The World As I See It

I had destination Auckland for one reason: The wedding of my friends Matt (Kiwi) and Mariska (Dutch). I’ve known Mariska since our teens when her family was showing up every summer at the same French campingsite in the Rhone-Alpes as my family did. We formed a tight group together with Rick, a childhood friend whose family I grew up with. Our families did those holidays together for long weeks that never seemed to end and I’ve spent at least two years of my life in that region of France.

Mariska and I wrote a letter to the camping owners in 1999, stating that we were dissatisfied with the service of the Dutch help and that we thought we could do much better. The owners accepted and we spent a legendary summer hitch-hiking to France, working at the campingsite and spending our hard-earned money afterwards when we found people willing to take us to Spain. We’ve connected with so many people that I still get questions about her from random people when I occasionally visit the camping owners every few years.

Mariska moved to New Zealand in 2004, found Matt and I visited them in 2005. The three of us spent a great time exploring the South Island and shortly after that Matt proposed to her. It took 11 years and two beautiful daughters to finally get married and it was a magical sunny day in a lush vineyard estate.

Our friend Rick was supposed to join us here and explore the North Island with me. Sadly, his mum was sick and things changed for the worse. She was a very sweet woman who was always there for us, who taught me a lot about life and I will miss her dearly. In one of those weird coincidences of life, the funeral was at the same day as the wedding. As she had told me she wanted me to continue the trip that I had planned for so long, I did not return to the Netherlands but not without long hesitation.

Mariska’s wedding was as beautiful as it should be, she asked me to be bridesbuddy, her husband Matt had asked his sister to be best woman, slightly untraditional but fun. During the ceremony, I recited the poem All I Really Need To Know I learned In Kindergarten from Robert Fulghum. See the link here.

I feel very lucky to be able to make this trip after many years of anticipation but it is hard to not be there when people close to me are having a hard time, are receiving bad news or getting ill. I can only hope that some of my stories will at least make some of you smile or brighten your day.

On the last day of a three-day visit to Dubai it is safe to say that my previously uninformed opinion on the city has markedly improved. I had not planned to be here for more than 10 hours in transit but an expensive one-way ticket and a very helpful lady at Ebookers allowed me to make a last-minute change to my itinerary virtually without cost.

I met up with my friend Milana who lives in Dubai and through her got a taste of the city dynamics. After roaming around in the enormous Dubai Mall for a few hours she took me outside to the lake covering the space between the mall and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. At 6pm sharp a large amount of powerful fountains started to shoot up water and move to the tune of Arabic music. It was a mesmerising sight and because it only lasted two minutes, it also served as one of those reminders not to experience too much of life through a lens.

The shopping mall itself held a dining concept that I had not seen in Europe before. The place was called Shakespeare & Co and had a menu of reasonably priced international and local dishes in an enjoyable Victorian England setting with many colourful chairs and couches. As a bonus they served a varied all day breakfast, indispensable for the jetlagged traveller. I think this concept would do really well in Europe. For an impression, see the link to the company website.

I’d really like to revisit Dubai some other time as I only got a glimpse of the nice beaches and cultural sites. I make it a habit to try the best fish restaurant in every country that I go to but that plan went nowhere on the last day after the taxi-driver dropped us off at a remote and completely wrong location. We ended up in an overpriced tourist trap but the weather was nice, the company good and the view of the beach and Burj Al Arab hotel was magnificent. Of all the buildings in Dubai I like this the most and it is not hard to see why they market themselves as the only seven-star hotel in the world. Enough to do next time!

Welcome!

This is the last week of preparations for my long awaited trip around the world. I’ll be gone for a whopping two-and-a-half months. Arguably this is not much for the professional world traveler out there, but it’s pretty damn much if you are also planning to return to your job.

I’ve set up this site so everyone can follow what I am doing (at least those that want to). If you’re here by accident or you don’t know me, that’s fine! Travel blogs have helped me find some hidden gems in countries I have visited and hopefully I can return the favour to someone.

Because I’ve been doing a Bachelor’s in Computer Science for the past years, I thought I should keep practising and make a website myself. Let me know if you like it and feel free to comment on it or ask for additional items. For the experts: I’ve used the WordPress Twenty Fifteen theme and adjusted it with custom CSS.

Looking forward to the coming months!

Chris