The Netherlands

31/10/24 - a little bit of animal looking

As soon as we all had breakfast, it was time to get everything into my car and on our way we were ... Arnhem here we come!

Like always we had to endure a few traffic jams and of course, the nieces who weren't tired at all went back to sleep in a jiffy. Not such a bad thing because when awake they can be quite a handful ... yep, we are glad they are girls, can't imagine what they would be like when they turned out to be boys!

Nevertheless we made it in a reasonable good time of just under 2 hours of driving! As we arrived at the zoo, we encountered our first animals and the smell as well, you gotta love the penguins. These ones housed here at the zoo are a small group of black-footed ones originally found in Africa, but it did the trick of remembering the other ones I encountered earlier this year ... boy what a trip!

These few months the zoo houses not only animals but also fantastic mythical creatures spread all over the place. Seeing the time of the year and all it is not that wrong of the zoo to do such a small "project" to bring in more visitors and as soon as we got a picture of "Dolfje Weerwolfje" with the little ones, we were on the lookout for the other ones.

As we passed a dragon and a women with bird feet, we spend a little bit more time searching for the meerkats, which we sadly enough never found. It seemed they already were on their winter break but luckily enough the little ones were more than happy to see the lemurs and the cute squirrel monkeys. Passing a sleepy leopard and a few deer, we encountered a few more of those mythical creatures as well!

Entering the "Mangrove" of the zoo, we were all overwhelmed not only because of the heat and all the green that surrounded us but also by the more than many butterflies. It was a joy for the eye and of course the little ones wanted to "capture" them all on camera. It was fun watching them and being so interested in photography as well as those beautiful creatures, but the highlight of this morning for me was to see the manatee and I was surprised to notice there were even 3 of them.

The little ones were glad to be out of the heat and as soon as we had a glimpse of the wallaby and a few other creatures, we had a bite to eat and were on the lookout for the chimps who were not in the entertaining mood, the western gorilla however were more than happy to show what their diet existed off .... I so hope to see them in their natural habitat one day!

Just because it is All Hallow's Eve it would be stupid to pass out on "the magic forest", a maze for kids from 10 years and above they invented just for this time of the year. Since I am still a kid at heart, me and the nieces went for it and boy, I was so lucky we weren't the only once inside coz I would have never found the exit. Been attacked by the Minotaur on a cardboard for at least 3 times, we made it in the end only to enjoy other scary looking creatures ... I so love this time of the year!

Onwards through the zoo, we arrived at the "Safari" section of the park, but sadly enough there were not that many animals to be found. I don't know if it had something to do with the weather or the creatures in the vicinity, but this one was a bit of a disappointment, especially when you see all the space the animals have. We saw a few wildebeest, skewerbok and waterbuck all locked up in a tiny space. Only zebras and giraffes in the far distance seemed to be allowed to walk loose.

After a few resting breaks, we ended up in yet another place filled with high humidity. Green and lush without a doubt but sweaty at the same time and although it is said that you can find loads of birds and other tropical rainforest dwellers at the scene, the four of us just saw a lot of green leafs and of course a turtle here and there!

From the "bush" it was but a short walk to the desert area and although I liked the nocturnal animals, I was glad to be in the light again to see the cute faces of the collared peccary which were kind of smelly at the same time.

Seeing the little ones getting tired, we had a quick sneak peek at the more than many aquariums with loads of beautiful corals and colorful fish.
After a bit of more walking we ended up in the tropical rainforest again for one last break in the "Bush restaurant".

Once outside, we had one last look at the Asian elephants before heading towards my nieces favorite part of the park a.k.a. the souvenir shop and of course they were a stuffed animal richer once they came out.

With the last bit of daylight left, we drove onwards to our stay for the night, Fletcher Hotel Doorwerth where we arrived about half an hour later. As soon as we were checked in, we had a bit of a swim in the icy cold water of the swimming pool and later that evening we even had a more than enjoyable meal, the perfect ending for the day.

01/11/24 - the drive back home

After a good night's rest, we all had a sturdy breakfast before heading home. I first wanted to have a quick look at the local castle, but the little ones were not really interested and since the weather was a bit gloomy, the folks weren't keen on it as well.

It seems I have to come back myself one day if I want to check it out, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. So on the road it was!

As soon as we were packed, we left the region of Arnhem behind us and although it was still quite busy on the highway, we made some good time and were back home around noon. The little ones were so happy to be home again. It seems they don't take after their auntie at all, but on the other hand I can understand that they miss their pet at home as well. Nina, the Maine Coon my brother brought home during the summer is still their number one at the moment and to be honest, who can top that!?

30/03/24 - on the move again

I know it hasn't been that long since I came back from the most amazing trip ever and now with the Easter weekend happening I decided to go on another trip with my parents.

Normally we spend Easter with the entire family and especially with the nieces who love to hunt for the chocolate Easter eggs and other goodies they like but this year my sister-in-law decided to go home and so it came about that my brother and his family went to China and Shanghai and surroundings more in particular and for me this was the best opportunity ever to go on a little break myself.

This meant of course that my parents where literally home alone and we all know how those things could end, so I decided to ask them as well and before we knew it, we were packing our stuff in the morning and after breakfast we were on our way towards the Netherlands.

I expected it to be very busy on the road with us Belgians having a 14day easter holiday, but nothing was further from the truth. Of course there will always be traffic when on the highway but before we knew it, we arrived in Zaandam little more than 2 hours later. I've always wanted to visit Zaanse Schans with its mills for quite some years now, but never found the opportunity. I guess now is as good as ever! Sadly enough we didn't arrive at the scene in the best of weather with raindrops falling from the sky, but we made the best of it.

As it is the beginning of the tourist season and this place is as touristy as it gets, we definitely were not alone and besides hearing alot of English and Spanish with a bit of Italian and seeing loads of Indian people I realised the entire world was discovering the beauty of our Dutch neighbours and more in particular their countryside. Although it was raining, it really is worthwhile the stopover, even if it is for just a few hours. The views on the watery fields are stunning when the weather is nice or so I think because although we weren't that lucky, I still enjoyed the views on the few mills that are left.

You can really feel history when walking through the area and the people living at the scene are really friendly. I don't know if I would be when hundreds of strangers are walking in my backyard! We stayed for a few hours but because of the bus loads of people and the rain my mother found it time enough to move on and to be honest, I couldn't blame her. I was also ready for our final destination of the day and as soon as we left the parking lot, we were on the road again with destination Volendam.

I arranged us 2 rooms in the Marina park which is some kind of fancy bungalow park but it has a small hotel as well. A few years back on one of the meetups hosted by Keiko when travelbuddies was still alive and kicking, I stayed at this place and liked it so much, I knew this was going to be the right place for our stay for a couple of days. It is ideally located just a few minutes walking distance from the old town and as soon as we were checked in and got our rooms, we were ready for our walk.

This time we were lucky the weather changed a bit and although still a bit windy, we were happy the dark clouds turned into some lighter ones.
As it already was after 5pm when we arrived in Volendam, we went on the lookout for some dinner which wasn't that hard to find of course and a few hours later we walked back towards our hotel with the sun that suddenly had appeared slowly beginning to hide again for the darkness that is called evening. It has been quite an interesting day and after checking out our room a bit more thoroughly, we had one last nightcap before I called it a day.

31/03/24 - A short visit to a peninsula

Today it is Easter and we got a big surprise once we arrived at the breakfast area coz we all got some chocolate Easter eggs. That's a good enough reason to start the day! Breakfast was being served at the table, some kind of remnant of the covid period and since it worked, they kept it. I guess in a way it isn't all too bad since not too much is being spilled.

Since the weather was still not all that good, I just took my umbrella to be on the save side and we walked slowly towards the centre of town to catch the ferry to Marken. I guess because of the weather as well as it being a public holiday not that much people were up and about so when we arrived at the harbor we needed to wait a little bit longer, but thank the Lord we weren't the only ones otherwise maybe we had to wait till the next one! With only 14 people on board we headed for the peninsula of Marken which is nowadays a protestant community.

In the old days it was very furtile ground because of the floods on the island so monks where apparently the first inhabitants to work the grounds and later came the people who worked on the land as well and of course there were the fishermen as well. Volendam thrived in the early 1900's, but Marken remained a poor community till strangers arrived. First it were artist like painters and such who saw the beauty of the peninsula, later others arrived as well. Nowadays the inhabitants rely on tourism and although it is but a small island, there is besides just the old historical houses also a bike tour around the island to go all the way towards the Lighthouse and back. Unfortunately, we couldn't rent one one the peninsula so we just walked through most of it. Later in the morning the sun appeared and once we arrived at the little harbor of Marken, we had lunch on a terrace for the first time this year. Yep, life can be good some times.

Early in the afternoon we took the ferry back to Volendam where loads of people were out and about. It seems in this part of the country they celebrate Easter with loads of alcohol and with it all the things that come with it. From time to time we saw lots of drinken people on the street making so much noise we decided to hit the old parts of the town for a bit peace and quiet. It seemed we were not the only ones and away from the harbor, we saw some beautiful little houses and cute wooden bridges. All in all its is nice to see but no way I would like to live here coz there is just no privacy. They all live on top or next to each other in their backyard if you can call it that.

It seems the weather here in Volendam always changes on us and sadly enough, it started to rain again. From time to time we had to take shelter and later in the evening we tried to find a restaurant for some dinner but it seemed like everything was fully booked because of Easter. What a bummer and like most other tourists clueless about the fact that there were too many people and too little restaurants, we just hit the local chip shop for fish and chips. It is not exactly the feast we had in mind, but it is food so went with it.

As it was getting darker and started to rain heavily, we returned to our hotel where we arrived with thunder and lightning about minutes after so this was a good enough cue not to go out again, so we had a hot drink in our room and I spend some time blogging and catching up mails hoping that tomorrow the weather will finally change for the better.

01/04/24 - quick getaway towards the capital!

After a good nights rest and yet another yummy breakfast the three of us were more than ready for a day of sightseeing. Both my parents really wanted to go to Amsterdam because they only visited it once in their life and this was about 20 years ago, so they couldn't remember much of it.
Since I never mind traveling towards the capital I was more than glad to see something different. As I wasn't too keen to park my car in the centre of the city, we just used public transport to get there. Since it was a public holiday, we needed to use more than means of transportation but I didn't mind, as long as we could visit the ciry, I went with it and my folks where more than ready to follow behind me.

Using the local bus and a metro for the last 10 minutes, we arrived at the central train station at 10 am and started our way towards the red light district and the entertainment district which really needed a good clean and the one thing on my mind was the fact that the certainly celebrate Easter a little bit different than we do at home. Here it seems that alcohol is the main player instead of us Belgians who may the emphasis on chocolate eggs! Whatever one prefers I suppose!

Crossing the Waag, we walked all the way to the major square called de Dam and from there it was a stroll into the main shopping street with a side track to the beguinage, where it was actually quite but to be honest, I rather liked that little fact. Maybe I should move here, but I soon learned that the property is extremely expensive, do I guess I rather stay in Belgium then.

After a quick lunch, we also visited the flower market, Leidse plein, Vondelpark, Rijksmuseum and so much more and although we did enough breaks with drinks and all, I could see that after a long day of walking my parents got tired so after an early dinner we decided to go back towards Volendam. We took the metro back to the North station and after a bit of waiting, the local bus took us straight back to our hotel where we arrived a little after 6pm. From there we had one last walk to the centre of the town for an ice cream, coz who can end a nice day without a proper dessert and a few drinks as well, after all it was our last evening here in the North of Holland. I guess with all the bad weather we had a couple of days ago, we were rewarded with a stunning sunset this evening, I guess the perfect ending of a nice day!

02/04/24 - the trip back home!

Unlike the previous mornings where we enjoyed an excellent breakfast it seemed that today the staff wasn't really in the mood to serve breakfast. Since we slept in and packed our stuff for the leave today, we arrived a little bit later than normal and once we were seated we noticed ample food. It seemed that most of the food was gone and they weren't really in a hurry to provide more. I spoke with the girl about it and she shrugged her body and said it was the only food left over, she could not help us. So we just had each one slice of bread with some jam and a bit of yogurt on the side. Complaining at the reception didn't help either since it were mere youngsters at the desk who thought we were living on another planet, but don't you worry, they will hear from me again!

As we put all our stuff in the back of my car, I wanted to visit a tulip field in Katwoude, but once we arrived at the scene it was no were to be found. Strange indeed! It seems it moved to Keukenhof! What to do next??? There was a possibility to drive to Edam to the cheese market, but we had to reserve a parking space and it was too late. To top things of, it started to rain even harder at the stopover and I saw in my dads eyes he wasn't up for it, so we just drove back home.

Once we were on the highway it was smooth driving so to speak but we encountered more rain, even hail and a bit of sunshine as well. As soon as we crossed the Belgium border it started to rain again. It seemed the weather wasn't going to clear up anytime soon, so we had a little break for lunch and arrived home at 2 pm.

It wasn't the day I had imagined, but once back home I was glad of the things we did manage to see and since it isn't that far away, we can always go back to see the cheese market and many more interesting cities!

21/07/23 - citytripping with the best!

Today is the National holiday of Belgium and when you are a good Belgian, you automatically go to the capital of Belgium, Brussels to be more precise, and like many others (read thousands) you celebrate our nations day together with the king. There are other festivities going on in the rest of the country as well, but most people want to celebrate this main event in the capital. Something I can relate to, but since me and my best friend Tania aren't good Belgians I suppose, we rather prefer to be out of the country instead of in it.

It being a bank holiday, it is perfect for a short trip and since we got a notice from some friends a while back, we booked ourselves a night in our favourite next door country and off we went in the wee hours to Amsterdam.

The road was surprisingly empty and in no time we arrived at the scene. We quickly checked ourselves in, got a tour of the hotel since Tania mixed a little bit of business with pleasure and before we knew it, we were sipping coffee alongside the river Amstel and enjoying the views. May it be that it wasn't in the best of weather, but we were away from home, so we took what we could get.

Since our hotel wasn't that far situated from the centre of Amsterdam, we decided to walk the 3K and ended up at the Rijksmuseum a little bit after 1 PM. All of a sudden the sun popped out and needless to say, we found ourselves a place on the square and just enjoyed the sun and did a bit of people watching as well. So many were up and about and it was definitely clear that we weren't the only tourists here at this hot spot.

We arranged to meet up with Callie at 2 PM in the afternoon and seeing eachother back after almost 9 years, needless to say we had a blast the entire afternoon.

Callie, who is currently on a Europe trip and tries to see as much as she can, has a 3 months holiday break from work. She works as a pediatric and because of Covid worked almost 3 years consecutive with as good as no breaks at all. It took a lot of her, getting the diseas as well because of the many hours working on the covid ward and now she decided to have one last long travel before getting to that next big step of home, husband, kids, ...

For an Aussie girl who has never been that long away from home, it is quite an achievement if you ask me, backpacking all over the continent and in a way I am so proud to guide her in one of the many steps of seeing her dream destination becoming true.

After quite a long time of hugging and ooohhs and aaahhs, the three of us, tackled the flower market and of course the centre of town for a bit of windowshopping, some cheese tasting, a late lunch with nothing but typical Dutch food and a ferry crossing to the other side of the river.

It was almost 7PM when we arrived back at the Rijksmuseum to meet up with Anna, our fourth partner in crime so to speak. Since she still had to work today, she could only arrive in the late afternoon.

Coming from Denmark, luckily for her it was but a short flight, but like the rest of us, she has a healthy appetite so while we were walking in De Pijp, a local working-class neighbourhood, which became very popular lately, we found ourselves a nice place to have drinks and a little bit of food as well.

Needless to say it was pretty late when we said our goodbyes, but tomorrow we still had an entire day, so me and Tania walked all the way back to our hotel and had one last nightcup before we called it quits.

22/07/23 - a day of history

At 7AM our alarm clock went off and boy, I was so lucky I still could sleep a little bit more instead of Tania who went on her 10K daily run. She arrived back almost an hour later feeling quite energetic. I personally was glad I was able to get up in the first place and feeling proud as hell, we went for a delicious breakfast before we met up with Callie and Anna.

We booked ourselves a free guided walking tour today at 11AM. We initially wanted to visit the Anna Frank house but this was already sold out for months. Yep, covid sure didn't make things easier when it comes to visit things at the spur of the moment. Luckily we could book the next best thing which was an Anna Frank tour learning more about her life and the lives of her relatives as well as the Jewish community during the second World War.

Our guide of the day was Wendelin or Wendy if you wanted things shorter. Born and raised in Vught, he moved to Amsterdam because he was still a history student and hoped to become a history professor one day.

Needless to say, he did a great job and our little group of 11 with all nationalities such as Belgian, Irish, Australians, Canadians, Danish and Germans, were a bit wiser when we ended the tour a few hours later.

After saying our goodbyes to Wendy and the rest of the group, the four of us went on the search for a bite to eat, strolling alongside the many channels, when all of a sudden we came across a manifestation of the gay community and of course, we can only support the one thing they were asking for, which was equality for everyone!

They were so colorful with their banners and happy faces, feeling so proud of themselves, that everyone they came across just smiled and I must say they left a happy feeling in my heart, that's for sure!

We had booked ourselves a 3PM visit into the Rijksmuseum, to see all the Dutch painters of impartance. Like the Anna Frank house we initially wanted to visit the Van Gogh museum, but yep, this was fully booked as well, so when another opportunity appears, you go for that one. I must admit that I am not a real museum buff and usually I would opt for more fun ones like the upside down one (unfortunately it was sold out as well), but hey, when you are with many, you go with the flow and in a way it didn't disappoint at all because we not only saw paintings, but sculptures and other things as well.

It was already 5PM when we were told that the museum was going to close and with hundreds of other people we were forced to leave the building. It was either that of spending the night in the museum, but that sounded a little bit creepy to me, to be honest!

Back on the streets again, we had one last drink before we said our goodbyes to Anna and Callie and about an hour later, Tania and I walked back to the hotel, had one more stop for a bite to eat and by the time it was 8PM, we were on the highway again and on our way home, where I dropped Tania off about two hours later. I was glad to notice that traffic went surprisingly well, anabling me to arrive home less than an hour later as well.

It was but a short visit and a short meet up, but I can honestly say it was a good one! It was nice meeting both girls after what must have been almost 9 years, since our communal tourgroup in New Zealand and I just cannot wait to catch up with them one day or another. Only time will tell!

15/08/2022 - finally we can leave!

A few years back I booked a three days trip to the Netherlands because my nieces really wanted to sleep between the animals and of course who am I to ignore something like that. A trip to Africa with the whole family is a bit expensive, so I did the next best thing and booked us a bungalow in Safari Resort Beekse Bergen, just on the other side of the Dutch border. This Safari Park in the Netherlands is especially known for housing loads of African animals where you can drive through with your car (at your own risk of course!) and since a decade, they also have bungalows where you can stay overnight. The ideal situation when you want to see nothing else but animals, animals and some more animals!

Being excited in January of 2020, the two little ones couldn't wait for summer to start but than ... COVID hit our blue planet and like millions of other people our traveling plans were put on hold.

Telling this to the little ones wasn't easy but the promise of going next year was good enough for them, what choice did they had, but than we lost another year because our government decided that the province we live in was the "hellhole of the pandemic". (this was even said by the infamous Donald Trump a year before, but I guess he doesn't even know where Belgium lies). Anywayzzz, this meant of course we couldn't leave again!?!

During the summer of 2021 our province of Antwerp was to be avoided by all tourists and other Belgians, it was like we were spreading the virus into the world like none other. Of course we hadn't a clue, and of course this wasn't true, but when you got to blame someone, why not one province which was the most densely populated. This was a gamble of the government of which I think they are going to be reckoned with during the next election, but it meant that the other 9 provinces could travel. Just give up one and the others are happy they could go on their family holiday. It seemed we picked the shortest straw or how do you call something like that. And miraculously enough after summer was over and we sat out one more lockdown, the entire country went on lockdown again in October. I guess, that one province made sure the virus was spread to a next level during the month of September when we were aloud to go back to work and school and even having a short break!

Thinking back on those days it was so ridiculous and I am wondering what the government is going to come up with in the following months that will come now that things are going in the right direction. Not that the little ones were so worried about it, the summer of 2022 was their year and they were going to be exploring all the animals of Africa and when we finally left our homes after two years we were all in a jolly mood.

Our road trip into the Netherlands was about a little more than 1 hour as we arrived in Hilvarenbeek and this was already enough for the youngest one which only wanted to go and watch animals and was full of energy.

As we drove towards our bungalow, we just wanted to take things slow, not rushing into it and instead of going straight to the safari park, we first had lunch and dropped the little ones at the local playground which they loved because they ware playing between giraffes and zebras. Tell me honest, which kid wouldn't like this.

In the afternoon we settled in our bungalow with views on more giraffes and as we walked into an old forest we soon found out that the safari park was kind of build around it.

The Safari park on itself is of course not that spectacular. It is an old park but it is a large one and said to be the largest one of the country. Built around water and forests it is a nice feeling walking through it especially during a hot day. With enough places to rest in the shade, we all had a nice enough day and while the little ones where gazing at all the animals, we had our rest once in a while with refreshments so what is not to like.

On our first arrival day we just visited the north part of the park seeing some lions, hyenas all the way to penguins and birds of prey.

We stayed till about 6 PM as we slowly walked back towards the main building of the resort and had diner at the local restaurant which had a quick and good service. With our tummies filled we had one last walk around the premises before heading back towards our little bungalow and nothing was more fulfilling than watching the sun go down while gazing at some elegant giraffes!

16/08/2022 - animal day!

Waking up and having breakfast when giraffes and zebras are grazing only a few meters away from your table!? It sounds crazy doesn't it, but that is just what our family experienced and while nibbling on my toast with jam, this was the best view in the entire world. I just wished I could wake up this way all the time, but one has to be realistic of course.

Today we had an entire day of animal watching ahead of us and not only with the family. A friend of mine who lives in the Netherlands had a break from work as well and was going to join us with her son, so we met up on the north side of the park and together we took a boat safari all the way back to the main entrance. The entire trip took about half an hour and while we were slowly going on the water, we saw several animals who live near the water from buffalos to even yaks which I only saw once in Tibet. While this "cruise" was going on, we got a well detailed talk about all the animals we came across and even during our walking safari like they want to call it here, you could always find someone of the staff prepared to talk about the animals they are taking care of.

We spend an entire day at the park, walking all the different "safari trails" you could think of and of course the little ones had a blast taking all the different "survival trails" between the enclosures made out of tree trunks and cords. Some of them were quite easy, others were a bit harder but they were loved by all the little people and even the ones who are a bit older!

Besides the survival trails and the playgrounds spread all through the park I must say that I was amazed that they also had something that they would like to call the "interactive experience" which give children a more realistic idea about the world of poachers. Through sound effects and recordings they make sure children are aware what is happening in that part of world where animals are still in danger.

Although the park on itself looks a bit outdated, there is so much space for the animals to wander around unlike most of the zoos I have ever seen. The park on itself is huge indeed, but I guess that is why the number one item on the list of this park is the car safari. There is road within the premises of the park you have to follow with your own car while listening to an audio tour and learn all about the animals you encounter.

During our stay in the bungalow we saw loads of cars driving through, but I didn't had the need to do it myself. I didn't see the added value of it all, so our family just sticked to the walking safari. This on itself was fun enough and a bit more healthier as well.

It must have been already late in the afternoon when I said goodbye to my friend and her son. They needed to go back home and with all the walking we did I also noticed that my parents were getting a little bit tired as well. The little ones were keen on checking out the small swimming pool in the resort, so while my parents enjoyed the view from our bungalow, the rest of us went for a relaxing swim which was a nice change from all the animals and a very welcome one since it was still hot outside.

Since we had such a nice experience yesterday, we went back to the restaurant at the main building and while the sun was setting, we had one last walk of the day watching all the animals fade away into the darkness.

17/08/2022 - not all things last

Another sunny morning awaited us and sadly enough our short break would be over as the day would pass, but not that we were already thinking about that of course. We had another sunny morning and just like yesterday we enjoyed the view while having breakfast.

Since we were leaving later today we also needed to pack everything as well as to leave our bungalow spotless. So we gathered everything, loaded our cars and entered the safari park for the last time.

I must admit that it is quite overwhelming entering the park early in the morning before the big crowds and I think I will never say this again, but I really liked watching the hyenas early in the morning. It was all so peaceful. We also checked out the new favorite animal of my niece which was the okapi or the forest giraffe like they are called and of course the youngest one was crazy about the penguins. Kids will be kids of course!

We had one last walk through the park and of course the kids really needed to test out as much "survival trails" as they could, but sadly enough when we reached the middle of the park around noonish, the weather changed on us and instead of sunny and hot weather, dark clouds hovered above us and finally after more than one week, we got some rain.

Strangely enough no-one cared so much about it. In the old days we would be a bit depressed when it rained cats and dogs, but now with all the drought of the last years, we don't mind so much. This year is even worse and I guess if this doesn't wake up all those deniers of climate change I don't know what we have to do to open their eyes.

Arriving back at the resort in the late afternoon with all our umbrellas in our hands, we had one last goodbye drink and on our way we were again direction home this time where we arrived about an hour later. When we arrived at my brothers house, the little ones were still sleeping. Somewhere during the drive they fell asleep, so it seems they take after me since that happens to me as well when I am on a bus!

It was but a short holiday but all in all it was a nice family getaway and I must admit that I am already thinking of a next one ... to be continued!

2020 - 2021 memories of the past

Ever since my last trip to Israel in March 2020, I must admit I dreamed a lot of new destinations to travel to, but then COVID hit Europe and made sure all my travel plans were "safely" locked away. Like the rest of the world, I thought it was going to be for just a few months and yep even I thought it was fun for a few months. Not having to go to work, doing nothing but read loads of travel blogs and even find my way to the wonderful world of Netflix.

It was indeed fun for a while, but not so fun anymore when the winter months came along and we still were confined to doing nothing but going to work. Meeting friends was a no no, meeting relatives was a no no, even going to see something more rather than your own inside of your house or garden was yet again a no no.

Liberty came along with the world announcing that you could get a vaccin and then we were all going to be free again! Yeah, something wonderful to look forward to in those dark days and yet again I started dreaming again of visiting all those amazing places on our blue planet.

2021 was near and everything looked better and brighter. That is, till our government decided that there were still going to be loads of restrictions, even for the lucky ones who were already vaccinated. The promise that everything would get better and more than better, after a few months, it seemed it only got worse and more worse, that is in my country at least!

June came along and I finally got the chance for my jab. Still reluctant to it all, I gave it a chance just to become FREE again and be able to travel, but when the summer months finally came along, it seemed that I still wasn't able to travel because of work related issues. Summer wasn't all that, so I didn't mind all that much, but now that fall is coming near and our government yet again told us we were going back to a normal life, things seemed to look a little bit brighter.

To be honest, I don't believe a word what our government says, but my need to travel is something that doesn't seem to disappear, so if I can't travel to far overseas destinations, I am more than happy to just travel in my own country as well as the ones close to ours.

04/09/2021 traveling is the only thing on my mind!

It seems quite unreal, but almost 1,5 year after my last trip, I could finally look forward to traveling again. It was going to be just a 2-day trip to the capital of the Netherlands, but still, I felt like a kid in a candy store and to be honest, I just couldn't wait for the night to be over. It was a short one, but I didn't mind at all.

At 5 AM my alarm clock woke me up, I jumped out of bed and not really in the mood to have something to eat, I just made sure I had everything I needed for this short trip and about an hour later I arrived at the train station. Although It was still very early in the morning, I was more than glad to see my best buddy and fellow travel addict Tania again.

The two of us chatted away about the usual things and while Tania enjoyed her cup of Starbucks coffee, I had a small servings of a vegan berry bircher, which tasted delicious and together with a small cup of Chai latte it was all I needed to get that travel vibe again.

We didn't have to wait all that long for our train to arrive and although I don't have the best of memories traveling to the Netherlands using public transport, for once it arrived on time and we had no hassle at all and needless to say we arrived at the capital of the Netherlands about 2 hours later. It was still early for most humans, but we were quite awake and while we searched for our lodging for the night, we had so much fun looking at the daily hassle of all the people we passed.

It didn't took us too long to find our hotel Die Port Van Cleve, since Tania visited the place a few times in the past for her work. Today we were going to stay 1 night in this 4 star luxury hotel because of the 150th anniversary of the hotel. A few months ago, Tania was invited to stay overnight for free while enjoying a celebration dinner later this evening and of course she couldn't decline such an offer and I was the lucky one to join her.

Checking in to our room was not possible because of the early hour, so we just dropped off our stuff and went into the city. It felt such a bliss being abroad again. I travelled to Amsterdam a few times already and it always feels good coming to this city. Instant happiness comes to mind and no, it is not the herbal thingy talking.

Since it has been a long time, we first went to the main shopping street, De Kalverstraat where we spent most of our time. What can I say, we are just girls who want to have a bit of fun while doing some shopping. Something we have missed for the past year unless it was online behind a computer. I am so thankful that is over and done with. For the love of God I don't understand what people find so interesting about it, besides the fact that it makes you even more lazy. I am more the person who wants to see and hold things, maybe that is way I hated it so much and for that alone I am thankful that we can go into shops again.

Around lunch we ended up at "de grachten" or the canals where we had the most infamous dish of the Netherlands, a "broodje kroket". Now this is holiday for sure! Together with the sun shining on your back, it felt like a summer day although it already was September.

It must have been around 3ish in the afternoon when we arrived back into the hotel and checked into our room where we dropped of our luggage and had a change of footwear since it was becoming really hot in the afternoon. Taking things slow, we walked back to the vicinity of the train station and had a drink at a terrace of one of the many local pubs and for some reason it felt like being on holiday. We were only gone for just a couple of hours, but still it was so relax and after all we have gone through the past year, we finally felt a bit normal and dare I even say ... "human" again.

We arrived back at our hotel around 6 PM and although already a bit woozy, we managed to change into a more festive attire and moments later we were more than ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this beautiful hotel.

Needless to say, we were waited on hand and foot and after a delicious aperitif, we were escorted to our designated table for our 5-course menu with adapted wines. A few hours later, we had seen enough food as well as booze coz we couldn't even walk straight to our room, but hey, we had more than enough fun trying to.

05/09/2021 a bit of sightseeing

Although quite drunk, I surprisingly enough had a good nights rest! We didn't set our alarm clock because we just wanted to sleep in, but somehow we woke up around 8AM. I must admit I felt a bit more human again after a long hot shower and I have to say that breakfast helped as well.

Since we agreed to take a train back home later this afternoon, we packed our stuff, handed them over to the reception as we checked out and headed for the Anna Frank museum.

Tania wanted to have a look and since I found this a more than interesting museum, I wanted to have a go at it as well, but as we arrived, we stupidly forgot to book a reservation. The one thing I hate about COVID (besides the other obvious reasons) is the fact that you cannot plan something spontaneous anymore. For me this has always been very important while traveling and even when you traveling in group with an organization there is always room to plan things spontaneously and sadly enough this pandemic has ruined all that!

I must admit that I have a hard time dealing with this fact. It might seem stupid for some people, but not able to do things spontaneous anymore, takes the fun out of traveling a bit.

The sun was shining, we were in Amsterdam and we couldn't hold a grudge forever, so instead of visiting a museum, we did the next best thing and had a walk next to the more than many canals that enriches the city. We ended up at the Jordaan, a neighborhood infamous for the Dutch folk singer André Hazes, who still till this day is very popular in the country although he died in 2004.

Since we were in the vicinity and we started to feel hungry again, we found ourselves a nice place in the sun to enjoy lunch and afterwards we slowly walked back to our hotel passing some more interesting neighborhoods.

Around 3 PM we ended up in the train station again and once again I was surprised to notice that our train was on schedule and just like yesterday we didn't had any troubles en route so just as we planned, we arrived in Antwerp around 5 PM where we met up with Sander, Tania's boyfriend. It was but a short hello and goodbye to both of them as I needed to catch my train home again and although it was but a short trip, I really enjoyed our girls weekend out and about and I can't wait for the next one the come along!