My 3 year flying adventure...

The 28th of February is the day that I moved to Dubai and today that is 3 years ago. I packed my suitcases not knowing what was ahead of me, and if you would tell me what I have done in the past 3 years on that specific day in 2014, I would not have believed you! Time flies, and in my case you can take this literally, but it's true. It doesn't feel like 3 years at all.

So many things has happend, let us take a little walk on memory lane...

From swimming with sharks in Durban, hanggliding in Rio de Janeiro, hanging out with the national hockey team in Buenos Aires, meeting Diego Maradona; Jermain Jackson; Robert Pattinson; Eric Bana, and many other interesting and intelligent people whom I will not mention here because this would be a never ending story. However, this doesn't mean I forgot about them, some random people stay in your head because of the stories they have told you and maybe even changed my life in some sort of way.

Lets move on.

Celebrated my birthday in Singapore; Malta and Barcelona. I have pet baby lions, swam with wild dolphins in Mauritius, even touched whale sharks in Cebu in the Philippines, danced nights away in Hongkong, Auckland, Singapore, New York, London, Bangkok, Shanghai, Croatia, Phi Phi Island, Austria, and of course many more nights out all over the world and especially Dubai (if anybody ever needs advice for where to go for dinner and drinks anywhere in the world, let me know).

I have climbed Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China. Saw the northern lights in Iceland, and the milky way in Christchurch, where I taught myself to drive on the other side of the road to be able to see the sky turn pink with one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen in my entire life. I have witnessed numerous beautiful sunsets along my path as well. Which is just astonishing to be surrounded by nature, to appreciate it and stand still with the history about this world we live in.

Drank glasses of wine in Capetown while enjoying a big steak, had a Russian shot to keep warm in -22 degrees celsius in St. Petersburg, and had seen the Russian army on the Red Square in Moscow, and even having a little wave at the pope in Vatican City.

Today made me think about all the amazing things I have done and that there are still so many things to do, even though the list is getting smaller and smaller.

After 2 years I moved up to business class, and it's amazing to interact more with the passengers while they are drinking champagne, and I just drink a lovely and super strong ginger ale :P. I don't know how many flying hours I have at this point (and how many nights I have skipped) but the best flying trip ever I must say, has been the trip over the Niagara Falls from the Toronto side. That was one of those happy moments, actually all the things that I mention today were happy moments.

Not to forget all the trips I did to the Netherlands to see my family and friends, see my oldest brother getting married and in 6/7 months my other brother is getting married as well, I'am so excited to go dress shopping again !!!

In the past 3 years I have learnt so much about this world and especially about myself, I fell in love for the first time, and got my heart broken as well, but in life things happen the way they should, and I accept that. I'am curious what the future will bring to me, but I am sure that it will all work out, because it always does. Even just by writing this blog made me realize again how blessed I am to be able to do all of this at such a young age and I can recommend it to everybody. BUT let's not forget, the person you are today is because of the people around you, who love you, and there is no destination, celebrity, wild animal or anything in this world that can replace that. <3

BKK, SYD, AKL and BNE trip !

Once I got my roster for January I saw I had the new trip on my roster. You start in Bangkok, then you stay there one day, then on to Sydney, stay there for one day, then on to Auckland, stay there one day and then to Brisbane, stay there for one day and then after that going back to Dubai.

I was leaving on the 18th of January and I just got back this morning on the 24th of January. The flight to Bangkok was completely full (like almost every sector), I knew that I had big plans on the other layovers so in Bangkok I just ordered room service, went to the pool and slept.

The flight to Sydney was 9 hours and we even had 1.20 hour rest on the flight. We got to the hotel in Sydney around 10.30/11.00 and the wake up call the next day was already 7.40. I thought it would be good to go in town and stay awake and then go to bed early and hopefully sleep a good and very long night. Once we got to town we went for lunch because we were all starving. We went to this place and the food was amazing!! I had steak AND ribs AND sweet potato fries and they were just all the best, just what you need after a long flight, some good food and a glass of wine.

Then I had to go UGGS shopping, and they were even on sale as well !! Afterwards I met up with the other crew at the Opera House, because you can't go to town and not just have a little look at the opera house, it's mandatory! Even though the chinese ruined my photo and I can't cut them off. I have some friends as well living in Sydney but I was just so tired that I wasn't able to see them this time.

One of the crew and me decided to then go back to the hotel, because we were so tired! Once back to the hotel I fell asleep at 6pm, woke up at 1am, and I was thinking, I better fall asleep again otherwise this will be a very very long day! And luckily I did, next time I woke up was with wake up call, so I had a good night sleep, and was going on to flight number 3!

Off to Auckland where I was meeting my Dutch friend from University. Juliette has been traveling through New Zealand with her boyfriend for over 10 months now, and I didn't see her for about 1.5 years. Then Marissa was in town as well, she left a week ago to go traveling through New Zealand as well, and what are the chances that I was going to Auckland as well, so luckily. The best part about my job is seeing my friends all over the world. We first went for dinner and had some bottles of wine, then we went to Danny Doollans. Danny Doollans is a bar where no matter what day of the week it is, there is always live music and all the crew always goes there as well, since we get discount. We just had the best night, and at one point I got a bit emotional that I was just so happy to be around them again after all these years. We were missing our fourth musketeer though, Hannie! But we forgive her that she couldn't make it to our reunion in New Zealand. A photo says more then a thousand words, and this one pretty sums up our night out. 

The next day I just chilled in bed all day and mentally preparing for the next flight to Brisbane, which was only going to be around 3 hours. 

Brisbane was going to our last layover, and by this time we were already on the move for about 6 days and we could all feel it, we were getting tired, but what to do. Because I also have a friend living in Brisbane. My friend Maki is my birthday twin, we have the same birthday and even the same birth year, so for the past two years we spent our birthdays together. The first year we went to Malta to celebrate and last year we went to Barcelona and Mallorca. She was picking me up from the hotel with her father, because she lives in the Gold Coast, which is about an hour from Brisbane city. Once we arrived at her parents place her mom started cooking for me, and it was just lovely. Maki is Japanese so you can imagine how good the food was her mom made for me, at one point she just started making some potato salad, she had chicken skewers with sweet chili sauce from the oven and some Japanese dish that I already forgot the name about, but it was good! The next day we woke up early to bring her mother to work and then we drove around the Gold Coast, had breakfast at Burleigh and chilled at Burleigh Hill, when then we moved to the beach just on the other side. By this time it was still cloudy and we were hoping the sun would come out at one point, and oh it did! It feels like I did botox on my forehead cause it just won't move, not that I know how botox feels like but I imagine if feels a bit like this haha! We even put factor 50 on us, but obviously not enough, so I am just moisturizing like there is no tomorrow. The Gold Coast is just BEAUTIFUL, the beaches are so white, the water so blue, the trees so green and the people so chilled !!! 

This was the view from Burleigh Hill, the town you see in the middle sort of is Surfer's Paradise.

And there is the sun !!!

Just felt like I was on holiday !! 

Maki !!! 

She brought me back to the hotel about 2.30 pm so I could still sleep a bit before the flight back to Dubai. Flight number 5 on day 7! The whole crew were so happy to be back in Dubai, including myself. It was an amazing trip, especially because I got to see my friends, but to tiring. It's now 7.40pm in Dubai and after I finish my blog I am going to sleep, not going to set my alarm and see what time I wake up tomorrow! 

Must give some credits as well to the crew I was flying with, we managed to do all these flight because we got on so well, and I truly hope that I might see some of them even after this trip. Having a laugh on the flights makes our job worth working for <3 ! 

Bring it on 2017 !

We are already halfway January 2017 and I finally found the time to write a blog. I will first tell about my amazing Christmas in New York. That city, I don't know if everybody has it but there is just something about it, so lively and so incredibly free. It doesn't matter what you wear or do, New York accepts you. The flight over was a light load (for a change) so we could do everything in our own pace, there was no time pressure. We got to the hotel around midnight, and it was extremely busy, since we stay on Times Square, it took us ages to get to the hotel, and trust me, if you have to pee it feels way longer as well!!!

One of the girls and me decided to change and go straight to the Christmas tree at Rockefeller centre. While we were walking there it wasn't that busy anymore, and guess what, the light were OFF! We just flew about 13 hours all the way to New York, all we wanted to see was the Christmas tree with the lights ON! So as you can imagine we were a bit disappointed. The next day we decided to go to a musical, and the girl I was with really wanted to go to Aladdin, even though I have already been, I didn't mind to go again, so we did! After the musical we messaged the other girls to go to this rooftopbar I heard of. It was called 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar, and it was like in the movies, so incredibly stunning.

The best part of this rooftop bar was as well that there were some bathrobes you could wear to keep you warm, and they were bright red!

We had some food and of course some drinks as well, then it was time to find a secret bar. Back in the day it was not allowed to have bars in the States and New York, that's why they invented these 'secret' bars, and nowadays they are very popular and some are pretty hard to find as well. The secret bar we were trying to find was first used as a coffee shops (not the ones we know in Amsterdam, but one where you actually buy coffee), and then the bouncer was there to literally open the wall/door and there we were, in the middle of such a small and kinda like 'great gatsby style' with a live band and a singer who looked like Marilyn Monroe. We had another drink (shock) but at this point we were already pretty tired and we still had to go to the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller centre, I was NOT leaving New York before I have seen this tree with the lights on!

I know it's a bit dark, but you have an idea what I meant !

And there it was, THE CHRISTMAS TREE !!!! When you walk there, with about thousand other people, you still feel like you're in a movie, and it's the best feeling. It all looked so unreal because it is the fact that you always saw the tree on the tv and in movies and now you see it in real life, which is a blessing, and I did have one of those happy moments again. New York just never gets bored, and deep down inside I still hope I might be living in it one day, no matter for how long, just being able to experience the whole New York vibe for either weeks, or months.

I think they call New York the city that never sleeps because for some reason I almost never sleep at all, and I am a good sleeper (especially with my own pillow), but New York just gets me too awake and too excited to be able to fall asleep with the fact that I am on Times Square in New York, hehe.

The best part of this trip is yet to come. I heard from my sister-in-law Nienke that they send something to the hotel, so while I was checking out I just went to the 'local' post office in the hotel to check if they had any mail for me, and the answer was yes!!! Now I was on my way back to the airport and I had 3 Christmas cards from my parents, Tim and Nienke, and Martijn and Saskia. This was the best Christmas present I could ever ask for, reading these sweet words from my family made me have some tears in my eyes, when they tell you how proud they are of what you have accomplished in life and how much they love you. This made me so happy and even more blessed with my family and hereby I want to thank Nienke (and Tim :P) for taking the iniative for sending me the cards and the cute earrings I got as well.

I could not do what I do without each and everyone of you.

All I want to say is that I am also super proud in what they are doing in life and for me to be able call them my family and be the little sister. A family wouldn't be a family without mom and dad.

That's it with being sentimental, but sometimes it is good to realize what you have and tell them how much you love the people around you, to tell them how much you appreciate all the things they do for, and probably will do in the future.

Here's to 2017 being an amazing year, lots of more travels, ticks of the bucket list, many more laughs, save some money (yes mom I am trying :P), to the wedding of the year of Martijn and Saskia, more adventures, and most of all more stories to tell and to share! I am ready for you 2017 !! <3

Merry Christmas !!

Can't believe it's already Christmas tomorrow night, where has the time gone?! But most of all what a years has it been already, and still so many nice things that will happen in the next two weeks! First of all I can't wait for Christmas, because I will be flying to,,,,,, wait for it,,,,,, NEW YORK! I got rostered the flight to NYC on the 25th of December, so I will be flying on Christmas day, and be in New York for 42 hours !! It's one of those things that you always dream about while watching the Christmas movies that take place in the city that never sleeps, and now it's coming true! Gonna see if I can go iceskating at the Rockefeller centre, walk around Central Park, hopefully crash somebody's Christmas party, and most of all just enjoy spending time in this amazing city, because it has so much to offer. Knowing me, I am sure it will be amazing, probably meet somebody on the flight who invites me to their dinner party (fingers crossed).

It's been a while since I wrote my last blog. I just have been so busy, with flying this time, no more holidays this year, haha! I did fly home on my 5 days off to surprise my brother at his 30th surprise party, and oh he was surprised. So good to spend time with the family, and to be there with the special occasions.

In november I almost had the whole family over! Tim en Nienke came for a wedding, no not mine (yet), and they stayed with me a few days as well. Unfortunately I had my annual exams so I had to study a bit as well while they were here. I passed, so legal for another year of flying!! Then mum and dad come at the end of November to soak up some sun, while my other brother managed to do a spontaneous trip to Dubai to go to the Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi. My dad and brother went to support Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi and had the time of their lives, while mom and I just chilled around the house and sunbath at the pool, waiting for the men to return and listen to their stories. It was so nice to have them over, busy but nice, having breakfast with everybody at the dinner table, like nothing changed, just the city! I don't know if you guys know already but my brother Martijn is getting married to the love of his life, Saskia!! So excited for them to get married next year! Love is in the air....

In between I had some good flights as well, Madrid, Barcelona, Washington, Sydney, Auckland and London, a few more as well but can't really remember, or not worth mentioning (like Peshawar in Pakistan).

There were some good parties lately in Dubai. Went to a Halloween party, and had a friend over from the Netherlands, he didn't know what I got him into, being surrounded by all cabin crew haha, he loved it! My outfit? Just bought a bat woman pyjama at H&M, already had a mask and that was my outfit done, haha! Went to the Atlantis brunch with Tim en Nienke, always good fun, and many many many different drinks! Then there was Sensation White!! My good friend Koen organized for us a VIP table, a 6 liter bottle of vodka and good company, it was such a good night! Ran into my old friends Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano (for the non dutch people, those are dutch DJs). I met them in Croatia last year, and guess what, they still remembered my face, or they pretend they did. On one of my Amsterdam flights I had Carice van Houten on board, she's a dutch singer and actress and some people know her from Game of Thrones, think she's the red witch. Very nice people, she was flying with her parents and her new born baby, which I fed in the lounge, just milk, don't worry! Then on my last Amsterdam flight I saw two guys standing in the lounge, and I just had the feeling that one of them was a DJ, maybe my DJ radar told me this, and guess what, it was true. DJ Dannic was on the plane, and he was playing in Club White the next day.... I think you can all guess what happend next, I went to White last night. So much fun, such a good night, good music and again amazing people. It's hilarious how random you meet people on the plane and you go out with them and then one of them turns out to be this famous DJ, but he's a human being too, and I guess they like to be normal as well, because to be fair I never heard of his name before. Nice guys though, maybe I will see them again! Then last but not least I can't wait for New Years Eve!! We are going to Axwell & Ingrosso, they are playing at Meydan and I am organizing now a VIP table for about 20 people, will be so much fun !!!

Just thinking that 2016 is almost over makes me think about all the things I did this year, and man it was a busy year!!!! Went to Sri Lanka with mom and dad, Austria for snowboarding holiday, Amsterdam to be there for Kingsday, Hongkong a quick getaway, Mallorca & Barcelona for my birthday, Athens with Becky on days off, Netherlands to go to this festival called Solar, Peru to climb Machu Picchu, and even went to Iceland with Valerie and Selma! And I am even saving some money, it's a miracle !!! Next year I need to save more money, go play more tennis and go more often to the gym, order less delivery food, cook more, and buy less clothes (in my opinion I am doing good on the clothes part).

After all 2016 has been a good year, many laughter and it is so important to surround yourself with the right people, friendships are not about quantity but more about quality, and I am so grateful to have such an amazing family whom I all love to the moon and back, and of course have the best friends anybody can ever ask for, and I hope that I made that clear to each and everyone of you how happy I am to have all of you in my life, and that you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year, where all your dreams may come true <3  

Breathtaking Iceland !

Yes I know what you are all thinking, WHAT she went to Iceland this month? Didn't she go to Peru last month? Yes, yes and yes, but I can promise you this, no more holidays for this year (good thing the year is almost over, hehe). Iceland, where to start, there are no words to describe how amazing and beautiful the nature is in Iceland. But also, it is one of the most expensive countries I have ever been. We flew from Dubai to Oslo and from there we took Icelandair to Kefjavik Airport, where we wanted to rent a car, we got one of those really cute Volkswagen Up. From the airport it was about 45 minute drive to our hotel. We could already see the landscape, the mountains and the fresh air was just amazing. The hotel we stayed in was pretty much back to basic, but what else do you need when you're only there to sleep, just 3 single beds and a small bathroom, which was fine. We did argue all the time about the temperature in the room, since I don't get cold that easily where the other girls were cold all the time, haha, but we managed. That night we found a supermarket close-by where we did some groceries for the next day, some yoghurts, chips, candy, nuts and water. The first day we drove down to the Geysir, which is a natural source of literally boiling water, Iceland is basically an island make from volcanos, so that's the reason why the sometimes there are these little eruptions of hot water. I think most people have seen it from tv or videos but in real life it's just a whole different story, and astonishing how the earth works. We took some good photos, mostly on Valerie's phone, the sun came out as well, just one of those happy moments in life. The whole Iceland holiday was one amazing happy moment in life, that I will never ever forget and so blessed that we were able do this. After the Geysir we drove down to the Gullfoss waterfalls, just driving around was already pretty cool to see a country in this way. The waterfalls were nice, but, I know it sounds very odd, compared to the Niagara waterfall, this one was super small, still beautiful though. Sometimes while we drove around we stopped to take photos because the landscape was worth taking a photo. After the waterfall we drove up north-west, just to hope and to see if the weather would clear up a bit so we could see the northern lights, one of the main reasons why people go to Iceland. From a small town called Akranes (where there is literally nothing to do) we took our little UP a bit off road, and then we found the perfect spot to wait and see for the northern lights. However, we waited for about 1.5 hour (good thing we were prepared with our snacks) and basically didn't stop talking the entire week, three girls together, we all know that talking is our main hobby and we are very good at it as well, haha. The sun went down and slowly it started to get dark, but not dark enough, and then at one point, we saw GREEN!!!!! The shape was more a rainbow style, but you could see the color green moving a bit. It wasn't as clear as we hoped but at least we managed to see something, because the rest of the week our chances would be very low to see anything. That night we were all so tired, almost every night we were in bed by 22.00/22.30, so tired! Being on the road all day, the cold air and sightseeing takes a lot of energy. We all slept so well the whole week, every night 8/9 hours, our daily trip to the supermarket to get our local yoghurts, which we all eat in the car, was a good way to start the day early and save some money. Between 9 am and 6 pm we had to pay for the parking spot, so we decided just to leave every day around 9, just early enough to be ahead of all the other tourists. The second day we drove down south to see the Selfoss waterfall, where you could walk behind as well, eventhough we got really wet, everything for a good photo haha! After the waterfall we drove to the black sand beaches, which looks very weird odd. There was a strong wind that day as well so we had to really hold ourselves in order to get blown away, I don't think my 51kg would help me that much. That night we ate something in Vik, tried to drive a different way but then we realized we were actually not allowed to take this little off road with the car so we had to go back, again by 10pm we were all so tired. The next day was a bit more stressful then planned. Before going to Iceland I contacted a girl I knew from university who lives in Reykjavik and works for a tour operator, we booked the Glacier Lagoon Tour at her company, but for some reason we thought it was on a thursday, which was on a wednesday, and we almost missed it by 5 minutes. Hilarious how sometimes you take an hour to get ready but when you have to you can get ready in 5 minutes or even less. The tour brought us all the way to the glacier lagoon, and from there we would get on a boat of about 40 minutes with a guide. It looked so unrealistic, and some ice parts were more then a thousand years old, so cool! We even tasted it. After the lagoon tour we stopped at another black sand beach, a cute little church, and even a canyon. Iceland had so much to offer, unbelievable. We even experienced hurricane winds, the hurricane came from America and then even in Reykjavik, good thing that we didn't have to drive ourselves that day because that would have been very dangerous! By the time we were back in the hotel we decided to take a little chill day the next day. So we walked around Reykjavik for a bit, had a nice breakfast, saw some shops and then last minute we decided to drive up to this natural hot spring. A natural hot river, not knowing we had to hike for about 40/45 minutes to this place, and it was pretty cold by this time. Once we finally got to the destination it was freezing and we did NOT want to go into the water, but what's the point of hiking all the way and then don't go into the water, so there we went, into the water, which was surprisingly really nice and warm. We couldn't stay too long otherwise the sun would be down and it gets really dark, especially on a path without any lights. On the way back we got soaking wet!!! Then straight to our favorite restaurant of Iceland, called XO (hugs and kisses), the food was so fresh and healthy, we loved it. Friday was our last day in Iceland, and we booked the blue lagoon later that day, we couldn't go earlier unfortunately. So if you see a photo on facebook, it's from google, just to give you guys an impression how it looked during the day. The water was so nice, we had a package with a free drink and I had a lovely Proseco while being in the water, such a lovely experience! Then we had a reservation at the LAVA restaurant, where we had the best beef tenderloin I had in a while, just an amazing way to end a perfect holiday. So happy we went, and I must say, I had the best travel buddies anyone can ask for, thank you for everything Valerie and Selma (dutch maffia on tour). Can't wait for our next adventures together girls, it wouldn't have been this unforgettable without both of you <3. We flew back via Amsterdam, where we did some grocery shopping in the Albert Heijn, had our frites with peanut butter sauce, got delayed for 6 hours, but now save and sound back in the desert.

Thank you Iceland for being such an astonishing destination, everybody should go at least once in their lives to understand what I am talking about!!

Friends are for life!

Having friends is so important, either in the Netherlands or all over the world, I would not know what I would do without every single one of them. It is so important to have close friends you can talk to. For most of you this life I live is this big party but it can be lonely sometimes. 

But here's a shout out to all my friends from the Netherlands, who have always been there for me and value our friendship, make time to see me when I'am home for a short period of time. It is not that they have to drop everything they are doing if I'am home, but I feel blessed that I can say that I have so many good and close friends, that distance doesn't matter. It's like a long distance relationship, or at least I like to believe it feels like this. It needs to come from both sides, otherwise it would just not work. I'am such a lucky girl. The fact that many of my friends also visited me in Dubai to see where I live and how my life looks like, gives me such an amazing feeling. To be honest, I try my best to stay in touch and in their lives as well, I love to know what's happening with their jobs, relationships, family, this gives me a feeling that I'am still part of their lives as well.

Obviously I cannot forget the friends I have made all over the world. It's absolutely amazing to be able to catch up with friends who live in Hongkong, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Perth, Osaka, Geneva, Liverpool, Manchester, Cape Town, London, Spain, Boston, Sydney, Auckland, st. Petersburg, Bali, Tokyo and many more (a few I still need to visit in their cities)... I learnt it's not about how many Facebook friends you have, as long as the friends you have are true friends. It feels lovely as well if you know somebody in a destination, so that this person can show you around, and you don't have to introduce yourself anymore, because this person actually knows you. Sometimes it is exhausting to tell over and over again who you are, what you did before flying, where you live etc etc. Of course people ask you this out of interest and I do exactly the same, mostly to kill time, but still, it is just nice to meet up with somebody who knows you for you. I have met some amazing people on board as well, sometimes you just meet somebody and it clicks, you both laugh about the same jokes and you just get each other, then after the flight, you're the one who decides if you wanna stay in touch or not, if you do, perfect, if not, fine as well. You just do whatever you feel like doing, and I can tell you this, if feels amazing.

Nor can I forget the ones I have met in Dubai in the past 2.5 years. Because let's be honest, it's been something, adventure would be the right word here I guess. I love spending time with them, if it's either going for a fancy night out or just an old school pyjama party and doing face masks all night (and maybe brush each others hair, just kidding). Many amazing trips have I done with my friends from Dubai, and many more will follow. The next one will be Iceland with Valerie and Selma (two amazing dutch girls).

Not bad ey...

Some friends of mine already left the desert. They have resigned and either moved back home or decided life took them on another path somewhere in this world. 

There is this saying; Once you have travelled there is not one place you can call home, because your friends live all over the world.

I so agree on this one, there will never be a day that all of them will be together, maybe if I ever get married they will make it to the big day. That's also why Facebook comes in handy all the time. Without seeing each other you can still stay up to date with their lives.

Again, thank each and every one of you for being my friend, and listen to my crazy stories, and just listen in general. I don't say this all the time, but now you know I really do value our friendship and I cannot wait to give, again, each and every one of you a big kiss and a hug!!! <3

Peru - Machu Picchu

Finally the time was there I was going on my HOLIDAYSSSS!!! The 8th of september I woke up in Nigeria in Lagos, then I flew back to the sandpit as crew, changed into normal clothes and gave my suitcase to my roommate. Fingers crossed that I would get on any flight, since all the flights to Europe were extremely busy. Finally I heard that I could get on the flight to Copenhagen and from there I could take KLM to fly to Amsterdam where my dear dad picked me up to drive home. I was on the road and traveling for around 24 hours before I got to my final destination. By this time you don't know what's your name anymore and you feel like a zombie!! Went to bed around 19.30 and woke up at 8am, feeling like a newborn child! The 10th was the day of the wedding of Hennie and Johan, the mother of my friends. It was absolutely stunning. The wedding was held in their garden which was transformed into this amazing white flowers venue, let's put it like this, it was the wedding of the year in my town. It was so nice to be around my family as well, since everybody got invited and we all got dressed up. There were some tears of joy and love and the party was on that night!! And since we are dutch we went home on the bike, me in my dress and heels, which wasn't the most comfortable thing to drive a bike in, but I managed.

The next day it was time for PERU!!!! With a little hangover back in the car to the airport where I met my Belgium friend Wouter. We took the KLM flight directly to Lima, the flight wasn't full at all, since we were traveling on a standby ticket as well. While we were on our way to the gate, Wouter thought it would be nice to spray some perfume, clever as Wouter is, he sprayed the perfume on his standby ticket and all the ink was gone, let's hope we still could get on the flight, haha. The crew of KLM were so nice and we had such a good flight, we slept, drank, watched movies and we laughed most of all. That's actually what we did on the entire holiday, we laughed so hard we almost cried. Just before we were landing into Lima we could see the sunset going over the Andes mountains, which was beautiful. We took a taxi to a hostel we read about in the lonely planet. By the time we wanted to go for a bite we ran in two Australians who seemed pretty drunk, that's why we asked where they went, because we wanted to go to the same place. Turns out there was a food festival going on by the beach, and we decided to have a look as well. The food was so good, we had some pork from the barbecue, in Dutch we would say 'it's like an angels peeing on your tong', sounds better in Dutch though... 

The next day we had to fly to Cusco to be on time for our Inca Jungle Track. On the site where we booked our standby tickets to Cusco it showed us that there was still loads of space available, however, once we got to the counter they told us there was only one spot left.... Oeps... But, we both got on the last two seats (thank god sometimes people don't show up or are late for their flights) so that we can get on. We even got a drink and a snack on the flight, winning!!! Cusco is located at 3500 meters above sea level, where the air is dry and low of oxygen. Normally people go to Cusco a few days before to acclimatize to the height. Wouter and I thought we would be fine (since we are in the air most of the time as well), but once we went for dinner in the centre and walked back up to the hostel, we both had to catch our breath, because we got dizzy and light headed. The company of the tour was picking us up at 4am!!! So we went straight to bed, no party today. We changed our big backpacks to our smaller ones, because during the next 4 days we had to carry them everywhere. Minimize was the key! And if there's one thing now I'am good at, it's packing my bags. I went once on a skiing holiday for a week with just hand luggage!

The first day of the track we were going to mountain bike for 55 kilometers, all the way from the one of the highest points in Cusco all the way down to 2000 meters. The view was really cool, so many mountains and you could even see the start of the Amazone as well. We wore so much protection because we were going 55/60 kilometers per hour at one point. Normally after the mountain biking we could take a bus to the next village, however, because the farmers decided to organize a strike all over Peru we had to walk about 15/16 kilometers to move from one village to the other, they blocked the roads. Once we finally got to our hostel for that night we had to change in 15 minutes because we were doing the rafting as well. By this time we were so tired, but we already paid so there we go again... The rafting was so cool, and pretty wild as well. never done something like that before. 

Dinner and lunch every day was 4 courses, good thing Wouter and I love food, at one point the others gave us their plates because they didn't like it. But if you burn around 2500 to 3000 calories a day you need to eat enough to stay strong. Day 2 was hiking day like there was no tomorrow, 9 hours in total. I have never walked so much in my life! While we were walking we had a few stops as well, our guide knew so much about the jungle and the plants and surroundings, which was really interesting what nature has to offer. We tried mandarins, avocado's, cherry tomatoes and even termites, yes those really small insects, they tasted okay actually, like a sesame seed. We had a stop where our guide told us about how they make coffee and how the inca's used to life and used their resources, and also about the coca leaves. Some people didn't know what they make of coca leaves, which was pretty funny once they found out and realized they have been eating them for days in a row. We also tried the traditional clothes and even tried to do their traditional dance. Still didn't decide yet if it's Facebook proof. 

That night we got introduced as well with the Inca Tequila, and also the way they present it (def not facebook proof). That night was the only night we could go out for a bit, since the alarm went of at 7 instead of 3.30/5/6! We ended up doing karaoke and salsa dancing the night away. Day 3 arrived and we started with zip lining, 5 times in total from one side to the other. It was so nice, but you also felt pretty powerless, just hanging by a cable and hoping you will get to the other side safe and sound. After the zip lining we had to hike again for about 3/4 hours! In-between we had lunch somewhere in the jungle where we had the best guacamole I ever tasted in my life. I think Wouter and I had around 3 each, oh yeah! While the others walked to Aguas Calientes (the town at the bottom of the Machu Picchu), we decided to have another little hike to this waterfall. The guide told us that we might even see a bear and told us what to do if we actually would see one, you know what we saw, one bird and that's it!!! The waterfall was beautiful though and definitely worth it, but no bears. That night I fell asleep at dinner, all the nights were so short and we did so much during the day that I reached my breaking point, all I could think of was sleeping and I got pretty grumpy as well, which is not like me to be grumpy. 

The 4th and final day was THE day we would climb Machu Picchu! We left the hostel at 4am to be early at the bridge, the bridge to the Machu Picchu would open at 5am and then you could walk up. But there would be a line so the earlier we would arrive at the bridge the better it would be. Normally people take around 1 hour to climb the Machu Picchu and do those 1800 steps, but since I got a bit competitive and wanted to pass by everybody and be the first to arrive, we did it in 40 minutes and we were 6th and 7th to be on the top! Which is pretty impressive if I may say so, since we started in the queue as 25th! Once the whole group got on the top we had a tour around the Machu Picchu of about 1.5 hour. Which was really interesting, even though we were so sweaty and tired of walking up and so fast.  Later the guide told us, yes so after the tour you guys are going to climb that mountain, there were two mountains, one really high one and the other one a bit smaller. We thought he was joking so we started laughing and then he told us, no you actually are climbing that one as well. We asked him, how many more steps would that be? Guess what he said 2400 extra!!!!! Wouter and I looked at each other and we dropped our jaws, we were speechless. We decided to first have a proper breakfast before we would start. We told each other, lets just see how it goes and if we are tired we can always come down. However, later while we started to walk we told each other we are both to stubborn to give up so we knew we were going to climb all the way, no discussion about it. and WE DID IT, 3061 meters high! The view was stunning and priceless. This was the moment we waited for, for 4 days, this was the price! We did it, not thinking that we had to go down as well..... Which sounds easier then it was. Normal stairs you can walk down super easily, not this time, the steps were big, small, smaller and high and low, so you really had to concentrate that you would not fall down or even fall down sideways from the mountain itself. Once down, we realized that we got burned really bad and all we wanted to do was have a beer and eat. So that's what we did! The state of my feet was absolutely disgusting, don't think I have seen them dirtier then that. But so worth it! The train back to Cusco was about 3.5 hours, and once we sat down we felt how burnt we were, therefore we ordered a cold bottle of wine, just to cool down... And drink maybe. Next to use were two Mexican ladies of around 40/45 years old, they were laughing at us because we used the bottle of wine to cool down our necks. Then we started talking, and they told us that she already wanted to do Machu Picchu for 20 years, but all those years she couldn't go, so she was so happy she did it. That made me realize how lucky Wouter and I are that we just could take all those flights for so cheap, and don't have to save our whole lives to do something like climbing the Machu Picchu. We just did it. It was so rewarding, but I don't think I would do it again, it's really demanding for your body, and with no training it was hard.

Wouter and I decided that we would stay two more nights in Cusco before heading back to Amsterdam, stay there one more night and then fly back to the sandpit. First we thought we would go to Bolivia and see the salt fields, but we just couldn't. All the hiking, early nights and soreness in our legs, we basically couldn't go anywhere else. I hardly could walk the stairs up to our suite room. We stayed in a hostel but we just wanted to have a little more privacy and just be able to walk around in our underwear, by this time Wouter and I are pretty comfortable with each other, if you know what I mean. It was funny because the next day, we had breakfast at the rooftop terrace and these Australians asked if they could go to our toilet and once they got in they were like wajooooooooooooooow, this is so massive, and that all for just 30 dollars a night, however they were traveling on a low low lowwww budget, so this was heaven for them, haha. 

During our hike at Machu Picchu we met a Dutch couple and they would come to our hostel for a bite and a drink, however afterwards Wouter was so tired that he went to bed earlier, I stayed out for a bit longer and then had to mentally prepare myself to walk up to the 4th floor, again. The next day we sorted out our tickets back home, and after a 12 hour night Wouter had another nap of 3 hours! Our last night in Cusco we went for dinner in the city centre, and the food again was amazing, so much flavor and those cocktails were just the best. As we walked back to the hostel we ran into an Englishmen I met that day, so him and me decided to have a few drinks at the bar, Wouter was the party pooper (again, just kidding Wouter)and went to bed, 6 hours later I went to bed as well, so much fun always at an Irish bar. It was time to start our journey back to Amsterdam. The flight back to Lima was  pretty full, but we got on, since everything went so smooth our entire holiday. The flight back to Amsterdam as well, the crew was so nice and we had a whole row for ourselves. Then my dear daddy picked us up from Schiphzl (we came out in our matching alpaca sweaters, and even the ground staff looked funny at us, we didn't care) and we stayed one night with my parents. We woke up at 2pm!! Day gone.... We went to the beach for a bit and then we headed to my favorite restaurant in The Hague, where they have the best spareribs you have ever tried in your entire life! Such a good way to end a perfect holiday. 

Sometimes it's definitely not where you are, but it's all about who you were with. Thanks to Wouter this holiday has been the best yet. We laughed so much, and we also took care of each other. This was really our holiday and these photos just give an impression of how much fun we had. So grateful to call him my friend. We will talk for years about this holiday and it has been such an amazing experience, which the Machu Picchu as a highlight. Another world wonder ticked from the list! 

Can't wait for our next trip, which will be our skiing holiday in March... Thank you Peru for your hospitality, definitely worth going, the people are so nice and the food is just amazing. Can't believe it went so fast as well, guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun !!