December 31, 2006

• Sunday 31 December 2006
  Amsterdam, Netherlands

  
  

  

  
  

  And so another year comes to a close. Time for a bit of reflection. 2006, the year that I turned 40. What kind of a year was it?

  
  

  I probably couldn’t summarise the year better than my friend Raymond when he wrote in an email earlier this week “It could certainly be described as your travelling year!” That’s very true. As you may have noticed from the places mentioned in the post titles this year, I did a lot of travelling. This was a record breaking year in many ways. Some figures. I was on a flight 55 times this year, although that does include the one freak-flight that lasted 5 minutes: taking off from Prestwick Airport and landing there again “for security reasons” (undoubtedly the phrase of the year). The number of flights is actually not a record (that was 61 times, in 2003), but it’s definitely an increase on the last two years (both 45 flights).

  
  

  What was exceptional however was the amount of time spent abroad. Of this year’s 365 days I spent 141 entirely or partially abroad, just under 40%. 116 nights, nearly one in three, were slept outside the Netherlands. North America was the top destination. In total I spent 61 days, two full months, in Canada and the US, spread over four trips. The most amazing visit was of course the month long train and plane journey that took me from East to West in the US, and back. A super experience that was an invaluable eye-opener in so many ways. High on the list for next year is a similar trip via different routes. By the way, there were no Trans Atlantic flights last year.

  
  

  Eleven times I flew to my dear friends in Glasgow, slightly less than last year, but the same number as in 2004. Apart from that there were two trips each to Barcelona, Stratford-upon-Avon and Paris, as well as trips to Blackpool, Cologne, London and a holiday in Mykonos (I’m still in touch with Greek guy Panos, whom I met there this year). After years of not having travelled for business, this year suddenly saw 6 business trips, to Canada, to Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK, Paris and Cologne (the latter two by trains, not planes).

  
  

  Not everything went smooth though. A March weekend trip to Paris turned into the worst period this year. I got bitten by bed bugs, about 120 times in fact (but I stopped counting), and those bites got infected when I was home again. What’s more, some of the wretched creatures got into my luggage, so even when I thought I was safe at home again, the horror continued. I had to call in sick at work, something I hate to do, and only after weeks of poisoning my bedroom, was I fairly certain that I had exterminated the last remaining bug. Other vermin was spotted in New York (where there were mice in the hostel room). That hostel is also definitely the worst one I stayed in when they cleared my stuff out of the room (by cutting open my padlock) because they thought I should have checked out. They were wrong, but not apologetic. Best hostel this year must be the San Francisco hostel where I had the great fortune to have spent nearly two weeks this year.

  
  

  I got to see the mightily impressive Grand Canyon, I saw the Queen in London, I walked on historic Santa Monica Pier in California, I was in Silicon Valley for a computer course, I circled in a plane over Manhattan no less than three times, I admired Phyllis and Kathy on Mykonos, I saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa in the Louvre for the first time in my life, I gambled and won in Vegas, I met Ant’s friend Travis in Phoenix. It has been a year with countless great, unforgettable experiences. And then there was the Folsom Street Fair. A couple of times in the last part of the year people told me in a hush-hush sort of voice that they had seen ‘the pictures’. Apparently the FSF did not only make a huge impression on me. It was by far the most bizarre experience this year, but one to be repeated sometime in the future, I’m sure!

  
  

  Travelling has, as in recent years, of course also been tremendously important as a way to stay in touch with friends – talking about Glasgow now, of course. I witnessed how Andy and Colin bought a wonderful new flat and started decorating it in a very tasteful way, and I still have the great privilege of being their guest in their home whenever I’m in Glasgow. I’ve not undertaken any effort to move to Glasgow this year. No application was sent or mailed. Will it ever happen – me packing my stuff and hopping over the North Sea? I really don’t know. I like the job I have now, which also allows me to travel and work part time. Something that will be hard to beat when trying to find a new job in Scotland. But I keep dreaming of it (even last night, literally). Nevertheless, it would be a great miss if I, for whatever reason, would no longer be able to travel to Glasgow. The shows in the theatres, the nights out with Raymond, the bike rides and just spending time with Andy and Colin… I would miss that all very very much.

  
  

  Friends, also here in Amsterdam, have continued to be very important of course. Two of them stopped being my room mates but fortunately continued to be great friends: Ant and BHNM moved to their own place up in the north of the city (look for ‘Arctic Circle’ on Wikipedia). With Ant I chat a lot and even though I don’t see him that often, through chatting I still stay in close touch with him – which is great. And it continues to give me the opportunity to call him a ‘bitch’ or a ‘wanker’ every now and then. These are important things in life, you know. And regular meet-ups with Hanno and weekly with Günter are still highlights of the week. And, less frequent, but not less appreciated or enjoyed, were the evenings and times I spent with Arno, Ian, Pieter and Steve. Friendships, in all kinds, are incredibly important and I consider myself a very lucky man indeed with the friends I have.

  
  

  6,228 pictures were posted on Flickr by me this year, and that’s just a fraction of the actual number of pictures I took (my estimate would be 15,000). That of course is the other passion: photography. I bought a new camera, the Nikon D200, in November, after my old D70 started producing a lot of overexposed pictures. My champion camera this year however is not one of these SLR monsters, but my tiny Sony Cybershot DSC-T3. I only bought it in August last year but it recently clicked its 15,399th picture, that is still of the same quality as the first one. What an excellent little snap-shot camera. Still, I hope that with the D200 I will be able to improve my photography, because, snap-happy as I may be, I am not happy about the results produced this year. Not a single picture stands out to me as excellent, even though of course I had countless great photo-opportunities.

  
  

  And what about next year? Well, believe it or not, but I really hope the number of travels will be less than this year. There’s of course the environmental impact of flying to be considered, and apart from that it is also fairly tiring. I was very happy to be back in Amsterdam after the last trip this year. So I’d like to limit the number of flights and the duration spent abroad just a bit compared to this year. As an average over the last five years (since I’ve been keeping track) I spent exactly one in three days partially or entirely abroad (33.3%). That’s just a bit too bizarre. Sure keeps this blog alive though! Glasgow will absolutely still be my favourite destination and, unless Andy or Colin tell me to sod off, I hope I will still be able to visit them every now and then.

  
  

  I hope that in the New Year I will become less of a selfish person… that I return more to become the person I wanted to be when I was an idealistic guy in his twenties. I’ve become too much a person that I would have dreaded when I was young. I’m not a business man, and the weird thing is that I disagree with the type of business (marketing) that the company I work for practices. I do hope that I have the guts to change my personal life in such a way that there are less things in my life that I do, but that I actually disagree with. What’s that I hear you say? Is that a midlife crisis knocking on my door? Could be. Let’s hope that, in that case, I see it as an opportunity to change a lot of things in my life for the better.

  
  

  The last lines of my blog this year are devoted to you – the readers of my blog. You have no idea how much I appreciate your regular or irregular comments. You are what has kept this blog going for nearly three years now (although the current version goes back only till March 2005) and I really appreciate your continued visits. And for those of you who have their own blogs… It’s been a pleasure reading about what has been going on in your lives. A new house for Jerry, sports achievements for Lesley, a new boyfriend for Arno, a turbulent year for Ant, marriage plans for Peggy, paddling trips with Sean, a dramatic year for Colin, whichever way your year went – thank you so much for sharing your daily life stories!

  
  

  To all: please have a wonderful 2007. I wish you all the joy, happiness, love and good health in the world. Make it a fantastic year.

  • 6:34 am
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