I can count the number of times I've been away from home since June on the fingers of one hand. You might be thinking: so what? Well, to you this might be normal, but to me it is pretty much the epitome of sucky.
Since we came back from our world trip we've spent 3 days with my Spanish relatives in Cambrils on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. We've also spent 3 days at Jochem's father's holiday home in northern France. And we visited Jochem's mother, who lives in Germany, three times. That's it. Now, call me spoiled (and, for the record, I do know that when it comes to traveling, I am the very definition of spoiled), but visiting one's family abroad does not a trip make. I need a backpack, a flight that's at least 6 hours long and a sifnificant change in weather patterns to fulfill my travel needs. But for the last 8 months there's been none of that.
Of course this all has to do with THE WEDDING. In case you didn't know this yet, weddings are expensive. You should all save yourselves the trouble and just go down to city hall. Perhaps you're wondering why I'm not following my own advice? Well, let me explain. Despite considering myself to be quite the bitter cynic, I actually am one of those women who's always dreamed about their wedding day. I used to read wedding magazines for fun for years (of course now I can't stand them). And although I'm certainly not the kind of bride who worries about things like center pieces and color combinations, there are certain things that I want to have a certain way. Once we decided to have a wedding, we wanted the wedding to feel like ours. We thought it might be nice to enjoy ourselves on our own wedding day. While you can always cut costs and budget money well, certain things were non-negotiable for us, like the date (Saturday), the season (summer) and the food (worthy of only the most critical foodies). And this costs money. Money which I am happy to provide, were it not that with a wedding there is very real deadline that is fastly approaching (less than 5 months as we speak!) and this means that one no longer has the possibility to travel wherever one feels like whenever one wants to.
This has been on my mind lately. I always feel spoiled talking about it but I'm not sure people understand how much I need to travel. That's right - I NEED it.
Anyway, this is why Jochem and I decided to plan a little trip to Ameland. Although not abroad, Ameland is certainly a world away from where we come from. Ameland is one of the 4 Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea at the very northern tip of The Netherlands. I had never been there, even though my grandfather was from Terschelling. We rented a little holiday home at the most western town on the island called Hollum. For 4 days we walked on the beach and rode horses through the countryside. It was nice - quiet, tranquil and dark (no lights other than the lighthouse). I look forward to visiting the other islands some day, but with the rest of the world calling out to me as well, who knows when I'll get to it?
Since we came back from our world trip we've spent 3 days with my Spanish relatives in Cambrils on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. We've also spent 3 days at Jochem's father's holiday home in northern France. And we visited Jochem's mother, who lives in Germany, three times. That's it. Now, call me spoiled (and, for the record, I do know that when it comes to traveling, I am the very definition of spoiled), but visiting one's family abroad does not a trip make. I need a backpack, a flight that's at least 6 hours long and a sifnificant change in weather patterns to fulfill my travel needs. But for the last 8 months there's been none of that.
Of course this all has to do with THE WEDDING. In case you didn't know this yet, weddings are expensive. You should all save yourselves the trouble and just go down to city hall. Perhaps you're wondering why I'm not following my own advice? Well, let me explain. Despite considering myself to be quite the bitter cynic, I actually am one of those women who's always dreamed about their wedding day. I used to read wedding magazines for fun for years (of course now I can't stand them). And although I'm certainly not the kind of bride who worries about things like center pieces and color combinations, there are certain things that I want to have a certain way. Once we decided to have a wedding, we wanted the wedding to feel like ours. We thought it might be nice to enjoy ourselves on our own wedding day. While you can always cut costs and budget money well, certain things were non-negotiable for us, like the date (Saturday), the season (summer) and the food (worthy of only the most critical foodies). And this costs money. Money which I am happy to provide, were it not that with a wedding there is very real deadline that is fastly approaching (less than 5 months as we speak!) and this means that one no longer has the possibility to travel wherever one feels like whenever one wants to.
This has been on my mind lately. I always feel spoiled talking about it but I'm not sure people understand how much I need to travel. That's right - I NEED it.
Anyway, this is why Jochem and I decided to plan a little trip to Ameland. Although not abroad, Ameland is certainly a world away from where we come from. Ameland is one of the 4 Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea at the very northern tip of The Netherlands. I had never been there, even though my grandfather was from Terschelling. We rented a little holiday home at the most western town on the island called Hollum. For 4 days we walked on the beach and rode horses through the countryside. It was nice - quiet, tranquil and dark (no lights other than the lighthouse). I look forward to visiting the other islands some day, but with the rest of the world calling out to me as well, who knows when I'll get to it?
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