Looking for travel inspiration? Our globe-trotting readers can help — they’ve road-tripped to Tuscany, scaled Sugarloaf in Rio and explored the Azores. Now they’re sharing their adventures and handy travel tips with us.
This week, we’re hearing from four women — friends since grade school days in Santa Clara! — who recently visited Amsterdam. Read on for details, then find more travel inspiration at www.mercurynews.com/tag/wish-you-were-here/.
Lifelong friends Jane Droogsma of Santa Clara, Carmen Beggs of Atlanta, Gayle Jackson of Walnut Creek and Susan Valladao of Dublin took a 12-day trip to Amsterdam last year. (Courtesy Gayle Jackson)
Wish You Were Here
NETHERLANDS: A 50th reunion of Santa Clara’s Wilcox High School Class of 1973 last year proved the perfect opportunity for four lifelong friends — Santa Clara resident Jane Droogsma, Atlanta’s Carmen Beggs, Walnut Creek’s Gayle Jackson and Dublin’s Susan Valladao — to not just reconnect here, but embark on a 12-day trip to Amsterdam.
“The four of us have been friends since grade school,” Gayle says. “Our friend, Jane, is from Amsterdam and arranged lodging in a wonderful two-bedroom apartment overlooking the canals and next to the palace square. We even saw the king and his wife!”
TRAVEL TIPS: There is so much to see in Amsterdam. Gayle and her friends recommend touring “Anne Frank’s house, where she and her family were hidden from the Nazis, fabulous art in the museums and (taking) the tour of the palace. We saw how wooden shoes are made and the windmills and thousands of tulips!” Tulip season typically runs from late March through early May. Amsterdam hosts a tulip festival in April.
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Join the fun! Send a photo of yourself on your latest adventures — local, domestic or international — to jburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com. Tell us where you are, who everyone is and where they’re from, and share a travel tip or two to help fellow readers go there, too.
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