When I left the Netherlands on the 28th of February 2014 I was determined to not be coming back for a long time. The world was a my feet and I was going to walk all over it. I have seen the world, from one corner to the other, have had amazing holidays that I would never dream of doing in the first place, but it is time for the next chapter in my life and with every bone in my body I know I am making the right decision.
It is hard to try to recap a wonderful and mostly a dreamy past 4 years in one blog, one sentence or even with a million pictures. Because you cannot. Going through my previous blogs, photo albums I have realized how much I have grown as a person, and my closet will definitely agree with that. The world has been my shopping centre, and let me be honest I have shopped a lot in the past years. I have a closet to say AMEN to for the rest of my life, wore dresses to the most extravagant parties, and I was never but then I mean NEVER underdressed, with a proud smile on my face haha.
Why am I going back to the Netherlands I can hear people thinking... And I will tell you in all honesty. Sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone for a while to see other places and to understand and most of all appreciate the place you are coming from. I will tell you this, the Netherlands is not a bad place to live in. We take care of everybody, our healthcare, education, infrastructure, work field and most of all our quality of life is just amazing. And as well I just really miss my bike. So long story short, I appreciate having all these experiences from all over the world to learn that my heart belongs to the Netherlands, and hopefully a nice dutch man as well. I do want to settle down one day, get married and have kids and I know I don't want them in Dubai. It's just not for me. I have seen families that are extremely happy here and that's fine as well, but not for me.
I am so excited to spend the summer with my friends and family at home before I start my new chapter, more about that when I have more information to tell you guys.
My last month in Dubai has started, and I was thinking about things you have to do before you leave, but actually that list is not even that long, just need to find a date who takes me out for an afternoon tea/champagne at the Burj al Arab and then that's it, me done. Oh and of course I will have one last house party before I go, let's see what will happen this year. This years theme is, you either have to come as something that starts with a M or a L, since I am Merel Loomans haha!
I will fly out to the Netherlands on the 1st of July, it's getting real now. My last flights will be Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Brussels and my last last flight will be an amazing Cairo turnaround, haha of course they would give me this, but ey what to do, at least I can finally say what's been on my mind for the past 4 years...
I mention this all the time, but the people in Dubai made my expat adventure even more memorable then it would be without each and everyone of them, and again so grateful for all these special human beings, I did make friends for life and I will always take me with them in my heart.
I will end this blog with my number one motto by famous writer Mark Twain;
"In 20 years from now, you regret more the things you didn't do then the things you did do."
