Can I turn 25 forever?

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog, and much happend since then. I had a lovely Barcelona flight, but the crew wasn't the best. You know sometimes you work with people and they have the same work vibe as you and sometimes you fly with people and they are the opposite. Oh well, you can't like everybody you work with right. Pretty hard to like 24.000 people!

The best thing about my job is that I can visit my friends all over the world. I met up with my old roommate Sarah in Hamburg. It is so nice to meet up with friends because then it doesn't feel like working sometimes, it feels like a little holiday, catching up with some good food and maybe even a cheeky glass of wine. After Hamburg I decided to go to the Netherlands for the weekend and spend it with my best friend Nikie in Groningen, which is a city in the north. However things didn't really turned out the way they were supposed to. After mom picked me up we went to the beach for a few hours and while I stood up I became dizzy and started shivering. We went home because I just didn't feel well enough to go for dinner with my parents and my brother and his fiancé. We had dinner at home and went to bed early. I hardly slept because I just wasn't feeling myself and couldn't fall asleep and when I did I was dreaming strangely. At 7am I went downstairs, covered in sweat and as white as a piece of paper, my mom checked my temperature and I had 39.6 degrees celsius, my normal temperature is 36.4, so you can imagine why I wasn't feeling well. Had to call Nikie that I couldn't go to Groningen, my whole body was in pain and I could hardly stand on my own two legs, let alone being in a train for 3 hours while it's 30 degrees outside. I was in pain, my stomach was hurting and my lower back. Saturday and Sunday I stayed in and mom gave me many tablets to decrease the high fever, however, it wasn't going down. First thing on Monday morning we did was going to the doctor, it took so much energy out of me to go in the car and sit at the doctors, all I did for the past days was lay down and try to sleep. Within 30 seconds the doctor told me I had a kidney infection and she prescribed me some strong antibiotics for 7 days. But I was supposed to go back to work the next day, but not a chance I could go on a flight, not even a chance they would accept me on the flight in the first place. The doctor wrote a sick note that I had to send to my manager and then I stayed for another 7 days at home. Because I had such high fever a few times a day I started shivering because my body barely could take it, it looked like I had an epileptic reaction each time. My mom used to work in the hospital so I was so happy to be home and that my parents could take care of me, and my mom just stayed calm. If I would be anywhere else I would have been in the hospital, a kidney infection is very dangerous. Because of the fever and pain as well I didn't want to eat, I was too sick, but I had to. In that week I lost 3/4 kg, and if you only weight 51 in the first place that's a lot. But it could have happend anywhere, I am so glad it happend while I was at home and my mom could take care of me, so grateful for that. She even said that if it happend in Dubai she would have flown to me, how sweet !!! When I feeling a bit better I went back home to recover then for another few days and see the doctor here. So many of my friends came by to cook for me, because I had to gain weight and get stronger to get better. In those times you realize who your real friends are, and men I ate a lot, so don't worry I'am back at my normal weight !!

My first flight after my sickness was Amsterdam again as well. Think I have never been in the Netherlands so many times in one month. It felt good to work again and get in the flow of having energy, sleep normal and be able to do something again. When you normally have so much energy and then all of a sudden it's gone it's hard to adjust, you want so many things but you just can't, you have to listen to your body. This all happend in June, and June is also my birthday month !! I was turning 25 and that has to be celebrated big. I had the days off from work and I could be anywhere in the world to celebrate it but I decided, after everything that happend already this year I wanted to be with the people I love, so it was going to be a dutch birthday in the garden at my parents house! Mom and dad were already preparing for days before I came, all healthy and happy this time. The weather was absolutely amazing, it was 25/26 degrees and the party was as beautiful and amazing as the people who came to the party!!

Old neighbours came to the party, people who saw me growing up, my parents friends who are all family to me as well. About 40/45 people came to this dutch bbq party, because that's how we do it. Amazing food from the bbq, nice salads, and of course a good glass of beer or wine !! We even played some beerpong!

Boys against the girls !!!! 

What a beautiful day it was ! Even some of my friends I met in Dubai came to celebrate!!! <3 My friend Juul came with a piñata for me to hit at 11pm. All I could hear was my mom saying, do not let go of the hockeystick. It would be a typical Merel thing to let go and let the hockeystick go through the window.

It already feels good to be 25, can't wait for the exciting years to come, they say between 25 and 35 are your best years, and I am already having so much fun, so bring on the next 10 years !! After this incredible party it was time to go back to work... However I felt I needed to throw one last 25th birthday party in Dubai for my friends here. I had a Bangkok Sydney trip first with the best crew I had since 3.5 years flying all over the world ! In Bangkok we went to the Hangover bar, and wow that one is definitely worth going to one day !!

So much for a quiet night in Bangkok, why can that never happen?! I went out till 5 in the morning with the pilots in some Thai clubs with cute little Thai ladies who were very interested in the men I was with, it was hilarious !! After Bangkok it was time for Sydney where I was meeting my friend Cameron, who I met in Croatia during yacht week, lives in Hongkong, met up there twice, he came to Dubai once and he's originally from Sydney, where we were meeting this time, now that's what they call international friendship !! After this amazing trip I had 2 days to organize my house party! I decided to make it a themed party so everybody had to dress up in sports clothes !! I was cooking and preparing for 2 days as well, from homemade quiche, little sausage rolls, jelly shots, pineapple baileys ice cream and getting all the party props ready in the living room. I will tell one thing, NEVER AGAIN! Lost glasses, chocolate cake went in my face and then the cake went flying through the sky and landed on the wall, somebody decided to make a handstand in the middle of the room where a picture frame fell down, apparently somebody was walking naked through the staircase which they saw on the cameras, but it was definitely worth it, but never again haha!

At least even the security had a good time watching the cameras of sumo wrestlers walking in and out! Good thing I could relax in Mauritius after this party, and after I cleaned the whole house!! 

June 2017 is definitely a month to remember, from being very sick to celebrating my 25th birthday in the garden in the Netherlands, and having a rememberable house party, where we will talk about for a long time !!

Even writing this blogs and seeing those photos again give me a big smile on the my face, a big thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special, love you all to the moon and back <3 And a specials thanks to my amazing parents who made it possible for me to have my party in the garden!!

San Francisco

FINALLY San Fran was on my roster. Nienke used to live in San Fran and hearing her stories I was even more excited to go and see this beautiful city for myself. Once I entered the briefing room I started talking to this English girl called Emily, and she's hilarious and super sweet. Then another girl entered the briefing room and I already flew with her twice, we did the Rio trip together and we met 3 years ago on a Zurich layover. It's always so nice to fly with people you already know, makes a big difference. It's not that you know each other for years and years, but you don't have to talk about all the basic stuff. It was also Emily's first time to San Fran so we already decided that we would rent a bike and cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once we arrived to the hotel after our 15 hour flight, we weren't that tired and the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to change and go straight to the city with Emily, Elisse and Marcus, all business class crew. We took the train from the airport and it took us about an hour to get into the city, where from there we took one of those old trams to go to Fishermans Wharf. Going through the city in the tram we really had a good few how the city looks and what kind of people live there. And to be honest with you, I was surprised about the people that walk around the city, many homeless people and many, sorry to say, weird people. By weird I mean VERY weird, we saw a guy with one big tooth begging for money, a lady crossing the street with her hair all messed up, as if everybody was either high or on drugs. We stopped with the tram a few stops before Fishermans Wharf to see Lombard Street. Lombard Street is famous to be the most steep street, with 8 hairpin turns.

From there we walked to the shops and restaurants and had some seafood before heading to a Speakeasies. Speakeasies are places where in the '20s people went to, to go for a drink since it was prohibited in those early years. One of the passengers on the flight told me about this bar called Bourbon & Branch, he told me that you need a password to get in, so why not check it out. If you didn't know it was there, you would just pass by, the bouncer was just standing outside and I couldn't WAIT to tell him the password, I felt so cool haha. The password was 'books', since the inside of the bar looks like a library. We had one cocktail and then headed back to the hotel, by this time we were all tired and awake for a long time, also alcohol makes you sleepy then. Once we got back to the hotel we checked the hotel bar to see if the flight deck were there. Obviously they were and we stayed for another 2 hours in the bar talking to the flight deck, and gosh they were the funniest I had in a long time. The level of conversation went down pretty fast, but that made it even funnier, and men they had some stories, my cheeks were hurting from all the laughter. But we had to get up early again to go back into town and rent the bikes.

Pff, how tired we were the next day and to be fair, a little bit hangover as well. Especially if you drink with experienced drinkers like the flight deck haha, but we had a good laugh. Elisse came with us as well to rent the bikes and go over the golden gate bridge, and again the weather was perfect, and so nice be on a bike again, how dutch am I!

We stopped a few times to take some good photos and then we stopped at Seasalito, which is the first town after the Golden Gate Bridge, and from there you can take the ferry back to San Fran, where you also pass by Alcatraz. The Golden Gate Bridge looked so unreal, you know it from movies and photos but in real life it's just different, but way better and more magnificent.

We brought the bikes back and then went to Pier 39 where you see the seals chilling and sleeping. I have to say, it was pretty funny because they were pushing each other of the floating wooden things. After that we met up with the flight deck again, and shock they were already drinking again for a good 4 hours, so again, I will not mention what the conversations were, but the level wasn't the highest, which is refreshing sometimes then being just with girls and talk about hair and makeup and boyfriends (which is a short conversation on my part haha). They were so nice and they even paid for our drinks, which they didn't have to but it's nice they did. At one point I got so tired and all I wanted to do is go back to the hotel and sleep, for a very longggg time. Which I did, 14 hours to be precise, felt like a reborn woman. Ready for the flight back to the desert.

San Fran, you were amazing and I can't wait to go back, but then on holidays. Great to see and experience such a lovely city with such lovely people, definitely a trip to remember!! <3

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