Mr & Mrs S.k.'s Trip Of A Lifetime To The High Life Cup

[S.K.]

Hola Amigos..

After finding out that I had been the very lucky winner of the Sweet Seeds competition my imagination starting doing overtime, I had so many ideas/expectations of what the trip would be like and spent a long time eagerly waiting for the trip to come, toying it over again and again & wondering what was in store.

Both myself and Mrs S.K. imagined all sorts of scenario's and not one of them came close to our experience, all & any expectations were literally blown out of the water by what those lovely people at Sweet Seeds and also the Soft Secrets team had in store for us.

It all really started for us last Thursday morning, we set off for a Pink concert in Coventry that we had booked a long time before winning the comp, we had a great time at the concert and when it finished we made our way strait to the Airport to wait for our flight, a long wait without sleep but we would not have had time to go home after Pink and get back with time to fly.

Day 1

We landed in Holland at around 7.00 am Friday, neither of us had slept and we were really hungry so made our way strait to our Hotel which was situated close to the Rijk Museum, on a road with some very posh shops. We had arrived too early and could not check in until 2.00pm so we headed off to find a Coffee Shop.

We found a nice quiet CS not far from Bulldog, cant remember the name but we scored some decent AK47 and WW in there and used the free internet to access the mighty UK420 and track down the Sweet Seeds team. It didn't take much to get us really stoned as we badly needed rest.

We made it back to the Hotel for 2.00pm and checked in, the hotel was very nice and comfortable and our room had a good view overlooking the gardens which back out onto one of Dams major parks. Very nice double bed too

We crawled into our bed and passed out for crucial two and a half before our good friend Tommy J (who some of you will know from this forum) was on the phone and it was time to get ready for the cup, and fast! We felt like stoned zombies but threw ourselves into the shower and attempted to become half human again.

We met the very nice Mr and Mrs Tommy J in the Hotel Lobby and went to smoke one outside whilst our cab was coming It wasn't long before we were all chatting away like old friends and having a good laugh, this was to be the way of things for the rest of the trip!

Our cab arrived and took us to central Amsterdam where we changed to a bus for High Life Cup and this is when the party really started, we met some more lovely people from Spain on the bus (one of whom made up the 3 winners including myself and Tommy) and off we went! The cup was set in the most amazing place, a very surreal location around 10 miles outside of Amsterdam.

The cup was help at an old church in the middle of a really cool hippy type camp site, the place literally blew us all away... You drive in through a narrow country road which widens out onto the picturesque site which is surrounded by lovely big tree's with a few tents dotted around.. Then you get to the main part of the site being used for the cup.

There were some big tents set up surrounding the church with stalls inside them from all the different companies showing off their products. The church itself was really old and authentic looking, complete with stained glass windows. Dotted around between the tents and the church were lots of comfy places to chill with benches, tables, hammocks and big logs to chill on.

Inside the church was the main stage for the cup which was set up with all the HighLife awards lit up in rows. The inside of the church looked great and had some smart looking stand-up tables all around the hall for people to use, there was also a very smart looking bar in there that served free soft drinks and alcohol all night, they also had red bull which turned out to be my saviour.

A good few cans of Red Bull and I was ready for action! Carlos and the rest of the Sweet Seeds team had not yet arrived at this point so we grabbed a table with Mr & Mrs Tommy J and got some smoking action under-way. There were some very nice strains being passed around between us and what stood out at this point for me was the orange bud passed to me by Tommy in his hand-held vaporiser "WOW" it was like I had just popped a segment of a freshly ripened orange into my mouth... Lovely!!! There was also some very nice smelly cheese being passed around too.

We took a little walk around the stalls and it was brought to our attention that none of the items on display were being sold, they were just being given away. People could literally take what they wanted and the best part is that nobody wanted to abuse it, nobody took the piss like I cant help but think would happen over here if the chance was there. I ended up with a few nice pipes, an awesome wind-proof lighter with a blue needle type flame on it and a really really cool pocket vape-bong that is disguised as a marker pen. And also an endless supply of papers and roach rips to last the whole trip.

Amongst the crowd was a name a few of you will know very well, Ed Rosenthal was in attendance to help with proceedings as well as give a great speech and give the awards out... Couldn't help feeling a bit star struck being next to such a name of the cannabis world, I began to read his books and his articles in high times about 15 years ago..

Carlos and the rest of our new friends from the Sweet Seeds team soon arrived and joined us at the table, it has to be said that they are a great bunch of people! Very warm and welcoming and although they speak little English and we speak even less Spanish it was no time before we were laughing and joking and finding ways to communicate.

It was amazing how relaxed and comfortable everybody was around each other as if we had been friends for years, amazing the way herb can bring us all together as one. We also had Tommy who was very kind and spent a great deal of his time translating for us which was well appreciated by us all

As we sat smoking and drinking (in the blazing sun) the food tent was prepared and the Barbecue fired up, Carlos chucked a bag of very nice cheese at me and after smoking some of that it was time to go eat.

The food tent and Bar-B-Q were my heaven, all that smoking had worked up a massive case of the munches and the food was out of this world! Inside the tent there were loads of different pasta's, salads, buffet food like chicken legs etc.. they had loads of fruit and all sorts of lovely things that were new to me but tasted great. Outside the tent were 4 or 5 different Bar bq's cooking everything from fish and prawns to sausages and kebabs.. Our plates were piled up with amazing food and it sorted us right out too.

After a hearty meal and a few more red bulls I felt charged and ready for more buddage, then Carlos called me and Tommy away from the table and took us off to meet the very nice people from Soft Secrets, they had a small stall set up inside one of the tents selling cup entrant buds. We were handed a list of all the strains and hashes that had been entered into the cup and told so select any strain we liked.

I choose some Jack F1 & Tommy went for the WW X Bubblegum, we both had a nice big bud dropped into our hand and after having a chat and showing our gratitude we made our way back to the table for sampling purposes. Both were top smokes and the Jack F1 sample I was given was truly outstanding buddage with a solid texture that you can hardly pinch, bright green and covered in sticky trichs and short orange pistils.. The smoke was thick, fruity/hazy and very strong indeed.

As we were sat smoking there were entertainers walking around showing off various talents and tricks including a guy with a very real looking puppet ferret who approached our table and scared the life out of Mrs SK with it

Soon the awards began in the smaller tents with Ed Rosenthal doing the honers and giving short interviews with the winners. Ed really looked the part too, he was wearing a ships captain outfit (captain Birdseye style) dressed with Ganja leaves on the blazer pockets and arms

We continued to sit outside the church smoking, drinking and watching Ed present the awards whilst also getting to know each other better.. the place was beautiful and the vibe and atmosphere were totally amazing, everywhere you looked everybody had the same sort of stoned, satisfied smile on their faces

By about 10.30 pm it was time to move into the church to the main stage for the awards to begin, once everyone had gathered and settled in the church the awards began and we were first up on stage. The chap from soft secrets (who's name I forget) announced our names and myself and the other 2 winners (from Spain and Portugal) made our way up onto the stage where Manolo from Sweet Seeds was waiting with the Soft Secrets people to present us with our Trophy and certificate that was done in the style of a Sweet Seeds cheque.

The vibe of going up on the stage was mindblowing as was the response from the crowd, who all clapped and cheered when Manolo gave us a trophy the size of the F.A. cup I can honestly say that it was one of the proudest and most surreal moments of my life!

The cup looked wkd with the Sweet Seeds logo etched into it with silver leaf and a big weed leaf under it. We should have had a trophy each but the lovely customs people decided that somebody would be dumb enough to try and smuggle weed inside a trophy with a giant Ganja leaf on it... and so they deemed it fit to break the trophy's Idiots!!!

Anyway one trophy managed to get saved and those lovely people decided that I should keep it and the other guys would wait to get theirs at a later date... Thanks guys!!! The Sweet Seeds cheque/certificate is wkd too and will soon be getting framed and treasured.

The awards continued as did the celebrating for hours more and we became incredibly stoned, we met loads of great people some of who we will remain friends with for many years to come and we all spent a top night together in an amazing location that I personally will never forget.

When the awards finished we all went and sat around on some logs and smoked more whist waiting for our cab, the vibes were great between everyone and the language barrier was almost non existent by the end of the night!

We all went back to Dam central and as the Coffee Shops were closed we had another meal together before making our way back to the hotel, we could not show enough thanks to Carlos, Manolo and his wife for the star treatment we had received... Those guys are so cool.

When we got back to the hotel we just lay there for a while letting all the nights events sink in to our overwhelmed minds... and that is where the night ended... at least for this diary anyway

It really was the best night 'ever' and there was still more to come on day 2..

Edited June 30, 2010 by S.K.

[smokesman]

sounds like you had an ace time mate,well done

[Poppa_Smurf]

Nice one mate glad you had a good un . Anybody related with weed always seem to be great people and easy to get on with so not suprised you made some friends SK . Shitter about the trophies why did they not x-ray em ? Instead of breaking em wankers. Anyway glad you had a good un

You knew I would ask ........ Best coffeeshop ?

poppa

[Guest weedmonsta]

nice report dude.... glad you had a great time, just wish it was me

[stickyblack]

Glad you had great time .. Good diary too.. will look forward to the rest.

[cooper84]

well done mr and mrs sk. day 1 sounds fantastic.

[silvester growdrobe]

sounds amazing!!

well done dude

[S.K.]

Thanks guys!

DAY 2

We woke after sleeping like babies at about 9.30am and freshened up ready to meet the Sweet Seeds team at their hotel, we had no idea what the plan was for the day... We all met outside the hotel along with a small crowd of happy people that had all been at the cup the night before. There we also met one of the owners of Soft Secrets who told us we had around 20 min to spare so we could go hit a Coffee Shop for a while.

We only had to walk round the corner to Hunters and Baba and I think it was Baba we all went into, we purchased 3 very nice strains in there.. Some L.A. Confidential which was one of my fave buds of the trip, some BB Cheese and some Amnesia Haze. All 3 strains were top quality but for me the L.A. Con really stood out as it was a totally new flavour for me that I could not get enough of.

We smoked a quick (but very nice) joint in there and then made our way back to meet the chaps from Soft Secrets who took us to the boat that we would be spending a good part of the day on The sun was blazing as if we were in Turkey and it made for a great day to cruise around the canals of Amsterdam, it was a nice chilled vibe and gave everyone a chance to have a proper chat and all get introduced properly. We were also introduced to the brand new owner of Soft Secrets as well as the previous owner we had already met earlier. They were very interested in the comp/prize and really wanted to make sure we had a great time.

The smoking began as soon as we were aboard and we found a nice comfy corner at the back of the boat to chill and take it all in, there was also a guide giving history of all the areas we sailed through. It was a really nice vibe and again there was top quality food laid on for us and as much drink as we wanted. The waitresses on the boat did an amazing job and really wnt out of their way to keep everyone well watered.

The boat trip went on for hours and we were all having a great time, so much so that Carlos abandoned his flight back to Spain and carried on with us all which was quality One image that wont leave my mind was when the boat went past an old man sat on a jetty type thing along the canal, he was just sat there in a wooden chair in the sun and in front of him were 3 very bushy healthy looking plants soaking up the sunshine.

Then there was an announcement over the microphone saying that there was a very nice man at the front of the boat called Sweep.. And a very nice man Sweep was too as he proceeded to hand out samples of some absolutely outstanding Amnesia Haze to almost all the guests on the boat. We were already very stoned at this point and that haze took my buzz to a different level, especially with the sun beating down like it was.

The boat made stops every so often to give people a chance to have a mooch around and all in all it made for a great and unforgettable morning/afternoon with some great company.

The boat dropped us off just a few roads away from Barney's CS, Barney's Uptown (restaurant) and also the merchandise shop which are all right next to each other on the same road. Amazingly the whole of Barney's uptown had been reserved just for our party and it looked amazing when we walked in, very smart modern décor but at the same time very chilled and relaxing. The tables looked great and the bar looked wkd too, the owner who I think was Barney himself welcomed us all and gave us some background about the chain and how it became the experience we were being treated to.

Again we had a free bar and the service there was amazing, we were so well looked after!! We had a mind blowing three course menu and I had a lovely CBLT salad to start, followed by the nicest 200g Irish Rib-eye steak I've ever had! There were the most amazing, perfectly cooked hand cut chips served in a paper cone and for Desert I had a mouthwatering fruit platter. Mrs SK had the most amazing chocolate Guinness cake smothered in Choc sauce, the slab of cake was humongous and looked really heavy and almost impossible to eat but it disappeared in your mouth like something off Charlie and the Chocolate factory... Amazing!!!

Between each course we were given about 20 min to smoke and drink and I can safely say it was the best food experience of my life, if any of you get the chance to eat there, take it!!

After a few more drinks and smokes we headed over for a tour of the Coffee Shop and found out some interesting stuff... then we selected some strains from there and took them back over to Uptown. I had the Red Cherry Berry and the Hawaiian Snow (100% sativa) both were very nice and potent but the snow was a strong fave for me as it had a flavour that reminded me of my early smoking days. Wonderful!!!

Unfortunately Carlos and the Sweets team had to leave to go find a room and arrange another flight and so we said our goodbye's as they would be flying early and we would not see them again. It was a slightly sad moment as we had had so much fun since hooking up, but I'm sure we will all be seeing each other again in the not too distant future.

After those guys left we carried on in Barney's Uptown for a while longer and were shown more great hospitality before Myself, Mrs SK and Mr & Mrs Tommy J began to make our way back towards our hotel. We stopped at a couple more Coffee Shops along the way and made the journey a fun one, it was nice having another couple to tag along with and the ladies hit it off really well as did myself and Tommy. Great friends who we will definitely be visiting one day soon.

By the time we all got back we were well ready for bed, so we said goodnight and went to our room for a bedtime smoke n smooch which put the icing on another perfect (almost dreamy) day in Amsterdam

Edited June 30, 2010 by S.K.

[ratdog]

Awe, wicked SK, that does just sound like the journey of a life time, glad you remembered it all to type and super glad you both had such a great time peeps

Edited June 30, 2010 by ratdog

[bobthegardener]

Well done, sounds fantastic!

Bob

[Davey Jones]

It sounds like a mental experience, good report

[Guest Healthystealthy]

sounded totally amazing S.K, good report of it

glad you & the Mrs had a great time

well done man

HS

[smokesman]

mate that sound feckin ace glad you had a good time you lucky fecker

[S.K.]

Cheers guys, its hard to put into words quite how much fun we had so I'm glad you like the report

Day 3

As this was the last day for a few more of our new friends we got up at a reasonable time so we had time to go for a smoke and some lunch before seeing them off, first to leave in the morning was one of the other comp winners.. A very nice chap with amazing amounts of energy and passion, as he was leaving he gave all his remaining bags of bud and hash to myself and Mrs SK (about 7 or 8 bags) which meant we had loads of different strains including our own rather large collection we had built up.

After exchanging email we waved goodbye to him leaving just us and Mrs and Mrs Tommy J left from our group. Those guys were also due to leave later that afternoon so we headed off to make the most of our last few hours together and went off to so some smoking, shopping and lunch together. Those guys were really great and a good laugh and again it was a bit sad to part.

When Tommy was leaving he also gave us every bit of smoke he had left, which again was quite a lot and now meant we had a ridiculous selection of bud and hash.. Cheers guys Amongst the many samples left to us were 2 different types of Cheese, some Amnesia, The WW X Bubblegum (cup entry bud) some very nice Silver Haze, Top Dawg and some L.A. Con, Utopia Haze (in which I found a perfect seed that the missis chucked away) and many more. Some of the hashes we had were Moroccan, Temple Balls, Barney's Royal Jelly, some very strong Isolator and many more that I cant remember.

At one point I reckon we must have had around 25 different bags, so after waving Mr and Mrs Tommy goodbye we set off to do some serious (and I mean serious) smoking!!! :yes:

We still had the best part of day 3 (Sunday) to ourselves and also most of day 4 as we did not fly back till late Monday afternoon, it seemed really quiet once everyone had left us but this gave us some time to go exploring on our own and to get a bit romantic

We also still had the best part of our prize money as we had been fed and watered to the highest standard since our arrival and could hardly spend any apart from in the CS's. This was good though as we went on a bit of a shopping spree and treated ourselves to some new goodies. The shops out there are great, you could litterally shop for weeks out there (yes guys I enjoy shopping)

We then went to a very nice CS called Easy Times, the weed was great and they had some to die for juice drinks that I kept downing loads of. We stayed in there whilst watching England take a hammering by Germany

From that point onwards we literally did not stop eating, smoking and having a right laugh meeting weird and wonderful people along the way. We had a truly amazing time together out there, its made us come back super focused and highly motivated (and they say weed makes you lazy?)

After chilling in the park for a couple of hours in the sun we decided to retire early and try and get through some more of those many bags in the hotel room... Somehow we succeeded and still needed to buy more before we left the next day.

Day 4

The best memory of day four (apart from sexy time ) was a joint we smoked in a small CS near central station, we had already purchased this big fat (pure) cone of Chocolope in CS Baba a few hours earlier, but kept it until just before leaving!! Me n the misses went "puff puff, pass" on this joint and man it was a "killer" I've not had a joint do that to me in ages... tears were streaming down my face as I hacked my guts up coughing

That joint kept me high all the way back to England, top stuff!!! Mrs SK got a bit emotional on the way home, tears of joy type thing which in turn set me off so we were a right pair

Before this adventure we had not been out or done anything really fun for a long time as our dog has been so ill for the last 2 years or so and we wont/cant leave her, but she improved recently and a friend looked after her whilst we were away and I so I really want to say a massive thanks from the bottom of my heart to those lovely people at Sweet Seeds and of coarse to the mighty UK420 for making all this possible and giving us a trip that was like a dream come true!!!

(pic is some yummy OG Kush with some nice colouration, cant remember where I purchased it)

Edited July 1, 2010 by S.K.

[ramblingmadman]

Well done SK , brilliant report too.

rm