Amsterdam's greatest asset is the fact that they have an airport that will quickly get you to Eastern Europe. KLM will fly you to some of the best places on earth. Even small airlines like LAL (Lithuanian Airlines) fly out of there. It is odd because in order to get to your plane you usually have to go down an escalator and get on a bus which takes you on a ride that can take up to 10 minutes. I have never been to an airport where the shuttles take THAT LONG to get you to your plane. Usually you just get on a shuttle and they take you a short distance. Not there.
My favorite airports (God knows I spend enough time in them)...Malpensa (Milan), Newark, Minneapolis, Detroit, Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Toronto, Kiev (Ukraine), Zurich (Switzerland), and Vilnius (Lithuania). American airports really have WAY too much silly security. People are true idiots. Flying without any security checks would still be 100 times safer than driving. The thing that scares me most on American flights is getting stuck by a really fat person. The funniest flights are flights to the Baltcis (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). The Western European dudes look like they are little boys in a new candy shop. Some have already been drinking before the flight even takes off. How I love having a Dutch dude slobbering over me before takeoff
Flights to Kiev are interesting. Lots of adopting parents, disturbing old dudes set to meet their new wives, diplomats, shady businesmen, and the strangest character of them all - ME.
Least Favorite: Paris CDG, Chicago (The Big One...too much contstruction), JFK, and Berlin.
Amsterdam is hellish. Backpackers from every "ugly" country on earth congregate there. Hostels all over the place. Not exactly my cup of tea. The pot smoking and sex industry is for tourists from what I hear. Locals really don't even spend time in those areas. Amsterdam has also become immigration central. I don't think any Dutch people even live there these days.