Out & About
UnitedUs heads to Amsterdam
Words by Joseph Lee
14 September 2022
On the back of our 10th anniversary, the UnitedUs team were Out & About for a European weekend away. But this wasn’t a laborious ‘team building’ excursion, or an excuse to herd our agency into the view of a new client. Oh no. This was a trip for all our team to enjoy, as a thank you from the Partners for the collective hard work, dedication and time everyone has put into the agency over the past few years, and more. It turned out to be a two-and-a-half-day food and design tour that was full of fun times. Thanks Partners, you rock.
We met bright and early at St. Pancras and hopped on the Eurostar. Taking our trip using Eurostar meant 80% less CO2 emissions per passenger journey than a flight to Amsterdam, and we were also able to mingle a little bit easier. It was a no-brainer for us to use high speed rail.
We zoomed under the English Channel and arrived en masse at a sunny Centraal station to a tirade of sunglasses, bicycles and glistening waterfront architecture – we’d arrived in ‘Dam!
It was time to check into our hotel, an old tyre station in the city. But there were no rubber or oil spills in sight. This was a Conscious hotel. This hotel enabled us to continue our approach to sustainable travel without compromising on comfort and service. Gelukkige dagen.
Refreshed, with a cocktail under our belt, it was time to take a stroll to Foodhallen Amsterdam. This huge hall was packed to the rafters (literally) with street food vendors and customers wide-eyed to sample the delights of one of ‘Dam’s most in demand food destinations. After devouring platters of tacos, glazed wings, vegan small plates and an abundance of deep-fried Dutch national snack bitterballen, we congregated outside for a round of drinks before heading to, KARAKTER, an underground karaoke bar. We each took turns on the mic to perform renditions of our favourite songs, helped along by a self-serve bar.
Over the course of the next few hours we sang our hearts out, spiced up our lives, danced at the Copacabana and finished on a chorus of Don’t Stop Me Now, just as the bar owner came down to tell us the next group had arrived. It was time to head back to the hotel to get some sleep, ready and refreshed to soak up more of the city’s vibe the next day.
The next morning we let our creativity bubble as we all headed to foam, an international photography museum that connects multiple visions and perspectives to invite everyone to explore. Our guided tour helped us to really get to grips with the exhibitions, including a feminist installlation exploring ways of communicating stories of empowerment, an archival collection of Bill Brandt’s work and an exhibition all about the (not so) humble potato. Then it was time for lunch. We split off to wander down the canal-lined streets and snoop around the creative hotspots.
We regrouped later for an activity that felt the most ‘Amsterdam must-do’… it was a boat trip. Well, it was dubbed as a booze cruise but to call it that is massively underselling it. This was a beautifully varnished wooden vessel with a refined selection of drinks. When the skipper stopped off and brought charcuterie onboard laid out on a silver platter, we couldn’t believe our luck! As the sun was dropping towards the surface of the waterway, we steadily cruised* along on Amsterdam’s only electric boat of its kind, nattering away, leisurely floating alongside Amsterdam Zoo… out into open waters.
Next, we headed to pllek, an environment of shipping containers forming an edgy restaurant which serves up sustainable food experiences. It was a real celebration of what creative, sustainably-sourced food can be, with well-made beverages and great company. As it happens, they were also celebrating their 10th birthday. We left behind the minimal tech beats on the shoreline and jumped aboard a very busy late night ferry back to the mainland. It reminded some of the team about a particular scene from the War of the Worlds movie. But thankfully no disasters occurred. It was just plain sailing back to the buzz of the city.
The next morning after a hearty breakfast featuring banging coffee and plenty of potato rostis (shoutout Box Sociaal), we headed back to Centraal Station and boarded the Eurostar back to LDN, with a quick change over in Brussels.
It’s safe to say there was something for everyone on our trip and we came back to the UnitedUs HQ in high spirits and with lots of happy faces. We’ve even got a golden microphone in the studio, just in case we feel inspired to introduce a bit of karaoke to our clients. But with such focused agency during the week, we’ll probably wait until a Saturday night for those types of occasional antics.
[quoteBlock quote=”I loved the boat trip so much! Right away we knew we were in for a treat as the captain invited us onboard. Floating through the city as the sun was setting was the ultimate way to see the sights of this buzzing metropolis. But the classic architecture was a complete juxtaposition of the hustle and bustle, and we absorbed it all, floating along the canals on our way to a delightful dinner at Pllek.” author=”Lindsay Toone” jobtitle=”Senior Strategist”]