Back home with a luggage full of experiences

Hi Y´all,

As sort of a throwback I feel like writing one final blog post to conclude my final experiences in 2017.

What a year it has been, unbelievable! Bungee-jump, Skydive, Marathon, Travelling, and more, all off the bucketlist now.

And I have experienced a new culture in Bali. I got flashbacks to the tenacious Moroccans when I arrived at the airport, but it turned out that Balinese people are actually extremely easy-going people. Very trusting too. If you can not find a scooter to rent, the staff will usually let you use one of theirs without having any of your ID. Not everyone is like that though, the police for example is very corrupt and before we realized it, we had to pay him off. And then to imagine that 10 year old kids ride a scooter without helmets but are all good to go merely because they are locals.

Talking about scooters.... Well, maybe not, it ended literally in the shit. I landed literally in the shit*. There goes my glasses... my faith in myself and self esteem. But besides that little dive, it's pure liberty riding a scooter in a culture like that.

Besides my unlucky dive, I also went out surfing a couple of things and I have to say it went ..... not much better than driving a scooter. But also here, it's such a blast to go surfing with all the backpackers and watch the sunset on the beach afterwards with a Bintang.

Bali is a really good place to backpack around. There are lots of places to go to and all of them are different in their way of life. Literally from surfer-life to yoga-life with massages to sightseeing of temples and rice fields to diving and snorkeling to partying. These 3 weeks I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery and tasted some of the most yummy dishes. And all as cheap as chips.

Unfortunately also Kevin's immune system wasn't strong enough to resist me from getting Bali Belly. Shit! That's what happens when you can't resist the food from night markets.

Thinking back about these days, it's actually been a really active holiday and all by myself. A couple of days got added to my itinerary due to unforeseen circumstances. The volcano kept me from flying back to New Zealand for a bit.

Eventually I got back to New Zealand via the island of Jakarta. The last 2 weeks down under have been the perfect end to my time in New Zealand. These two weeks Han and me had literally all remaining time planned with activities. We went to take a breather at a float session, a little dance at the concert of Sia and ended it perfectly with an overnight stay at a Teepee in Raglan. Magical.

To all good things come an end, so eventually it was time to say goodbye and head back home. Which I honestly also looked forward to so I could see my friends and family again after a year's time. No visits of them this time.

Before I had time to unpack my luggage full of experiences, it was time to take the next flight to Tenerife with the family. Here we stayed a week before we came home again the 31st of December to celebrate NYE with my friends.

I recently found a job position in the Netherlands which suits me very well, so it is time for a little hibernation before I take my bags out of the closet again to head off for my next adventure!

Doei!