What, where, who?
Door: Yaisa
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Yaisa
13 Maart 2009 | Zwitserland, Bern
Finally some pictures from Antarctica... Just to give you a taste, because ultimately, you just have to go and see for yourself!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94933&id=523210814&l=f5a5c
What have I done, where have I been, who have I seen, since I wrote to you last? The easiest way for me to recount, is to think backwards...
Today I prepared for my departure from Holland. Actually, I feel I haven’t spent enough time in the country to see everybody I wanted to see. Originally, I intended to spend two weeks in my home country, but a long weekend skiing in Switserland shortened my stay in The Netherlands to just a few days. Still, dinner here, too many drinks there... gossip about ABN AMRO here, newborn babies there... I did quite a lot.
And today, I managed to pack for the next part of my trip (fleeces and pullies stay in Holland, bikini’s and spaghetti tops are back in the luggage) and, best of all, I decided to extend my winter trip with another four weeks for a very good reason... Australia is the only continent I was not going to hit in this trip (Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas and Antarctica being part of the original plan) so when Stefano asked me “Will you go to Australia with me?”, there was only one answer possible: Yes, yes, YES! So today I spent hours on end on the phone (thank god for Skype) with Singapore Airlines and Stefano and otherwise online to (re)arrange flights. Four weeks in a camper van driving across Southern Australia, just the two of us... Does that sound like bliss or does that sound like bliss? That I will confirm in a future blog...
Three days ago, we (Siobhan, Kaat, Tiets & I) got back from an excellent long weekend skiing in Verbier. And I mean excellent... We were warmly welcomed by Herve & Valerie, a Swiss couple who were my diving guests when 10 friends from Holland (including the three ladies named above) where also visiting me in El Gouna. So this was kind of a skiing/diving reunion in the Alps. From 30 meters below sea level to 3000 meters above. And just like in Antarctica, the weather Gods were on our side: we had an amazing amount of sun, fun and a damn good work out... Man, can these Swiss ski!!!! For me it was two years ago since I was sliding down the Alpine slopes, but these guys do it every weekend, every season... I am glad I managed to get down the black slopes without looking like a complete idiot and still enjoyed it...
(You can find some sunny snowy pictures on FB!)
On Monday evening, Herve & Valerie had gone home, sadly enough (some people have a job to go to during the week) and us four girls found our way to an apres-ski bar where a Swedish band was playing. I danced, danced, danced and danced, on my ski boots, in my ski pants, stripping off a layer of clothing every hour until I was down to my thermal underwear (not the bottom part of course....) I cannot remember the last time I did that! The campari oranges were uncountable and some random guy hugged me at the end of the evening saying “Wow, you’ve got some dancing energy girl!...” Yes, those were the days...
The five days before Verbier, I was in Holland. Running around totally unorganised, doing last minute shopping and last minute visa runs... My first attempt at getting my visa for China resulted in driving into the street of the Chinese embassy five minutes before closing time, realising I had no picture nor cash with me for the visa application. So I backtracked without even trying. The next day I was more successful, although the mistake of the previous day meant I had to apply for a express visa, since I needed my passport back in time for the trip to Switzerland. Oh well, stupidity has its price...
Five days in Holland were enough for me to eat all my favourite Dutch food: herring here, rookworst there, some filet americain, a bitterbal and let’s not forget the Vietnamese springroll on the Albert Cuijp Market. A quick visit to the hairdresser, several phonecalls to friends to catch up, unpacking the Antarctica backpack and repacking it for the ski-trip, and I was all set to go for the Easy Jet flight to Geneva.
The day I arrived in Holland coming back from Argentina, we had a little Gouna reunion in lady SKO’s apartment. Gounies here, Gounie there, Gounies everywhere... There we were, five people including my mom, who had all been in Gouna at some point in 2008, drinking white wine together in Amsterdam and... comparing new tattoos!!!
Because yes, that is certainly one of the highlights of my trip to Buenos Aires... I got myself scarred for life for the third time... It was bloody painful but oh so worth it! Anyone care to guess what it is and on which body part? Of course those who’ve seen it or I’ve told it to already cannot enter the competition...
Ah, Buenos Aires... The city I lived in 20 years ago and had never gone back to until now... Strangely enough, I did not recognise anything but the street names. Almost every street name rang a bell, but none of the buildings seemed familiar. Except for the building I lived in. I went by and spoke to the very same concierge that was working there when I was a little (yes yes, I still am) girl and he remembered me. And then there was Leonardo, one of my high school sweethearts, who took us out dancing in Palermo. How cool is that, again thanks to Facebook, to be able to trace back these old old friends!!!
Siobhan and I spent three days shopping and drinking in Palermo, one of the hippest and trendiest barrios of Biei (a.k.a BA, a.k.a. Buenos Aires). Casa Rosada? Plaza de Mayo? Evita’s grave? The Obelisk? Museums? Tigre? Boca? Oh well, next time... Don’t cry for me Argentina, I’ll be back!
Next stops? Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore and then... back to where my winter trip began and where I left my heart only to let it be taken down under...
Anyone in in the same place at the same time? Let me know, I would love to hook up with you in some random corner of this wonderful world and toast on the uncountable amazing adventures life is offering us... All you have to do is grab them!
Wishing you lots of travel bugs,
xYx
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94933&id=523210814&l=f5a5c
What have I done, where have I been, who have I seen, since I wrote to you last? The easiest way for me to recount, is to think backwards...
Today I prepared for my departure from Holland. Actually, I feel I haven’t spent enough time in the country to see everybody I wanted to see. Originally, I intended to spend two weeks in my home country, but a long weekend skiing in Switserland shortened my stay in The Netherlands to just a few days. Still, dinner here, too many drinks there... gossip about ABN AMRO here, newborn babies there... I did quite a lot.
And today, I managed to pack for the next part of my trip (fleeces and pullies stay in Holland, bikini’s and spaghetti tops are back in the luggage) and, best of all, I decided to extend my winter trip with another four weeks for a very good reason... Australia is the only continent I was not going to hit in this trip (Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas and Antarctica being part of the original plan) so when Stefano asked me “Will you go to Australia with me?”, there was only one answer possible: Yes, yes, YES! So today I spent hours on end on the phone (thank god for Skype) with Singapore Airlines and Stefano and otherwise online to (re)arrange flights. Four weeks in a camper van driving across Southern Australia, just the two of us... Does that sound like bliss or does that sound like bliss? That I will confirm in a future blog...
Three days ago, we (Siobhan, Kaat, Tiets & I) got back from an excellent long weekend skiing in Verbier. And I mean excellent... We were warmly welcomed by Herve & Valerie, a Swiss couple who were my diving guests when 10 friends from Holland (including the three ladies named above) where also visiting me in El Gouna. So this was kind of a skiing/diving reunion in the Alps. From 30 meters below sea level to 3000 meters above. And just like in Antarctica, the weather Gods were on our side: we had an amazing amount of sun, fun and a damn good work out... Man, can these Swiss ski!!!! For me it was two years ago since I was sliding down the Alpine slopes, but these guys do it every weekend, every season... I am glad I managed to get down the black slopes without looking like a complete idiot and still enjoyed it...
(You can find some sunny snowy pictures on FB!)
On Monday evening, Herve & Valerie had gone home, sadly enough (some people have a job to go to during the week) and us four girls found our way to an apres-ski bar where a Swedish band was playing. I danced, danced, danced and danced, on my ski boots, in my ski pants, stripping off a layer of clothing every hour until I was down to my thermal underwear (not the bottom part of course....) I cannot remember the last time I did that! The campari oranges were uncountable and some random guy hugged me at the end of the evening saying “Wow, you’ve got some dancing energy girl!...” Yes, those were the days...
The five days before Verbier, I was in Holland. Running around totally unorganised, doing last minute shopping and last minute visa runs... My first attempt at getting my visa for China resulted in driving into the street of the Chinese embassy five minutes before closing time, realising I had no picture nor cash with me for the visa application. So I backtracked without even trying. The next day I was more successful, although the mistake of the previous day meant I had to apply for a express visa, since I needed my passport back in time for the trip to Switzerland. Oh well, stupidity has its price...
Five days in Holland were enough for me to eat all my favourite Dutch food: herring here, rookworst there, some filet americain, a bitterbal and let’s not forget the Vietnamese springroll on the Albert Cuijp Market. A quick visit to the hairdresser, several phonecalls to friends to catch up, unpacking the Antarctica backpack and repacking it for the ski-trip, and I was all set to go for the Easy Jet flight to Geneva.
The day I arrived in Holland coming back from Argentina, we had a little Gouna reunion in lady SKO’s apartment. Gounies here, Gounie there, Gounies everywhere... There we were, five people including my mom, who had all been in Gouna at some point in 2008, drinking white wine together in Amsterdam and... comparing new tattoos!!!
Because yes, that is certainly one of the highlights of my trip to Buenos Aires... I got myself scarred for life for the third time... It was bloody painful but oh so worth it! Anyone care to guess what it is and on which body part? Of course those who’ve seen it or I’ve told it to already cannot enter the competition...
Ah, Buenos Aires... The city I lived in 20 years ago and had never gone back to until now... Strangely enough, I did not recognise anything but the street names. Almost every street name rang a bell, but none of the buildings seemed familiar. Except for the building I lived in. I went by and spoke to the very same concierge that was working there when I was a little (yes yes, I still am) girl and he remembered me. And then there was Leonardo, one of my high school sweethearts, who took us out dancing in Palermo. How cool is that, again thanks to Facebook, to be able to trace back these old old friends!!!
Siobhan and I spent three days shopping and drinking in Palermo, one of the hippest and trendiest barrios of Biei (a.k.a BA, a.k.a. Buenos Aires). Casa Rosada? Plaza de Mayo? Evita’s grave? The Obelisk? Museums? Tigre? Boca? Oh well, next time... Don’t cry for me Argentina, I’ll be back!
Next stops? Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore and then... back to where my winter trip began and where I left my heart only to let it be taken down under...
Anyone in in the same place at the same time? Let me know, I would love to hook up with you in some random corner of this wonderful world and toast on the uncountable amazing adventures life is offering us... All you have to do is grab them!
Wishing you lots of travel bugs,
xYx
-
13 Maart 2009 - 04:01
Mir:
You bastard ;) Dit is echt niet te geloven! Misschien kan je nog even bij Cameron langs while you´re there...
XM -
13 Maart 2009 - 06:17
Ben:
In NL wordt het nu ook lente hoor !! Wat een te gekke foto's, heel erg mooi! Geniet..
xx Ben -
13 Maart 2009 - 10:03
Kaat:
Goed plan Mir! Stalk Cameron Yais. ;-) . Lieverd, was goed je weer te zien en ben benieuwd waar onze volgende ontmoeting gaat plaats vinden!
liefs -
13 Maart 2009 - 10:44
Walter:
Just on word: woow!
You're having such a cool life experience since leaving Singapore..amazing fantastic! -
13 Maart 2009 - 11:05
Alex:
Niet waar!!!!
Veel liefs van ons :-) -
13 Maart 2009 - 11:51
Anjo:
Het klinkt weer fantastisch! -
13 Maart 2009 - 12:18
Jori:
Hey Yais,
Seriously, wat een schitterende Antarctica foto's!! En dan fotonummer 33...respect!
Ik zou zeggen geniet lekker van je winter-to-spring trip. Ikzelf ga volgende week even wat van de Franse sneeuw proeven ;-)
x Jori -
13 Maart 2009 - 18:18
Lady SKO3:
Well all i can say is ... yes i know where the aforementioned tattoo is. Willing to provide details to highest bidder at the price of bubbles... bubbles more bubbles... fermented and bottled in Epernay ;)
Yaisa - nice to read my life on blog! My version somewhat the same... she can she can dance everybody is doing the dance and i enjoyed slighly more contact - ok excessively more contact with the snow... ;)
DOWN AND OUT (ook myriam) best trip of my life and one of the best months...
Wir wohlen eisbahren sehen.
SKO -
20 Maart 2009 - 23:36
Onno:
Och ja, ook nog Australië!
Ben helaas niet in de buurt, maar zou jullie romantische tour ook niet snel verstoren!
Geniet er maar weer van!
dit was Onno! -
21 Maart 2009 - 00:05
Onno & Gertrude :
wat: een pinguin!
waar: oei lastig...
Ger -
21 Maart 2009 - 20:40
Maria:
Never a dull moment.....goed om weer van je te horen.
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