The Netherlands

Well it seems I have written this before, but this is now my last week in Europe again, before heading back to Asia. It was a nice 2 months here with Tan, got to see a few more places in Europe that I missed the first time, so that was good, and I am now well rested and eager to go to a new place.

Not too much has been going on the last week, just helping Tan get her apartment packed up, and then we are off to Bangkok for a while, and hopefully will get to travel around that area some more as well.

I leave May 1st, but April 30th is the Queens Birthday, so it's a big celebration here in Holland, which should be interesting to witness, there will be some parties the day before as well, and I imagine everyone will be wearing orange, the color of Holland. Did you know the carrot was originally White, but some Dutch guy made it orange instead? A little interesting trivia fact for you!

I'm certainly looking forward to the hot weather, although the weather here hasn't been too bad of late, a lot better than back home in Calgary, where it is still snowing!! Keep warm!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well today is the first day of Spring. Already the flowers are starting to bloom here, especially the famous tulips! However this week the weather has been quite crappy, rain, hail, and wind. Which has made for a pretty uneventful week. Just been finalizing the plans for my moms visit. It was actually quite an involved process finding best flights and routes to take, and booking rooms to stay, and this was only for 21days. I could only imagine what it's like planning 3 months in Europe down to the day. Lots of people do that, while I guess it leads to some sense of comfort while you are travelling that you don't have to plan where you are going next, it also puts a rush on things, and if you happen to enjoy a place, or find something you want to see that you didn't know about you. You can't as your hands are tied.

It also reminds me how busy Europe is, it was often difficult to find rooms in some places like Venice, Rome, and Paris, and it is only April, not the high season yet!

I am looking forward to getting on the road again, this weekend me and Tan are taking a little road trip to Brussels, Belgium, and perhaps to Luxembourg, so that will be nice, hopefully the weather gets a tad bit nicer soon!

Happy Early Easter!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well a month in Delft has gone by, time seems to be going by really quickly, not sure where all the time is going, but the days fly by, and not sure why! I haven't been doing a whole lot this week, been planning for when my mom arrives so she can get in some of the sights of Europe in the short time she is here, it will be a fast paced trip, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Rome, Athens, and then back for a few days in Delft to see the Tulips in Holland. Should be an interesting trip, I have been to all those places except Athens, perhaps a 2nd look at each place I will see stuff I didn't see before.

Other than that not a whole lot to report, the weather has been rather wet, cold, and windy. We went to Amsterdam for an evening out last weekend, it was fun, a little tough taking the hour train back to Delft after numerous beverages, but for busy nightlife it has to be done, as there is not much other than pubs here in Delft. We are going out here in Delft on Saturday, for one of Tan's friends birthdays, and for St. Patrick's day, which falls on the 15th this year, because of the holy week. I played with the idea of going to Dublin for St Patrick's day, but it was rather expensive, just to drink Guinness with some Irish. It would have been fun I think though!

Want to wish my mom and brother happy birthday's as well, both celebrated them this week, and it was the first time I was not there for them, kind of strange.

Posted by Jason Willock

It is hard to believe that one year ago today, I got the terrible news while I was in a rain forest in Brazil that my Dad had suddenly passed away. Certainly the roughest few days of my life, making the trek back home.

I think about him often, I hear or see things that remind me of him, and sometimes when I say one of his witty little phrases, I smile to myself., So I write this short little tribute to him, I would like it to be longer, but writing it is difficult..

I wish I could be with family now. But I am lucky to have Tan, so I am not alone. I also have exciting news that my mom is coming to Europe to visit, and we will see some of the sites together, so that will be nice!

Miss you Dad!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well my first week in the Netherlands has gone by, unfortunately I don't have a whole lot to report. Just been trying to settle back in to stationary life, and to living with someone.. I got a cold a few days ago, and it's been tough to shake! Put a damper on the weekend festivities, which is a shame, as there was a Blues Festival here in Delft. Did manage to go out on Saturday night for dinner and drinks with Tan, and some of her expat friends, that are members of a little social network of people who get together occasionally, it is nice since they all speak English.. The pub we went to was quite nice, except for the smoke factor, still not smoke free here, that happens in June, and I am pretty sure 90% of the people in the pub were smoking, and there was no ventilation what so ever, it made my already sore throat even worse, so we only stuck around for a couple hours, then promptly put our clothes in the washing machine when we got home..

It has been nice just relaxing here, other than the cold.. My brother commented on how I got the cold after I decided to stop travelling and take it easy, perhaps my body put it's guard down, either that or coming to a chilly climate with only warm weather clothes, may have been an issue. But I have bought some warm clothes, hopefully it starts to warm up soon! Although the weather has been nice for Northern Europe I guess, pretty sunny, and reaching 10 or so, but sometimes can get down to -3 or so at night, with high humidity and wind that does make it rather chilly! Not as cold as back home in Calgary.. I have also enjoyed doing some cooking here, something pretty rare to do while travelling.

Tan has some business trips to go on in Germany & France in the next couple weeks, so I will tag along on those, and get to see some more of the country, plus finally get to drive on the Autobahn, too bad it will be in a Fiat Stilo, and not a Porsche, or something speedy, but better than nothing I guess! In the meantime I am trying to brainstorm on a few ideas we have on a couple projects, but it's a little slow going for the time being, but hopefully I will have a revelation soon!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well a few more days have passed, and I have been enjoying the relaxing time in The Netherlands.

It has been very nice staying with my new friend Tan at her nice apartment in Delft. She works during the day, so I tend to sleep in a bit, but then I spend the afternoons going out and about, and then we spend the evenings together. Yesterday I went to Rotterdam, a nice port city, it is more relaxed than Amsterdam, lots of nice architecture, pubs and coffee shops to enjoy.

I am writing this as I take a train to Antwerp Belgium for the day, it is just a two hour train ride, so will be a nice day trip, I have heard nice things about Antwerp.

I amazed at the number of bikes here in Netherlands, outside the train station it is a mass of bikes, you can tell some of them have been there for ages though. The landscape is fairly flat, a good chunk of it is even below sea level. The Amsterdam airport is 5 meters below sea level. That is what all the canals and locks are for, to keep the land dry. It is fairly amazing.

The food here is ok, I think there are more Argentinean steak houses here than in Buenos Aires! Also a large number of Indonesian restaurants as there is a fairly large population of them here. It is a big melting pot of cultures here, which makes for an entertaining place.

I am looking forward to my last weekend here, but it will be sad to leave, but I am sure me and Tan will meet up again somewhere.

Monday I am off to Bratislava Slovakia to meet up with another new friend Robert. I will be staying wit him for a few nights in a small city that I can't recall the name of at the moment. Then we are off to Prague for the weekend, which should be great fun.

I will upload some photos soon!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well I have survived Amsterdam, that is one crazy city. Lots to see, from old cathedrals, great art museums and of course the Red Light district, which was even more insane than I had imagined. Coffee shops where people sit around and smoke weed, and then of course women in little rooms with glass doors trying to get you to come visit them. Certainly something to be seen, but 3 nights there were enough, I slept in until noon today just catching up on sleep. Went to a pretty cool 4 floored night club Saturday night, danced up a storm.

I behaved myself pretty good there, still had fun, and it was amusing to watch all the drunk brits roaming around the streets, apparently they are not overly popular with the locals. I could just imagine being a police officer in that city, the things they must see!

I went to the Rijk Museum in Amsterdam, one of the better art museums I have been to, lots of Van Gogh, and Rembrandt. The Sex Museum was also rather interesting, lots of bizarre stuff in there. We were going to go to Anne Franks house, but the line for it was massive, and from the outside it didn't look very exciting.

Now I am in a smaller little city called Delft, it seems quite nice and laid back, I haven't explored it yet, but will after this update! Delft is known for it's Delftware (Pottery and what not)

Had pretty good seafood dinner in The Hague last night, pretty nice city on the ocean, water looked cold, but people were still swimming in it, the temperature was only like 18 so I can't imagine it would be warm, I guess I am just a wuss when it comes to cold

Now I just have to decide how long I should stay in the Netherlands before heading over to Slovakia, I can't believe July is almost over, time is just flying by, but I guess that is to be expected when you are having fun.

Posted by Jason Willock