, California. Which in a sense, is in my backyard. I've attended this festival twice in the past, this year was supposed to be my third, and from the looks of the line-up...it was going to be a fucking madhouse. Tickets went on sale January 21, but I remained patient as I would purchase them right after I filed my income tax the following week. January 26, the moment I walked out of my tax preparer's office, I receive notification that the festival has SOLD OUT in record time. I had spent the previous weekend already picturing myself baking in the sun, meeting foreigners, rocking out to my favorite artists, and it all ended in heartbreak when the last weekend pass was sold.

How could this happen? Tickets for Coachella NEVER sell out in less than a week! Mental tormentation commenced. I was angry. I found myself in a dark, inconsolable place. I must've have been there for 3-4 hours until I got my KLM agent on the phone and booked a non-stop to the Dam. It didn't end being my third Coachella Fest, but a third trip to the Netherlands would suffice. There's no way in hell I was paying a scalper double the face value, those dollars were better spent as euros. The trip was scheduled for 10 days, leaving April 20th as the climax.

So why end the trip early? Back home, I got guestlisted for the sunday portion of the Coachella Fest. It was only one day and I had missed other artists, but nothing beats FREE in the V.I.P! The homies from Sub Soldiers a.k.a The Dub Police put on a monster of a show and made this cali kid one happy bastard.

Monday April 11, Arrival Day
Walked out of Centraal Station, took a deep breath, hopped on the 17 and proceeded with ritual to my first coffeeshop; Eerste Hulp.
Angel Dust @ 10E/g :: Rating 7.5/10
It was still early for check-in, so I hung out there for a while. The sign that was once outside now decorates the inside quite lovely. Hopped back on the 17 towards Weteringcircuit and that's where I saw the posters for Chase & Status Live in Amsterdam on April 2nd. Damn, I had just missed it! No worries, seeing as how they were doing a show here in Los Angeles upon my return. EDIT: Here's VIDEO of L.A. performance
Checked into Hotel Washington at about noon, took a shower, changed out of my travel attire, and made my way towards Rick's for what was supposed to be my First Toke & Talk. At 4PM, Rick's Cafe AND Rick's Coffeeshop were empty. Eh, maybe I'm early and went across the way to Greenhouse to see what they had in stock and to kill off a few minutes. Came back to Rick's at 4:10PM and still no action. By this point, I had already seemed a bit foolish to the fine lass serving drinks, so I began to inquire outside. "ACD? T&T? Toke N Talk?" Nothing. I grabbed dinner and called it a night.

Tuesday April 12
Time to get my smoke on after breakfast, so I make my way to a new place that goes by El Guapo. What I liked about the menu was they had just as many sativas as they did indicas and in the end, i was captivated by;
Chocolope @ 11E/G :: Rating 8.5/10
I had been reading things about Greenplace having a proper menu, so I had to see it for myself. Went back to my place to get a coat and headed towards Greenplace to watch the game between Chelsea & Manchester United. Three types of kush on one menu? Let me see all of them! . . . and all equally disappointed. They pass as marijuana, but fail as kush. The budtender noted my displeasure, pulled out a container, and said "this one has to do the job". Seeing as how the game was almost under way and I wasn't high, I settled for;
Sour O.G Kush @ 15E/G :: Rating 8/10

Wednesday April 13
Got my day started on the Nieuwe Zijde in search of a coffeeshop. HGF? No. Grasshopper? Hell No. Blues Brothers? Sure. I walk up the stairs to where the buds are sold, take a look at the menu, and engage in conversation with the budtender. There was a girl at the counter who made a purchase before me, but didn't sit down right away. Instead, she eavesdropped a little on our conversation. When I turned her way, she asked me "are you from California?" Fuck me, I didn't know we had accents. Sat down and treated her to;
Jack Flash @ 9E/G :: Rating 7/10
There was a T&T scheduled for that day at Basjoe's, but I wasn't able to attend.

Thursday April 14
The menu at Blues Brother had left quite the impression, so I returned to purchase;
L.A. Con @ 13E/G :: Rating 9/10
Went back to my place for a bit and decided to visit a coffeeshop that was close-by, Club Media. I heard great reviews on the Hindu Kush, but upon arrival I was immediately sold on the;
Amnesia Haze @ 9.5E/g :: Rating 8.5
Haze left me in a daze, so I hopped on the 3 toward Oosterpark. Coffeeshop Los Angeles didn't have the best reviews, but you already know a player had to represent his squad. Still had buds, so I decided on a hash purchase.
Tbisla @ 9E/g :: Rating 7/10
Some guy at that coffeeshop told me I would find many Brits and Americans at Bluebird. Seeing as how at this point of the trip I've never had more than one person to talk to, I gave it a shot. Night was still young, but there was no action inside Bluebird. Didn't come here for nothing, so I gave into the;
KushDies @ 12.5E/G :: Rating 8/10

Friday April 15
I don't know why I decided to leave Grey Area for the end of the trip, but it turned out to be a mistake because they had the best flower in town.
Mango X O.G @ 13E/G :: Rating 9/10
I was already skeptical of people not showing up to T&T's, so I walked towards de kuil not expecting much. As I walked by on the street, I looked through the glass and saw the "ACD" logo on a table and was immediately thrilled. GROUP INTERACTION! Oh, how I have been craving thee. Gapie was the first one I met, he introduced me to Trad and Hestia. AzLaker was there with his woman, Debbie, and he introduced me to Blueberrie and Islandgurl. This T&T was a SUCCESS! Later on when things were starting to wind down, Philly-Mothafuckin'-Rich walks in, approaches our table and says, "you guys here for a toke n talk?"

Saturday April 16, The Last Day
Time to get everyone back home their souveniers and other junk. I'm sad, yet anxious for another T&T like the previous one. I had nothing to burn, so I went to this little dump called Barraka. No grinder for public use, no papers, no smoking on the first floor. I was almost out of there as fast as I walked in, but something on the menu caught my attention;
Brain Storm @ 12E/g :: Rating 8.5/10
I went back to Grey Area to hash up whatever I had left of this Brain Storm. The budtender recommended an item on the menu. He was able to sell me a half-gram of the compressed kief which in his words, "is essentially hash". It did the job though, had me stoooned.
O.G. Kush @ 30E/g :: Rating 10/10
A sunny morning had turned into a gloomy afternoon with something that felt like rain, so I decided on going back to my place for a coat and from there I would make my way to Nes. Walked out of GA, stopped for a second to plug my headphones in, and when I look back up...It's Gapie. He agreed to go with me to my place to drop off souveniers and get a coat as long as we went directly to Nes from there. We get on the 16 and these gvb undercovers decide they want to mess with the most baked looking fuckers on the tram, luckily we had our fare paid and they let us go.
We get to Nes, Trad and Rich had been waiting for us. Little by little, more ACD'ers arrive and we notice we're gonna need a bigger table, so we choose the one on the porch. I don't know how to describe the atmosphere we created that night at Nes, it was simply VIBE! Vibe so sweet, we were drawing in random strangers off the street! The Russian guy, the Welsh dude, some pom at the bar asked me "is that your crew?" When I confirmed, she replied with "you guys make this a very welcoming place". At that moment, the trip became complete for me.

Thank you ACD for helping create wonderful memories and life-long friendships.

[wileykat]

Excellent reporrt pal!

[gapie]

sweeeeeet man

[geekymonkey]

It sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing your report!

[ftcarer]

Very nice

[pengaldinho]

Nice report and yummy pics.

[cattales1960]

I think I was in t' Nes that night. How did we not meet? Oh yeah there was smoke involed. LOL.

[geoffk]

Great read.

[DeanPF]

Wednesday April 13
Got my day started on the Nieuwe Zijde in search of a coffeeshop. HGF? No. Grasshopper? Hell No. Blues Brothers? Sure. I walk up the stairs to where the buds are sold, take a look at the menu, and engage in conversation with the budtender. There was a girl at the counter who made a purchase before me, but didn't sit down right away. Instead, she eavesdropped a little on our conversation. When I turned her way, she asked me "are you from California?" Fuck me, I didn't know we had accents. Sat down and treated her to;
Jack Flash @ 9E/G :: Rating 7/10
There was a T&T scheduled for that day at Basjoe's, but I wasn't able to attend.
[/url].

I like your style fella! Beautiful pics and awesome travelogue, I possibly could have ran into you at a toke and talk but I hit town on Tuesday the 19th man . Good to see you ran into a fella boyo (welsh guy) in Nes Cafe and I hope he repped the motherland appropriately. Funnily enough after 5 trips I still have not been to the Nes Cafe even though I do enjoy a drinky winky with my smoke or ran into fellow Sheep Lovers other than the boys I went with but plenty of Scots, Irish and English, I was beginning to think I was one of the only few carrying the flag over there! Once again, awesome travelogue and I hope to do one of my own next trip (early December hopefully), but after the first Biffta plans go out the window . Can anyone else help me out with prices etc in Nes 'cos from past trips I found beers to be expensive and I'm a tight fucker too when theres more pressing items to spend my dollar on, as well as what Lagers they carry as I'm not the biggest Pilsner fan which most Dutch lager is from my experience (Jupiler was nice I remember, not too pils-y). Safe as fuck!

[Jimmy]

Nice report friend!

[Trad]

Great report and really nice pics.
I'm glad we got to hang out a couple of times and share a few joints/bags/bongs/pipes...
Hope to see you next year??

[hulldj]

"Bob On" report there, fustration, sadness, joy, elation and a suprise twist at the end.

I'm still plowing through my 420 trip report and not managed to post it up yet, this sour kush really messes with me when I'm trying to type it up,

[gapie]

I think I was in t' Nes that night. How did we not meet? Oh yeah there was smoke involed. LOL.

told ya u bump each other !!!??

[cattales1960]

I think I was in t' Nes that night. How did we not meet? Oh yeah there was smoke involed. LOL.

told ya u bump each other !!!??

I thought he was talking about sunday night so I didnt meet him but maybe next time?

[philly-Rich]

Hey man,
Nice write up,better late than never,lol.
Enjoyed our time hanging out and smoking.We did some laughing ,offering bong hits to anyone that walked by.We put a hurting on a few of them.I almost forgot about that Russian dude.He was not used to bongs,let alone bongs full of Philly Ice.I didn't think he was going to be able to walk out of 'Nes.Then his reaction when you spoke Russian to him
Good memories,good memories.
Hope to see you next year.I am making my plans already.
Rich