A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to win a free mini-cruise to Amsterdam. So I recruited Jim into the plan and for this weekend, it started on a Thursday. I set off to meet Jim at Woking, and armed with a couple of cans of fuel AKA beer I met him on his train to London. Beer consumed and London arrival complete, we had to dash to an adjacent train to head back to Surbiton (which we had sped through about 20 minutes previously.) You see Jim had been able to take advantage of Megatrain, meaning Portsmouth – London for £2.50, but meaning he had to go all the way to London.
Thanks to the dashing at Waterloo, time for beer was available at Surbiton, although we both opted for cider on this occasion and regretted it once the barman asked for cash. Alcohol consumed, and bus caught home, bed called as the journey to Newcastle would start early, with a train at 0610!
We woke up at 0500, but I actually woke at about 0700, when after a ride on a train, and a tube (neither of which I recall) got me to Kings X and Burger King for breakfast!
Now I could have posted all that from the train to Newcastle as it was equipped with WiFi, but it was so slow that I chose to use the iBook as a DVD player to pass the time away. Watching Scrubs can get quite addictive and make time fly. Meanwhile Jim had the same experience with Hustle. Much to Jim’s amazement the train was early into Newcastle, so we arrived at 1135, and the bus to the ship left at 1500. As the train came in, we spotted a left luggage facility which we decided to use for our 3 ½ hours in town. However on handing our bags over we were asked how we found the office, we told them we were lucky enough to spot the small signage.
Soon after, a friend met us for a ‘few’ beers in a couple of Newcastle’s hostelries – and the few turned out to be a few more than expected. 
All too soon it was time to head back to the poorly signed left luggage facility, and onto the big white DFDS bus parked outside. After forcing our way through the Newcastle traffic (I’d forgotten how bad it was) and we were at the check in desk (after navigating past a group of people who couldn’t decide if they were ready to check-in or not.).
We found our cabin before the girl with the key found us, and was incredibly apologetic for not seeing us head down the corridor and open the cabin before we got there. After dumping bags, we had a look around, bought expensive salmon bagels and happened to walk through a bar. It would be rude not to stop for a beer now wouldn’t it! We also ordered some nuts, which were bizarrely served in a wine glass.
Soon after food a sensible decision was made. Following the beers already consumed today, coupled with the early start, and a big day to follow in Amsterdam we headed back to the cabin where we watched some more DVD’s and got an early night.
We woke to the sight of a very gloomy North Sea, with rain tipping down. Unfortunately despite the amount of water falling from the sky, the amount of water in the North Sea, the ships plumbing seemed unable to cope with the task of supplying any water to the ships taps, showers or toilets, and we were still 2 hours away from the shore.
Anyways after finally getting off the ship, we made our way to the terminal (which had no working gents) to the buses to town 
– where we jumped on the first tram and made our way to the Heineken museum (which did have working lavs). Anyways the Heineken museum is an odd place, with bits about how they make the beer, the history of the company, a presentation on the life of a Heineken bottle and of course free beer.
With the museum have whetted our appetite, we went in search of more beer and Jim tried something to eat in the café we found. At this point it starts to get a bit drunk on my part, as we went from bar to bar to bar, and must have drunk at least 7 beers on my own count, 
one of them being Desperados. I kept true to my word and made Jim ring a vast quantity of people in his phone book before we headed back to the bus, via a few more bars! Quite how we made the bus I don’t quite know!
Back aboard ship we found running water in evidence, so a shower was in order, before I had a go at a slot machine and took away €75! Shortly after food the bar called, which was rammed full and beer was definitely off the menu following the earlier bar crawl so we opted for coke, watched a bit off the band before having the day take it’s toll and retire for the 3rd early night in a row.
All too soon we were back in Newcastle, and apart from the slowest immigration process I have seen, we were off relatively quickly. A wake up tea and coffee were in order whilst we waited for our friend to meet us, when we headed for a walk along the Tyne before realising Jim no longer was in possession of his rail tickets home. Dashing back to the station they were retrieved having been found at Costa Coffee, and a quick drink in the pub before two incredibly busy trains back to London.
Oh and for an example of how crazy the Heineken museum is - click here to see this video we were able to make.
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Ford as per usual did something a bit different, and had an Ice Bar to showcase the S-Max, giving away much needed ice lollies to everyone! All the Ford companies had stands in the same place, and Aston Martin wasn’t far away, showcasing their new 4 door saloon, the Rapide. Four door cars shouldn’t look this good.