Nairobi - Kenya

So I was supposed to go to Paris, but somebody send me a swap for Nairobi. There is a Nairobi turnaround, which is REALLY long, but this was the layover, and I have never been to Kenya before. We were supposed to go with the family years ago but then the civil war was going on, so we couldn't go.

The flight itself was about 4 hours and 15 minutes, so you can imagine that we were very happy we didn't have to fly back that same day another 4 hours. Once we landed in Nairobi we were in the hotel around 10pm. Unfortunately the rooms weren't ready yet so we had to wait, the purser on our flight arranged that we could go to the restaurant in our uniforms and order from the menu, for FREE!

I arranged that we were going on a safari tour the next day and we got picked up at 7am. It was one of those days that you wake up and you completely forget where you are. I set about 5 alarms because I was NOT missing this safari. We were with 7 crew and everybody was in the lobby on time, surprise surprise (normally there is always 1 missing, and 1 overslept).

The national park we went to was only a 15 minute drive away from the hotel, so the park is basically surrounded by the city. As soon as we arrived in the park we saw animals everywhere. From zebra's, antelopes, buffalo's, and then at one point we saw a lioness chilling in the grass looking over at all the animals around her, but the most beautiful thing was that we saw giraffes on the horizon, we saw the long necks going up and down and walking, it was magical! When we drove just a little bit further we saw a rhino in the distance, a bit too far to take a photo, but it was pretty cool. Then we came at this small water place, where we saw crocodiles, hippos, many different birds and ducks, and then we looked up at this tree and we saw an eagle staring over the nature of Africa. what a life he has. We drove around for about 1.5/2 hours in the park, we also saw some white rhinos and more lions, but no action, unfortunately. But still very cool experience, just wish I could have done this with my family.

After the national park we went to the elephant orphanage, and we saw about 28 little elephants who are being raised without their mothers. While they were feeding them they also told us the stories behind these cute elephants, and it was literally heartbreaking, most mother elephants were killed by poachers, and they were left to starve. So sad, and they are just doing such a great job by feeding them en taking care of them. The tour guide lady even told us that they can't sleep alone and at night if they wake up, they check the bed above them, just so they know that their keeper is still with them, and if not, they will cry.... But seeing them so happy drinking the milk and playing with each other in the mud, was very nice to see and experience, even though they were even throwing with mud and I can't clean my shoes and shorts anymore, so I have to ask my mom if she can maybe work her magic.

During the feeding even a baby giraffe came and had a look around with the elephants, and I can she was very excited and kept running up and down, which resulted in a funny video.

After the elephant orphanage we went to the giraffe centre, and men those animals are hugeeeeeee! Beautiful but huge, they gave us small candy so they would come close.

One of the guys told me that if you would put this candy between your lips he would take it out of your mouth and it would look like the giraffe kissed you, and who am I to say no to a kiss from a giraffe. So I did, and apparently the giraffes slime is antiseptic, so it doesn't smell bad or anything.

   After the giraffe centre we went to a local souvenir shop, where I bought a key hanger from Kenya (shock), my collection is still extending! Afterwards we went to a fruit and vegetable shop and I got some mango's, avocado's and really nice grapefruits. Then back to the hotel to have a nap before the flight back to the desert. It was such an amazing experience seeing these animals in the wild and learning a lot about their lives on the African land. Makes me wanna see more of Africa, do a proper 4 day safari and ask for more African flights, because it is a beautiful continent and I finally start to appreciate it as well, and can recommend it to everybody!!!

This one if for Africa <3

MIAMI

Since a few months we started flying to Miami. And Miami is one of those destinations that EVERYBODY wants as well. I got one this months and I couldn't be more excited to go and explore Miami. The flight going was about 14 hours, and trust me that's a long time! Good thing we can sleep on long flights like these, everybody is always very curious how we manage our rest on board. On this flight it was about 4 hours rest, which is pretty good. We got to Miami at 11am and we were in the hotel around 12.30. One of the girls on my flight was my ex flatmate from my Sarab days, and one of our seniors called Sam was from the Netherlands, so we decided to rent a car the next day.

But on the first day Tonia and me decided to take an uber and go to South Beach to see what this is all about. It was also Springbreak, so it was packed on the beach. It all felt like we were in a movie, the police standing around just handing on their cars with the lights on, while people are just passing by the south beach trip in the weirdest clothes, either a bikini and heels on the streets or just the jeans completely open. I even asked the police guys if I could go on the photo with them, because they just looked so cool !!

We had dinner at this Italian place and stayed there just to watch people, with a cocktail bigger then my face. I couldn't finish the cocktail, especially after a 14 hour flight, and yes that is my excuse. The next we contacted the rental car guy and we got a Mustang convertible !!!!! And guess who was driving it... ME ME MEEEEE! It was amazing, hair in the air, the right type of music on and just driving around Florida to go to the Everglades.

We got on an airboat that took us around the mangroves, and we went soooooo fast, that we even had to hold ourselves for not falling of the boat.Then we went to another company where we saw some crocodiles passing the river, and they were BIG! It was just such an amazing day, and it even got better. Got back to the hotel, had about 40 minutes to get ready and head back to South Beach to explore some nightlife of Miami. My friend Anil landed that day in Miami and he has been many times so he was going to take me out. We went to this club called FDL at the Delano hotel, and it was super fancy. I ordered two drinks, and there I was standing with 30 dollars in my hand, and guess what she says, that 56 dollars please. I said, excuse me did you just say 56 dollars? Where she responded, yes, I am really sorry this place is very expensive... Awkward, with my 30 dollars in my hand. Oh well, at least we very much enjoyed that drink, and also the rest of the night. There were some dutch dj's playing and basically almost everybody was dutch in the club, so we could just speak dutch all night, afterwards we went to this club called Basement, and after that I was done, so tired !! Woke up at 6am that day and by this time it was 4am, Merel was out! I did NOT want to leave Miami, especially because Ultra Music Festival just started and I wanted to go, shock xD. But maybe it was for the best I left the next day. The way back the flight was an hour shorter, and so was the break, unfortunately. When I got home I just remembered everything that happened on this trip, and it almost felt like it didn't happen, like it was just a dream. But that only explains that it was amazing and it was so much fun.

Such an amazing trip, one I will be talking about for a very long time, and I have photo's to prove that everything did actually happen in 2.5 days. 

Thank you Miami, and thank you Anil for showing me around, I will be back one day :D 

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!!