Netherlands

My little heart thief!

Having to go from Huahine to the main island Tahiti,

I left on Sundayafternoon…. thanks to a very lousy lay-over in L.A. and another one (not quite as bad) in Washington, it took me three days to travel halfway around the world. And all of that just to get my heart stolen! Off course it was great to be met at the airport by my family (that includes you Fem ), but arriving home was even better. As soon as my sister-in-law handed me my beautiful little niece, the little sleep and long trip were completely forgotten. What a little heart thief! Two seconds sleeping on my lap and I was sold

Just being home, seeing my brother & his wife´s new hotel & restaurant, holding my niece and catching up was a huge treat after almost a year. But then my brother opened up the champagne, followed by the family dinner of ´boerenkool met worst´. Such an exciting and emotional day was followed by the little surprise of Guid & Fien spoiling me with one of their hotelrooms. A decent, clean, soft bed (in a beautiful room to myself) …. I slept like a rock!

On Fridaynight I had dinner with my girlies & their sweethearts. And after the initial hugs and when the girls had discovered each and every on of my chubbies, Tan treated us to a delicious meal (thanks Tan – highly apreciated by a backpacker). Unfortunately for my friends the stories now started coming, so I spent most of the dinner boring them with all my stories!

The rest of my stay home (apart from having spent a few relaxed first days at Guid & Fien´s) was one big mix of trying to see everybody and rushing from one place to another. Despite my rushing & stressing (a completely forgotten concept to me) I have not been able to see everybody, sorry about that!

When time had almost come to leave again, all my girlies came together for a goodbye dinner at my favorite little restaurant ´Elkaar´, where Gijs immediately popped open the champagne upon our arrival. A great start to a fantastic evening (although I´m not so sure Gijs will ever let a bunch of girls who haven´t seen eachother in a year into his place again ) The goodbye´s were easier this time, cause after 11 months another 7 really isn´t that much!

Being back home also meant a peak into the future, realising that the life I´ve left behind is not what I wanna go back to, how much travelling has changed my mindset and how hard I will have to work to rebuild my life in the Netherlands, did give me it a little reality check. I left home with food for thinking and mixed feelings. Sad to leave my family & friends again (but also realising more then ever that out of sight sure doesn´t mean out of heart), but also glad to be going back to the enjoyable pace of a traveller´s life in which I will have plenty of time to figure out what I want from the future. And of course also slightly sad that the next time I will see my little heart thief, she will probably be able to walk (can I take her with me please)!

But it was well worth it, it felt great to hold family and friends close again!