These days I am not looking for anything.
All holidays for 2012 are sorted out (sob), also from shopping point of view we are fine (we have the latest useless gadgets)...
So I do not know what to do!!!
Actually there are a few things to be done, but they are boring.... like
- start thinking/preparing the bags for the upcoming sea holiday
- pay the bakfiets
- book the car for Crete (with all the problems around Greece, I am just waiting and watching the events)
- find excursions to be done in Crete... this is normally fun, but it has the drawback of making me feel miserable when I look outside and it is raining
Then... I also would like to go camping coming weekend, but I have the feeling half of myself is planning a surprise and so I need to be patient....
and just in case that same half needs some help, I found a camping in our favourite seaside location in the Netherlands, Vlissingen. Or we could also try a new destination on the sea...
Enough dreaming for now!!!
21 May 2012
17 May 2012
Today's schedule
morning
- clean and order the house
afternoon
- big shopping
to the hague we go one of next days!!!!!
Or there is who does not believe me if I do not write things here =)
- clean and order the house
afternoon
- big shopping
to the hague we go one of next days!!!!!
Or there is who does not believe me if I do not write things here =)
16 May 2012
Samariá Gorge
Here is a first place I have been checking out for an excursion while in Crete.
Instead of the first excursion, it is going to be the first exclusion.
I found lot of useful info on Wikipedia for planning the day there, but also small notes like "The walk takes 4–7 hours and can be strenuous". Then I also read a bit here and there.
I should obviously stop looking at pictures and videos now.... or I need to convince half of myself that he can bring two kids for a total of approx 25 kilos on his shoulders.
Instead of the first excursion, it is going to be the first exclusion.
I found lot of useful info on Wikipedia for planning the day there, but also small notes like "The walk takes 4–7 hours and can be strenuous". Then I also read a bit here and there.
I should obviously stop looking at pictures and videos now.... or I need to convince half of myself that he can bring two kids for a total of approx 25 kilos on his shoulders.
12 May 2012
Paleochora!!!
Finally booked, flight to Chania and house in Paleochora....
Now more concrete dreams about the trip are starting!!!
The person that suggested me the apartment, sent me also the link of her story published in Turisti Per Caso.
Coming days I am going to find all possible information on our destination, and will try to collate it here, as to have a kind of handbook during the holidays...
PS: while looking back for the link of the diary published in Turisti Per Caso, I started reading another review, this one made by someone going in the same period as us... well I so want to be there!!!
Now more concrete dreams about the trip are starting!!!
The person that suggested me the apartment, sent me also the link of her story published in Turisti Per Caso.
Coming days I am going to find all possible information on our destination, and will try to collate it here, as to have a kind of handbook during the holidays...
PS: while looking back for the link of the diary published in Turisti Per Caso, I started reading another review, this one made by someone going in the same period as us... well I so want to be there!!!
10 May 2012
Bakfiets
Another hot item of these days, bakfiets.
Since we had the first kid, we thought finally we have an excuse to buy one.
And then, when getting closer to the deal, again rationality kicked in: where do we place it? In the unprotected front garden, or in the messy back garden? How much will we use it?
So we postponed, then went back to the idea, then decided to cancel it from our head, then again back to the idea, etc etc etc
Until yesterday.The kids are older and we need to carry them further away, the little one is getting too big for the front seat of my bike and we do not trust yet the older one to cycle on his own.
We thought of buying a car but that is against my friend the environment and my love for arriving completely soaked and sweated at the office.
And there came the sudden decision (only 2 full days research, on top of all the time we spent in the past years)
Antefact: I am really bad at cycling, stability, lifting, so the two wheeler bakfiets had to be discarded immediately.
Of the three wheelers, we immediately classified them as:
1- looking cool and perfect, the Johnny Loco
2- bulky, cheap, functional, the Babboe
Considering the fact that there are practically no reviews or comments or ervaringen to be found in internet, which is usually what I feed myself with, we went a bit by emotions...
As probably can be guessed, we chose the second.
(the picture of the Johnny Loco is small on purpose to not cry of greediness and regret every time I open this page)
Now we have to wait for all the NFP paperwork, then for the delivery time, then for the time to build it and maybe by the end of the summer we will have it!
Since we had the first kid, we thought finally we have an excuse to buy one.
And then, when getting closer to the deal, again rationality kicked in: where do we place it? In the unprotected front garden, or in the messy back garden? How much will we use it?
So we postponed, then went back to the idea, then decided to cancel it from our head, then again back to the idea, etc etc etc
Until yesterday.The kids are older and we need to carry them further away, the little one is getting too big for the front seat of my bike and we do not trust yet the older one to cycle on his own.
We thought of buying a car but that is against my friend the environment and my love for arriving completely soaked and sweated at the office.
And there came the sudden decision (only 2 full days research, on top of all the time we spent in the past years)
Antefact: I am really bad at cycling, stability, lifting, so the two wheeler bakfiets had to be discarded immediately.
Of the three wheelers, we immediately classified them as:
1- looking cool and perfect, the Johnny Loco
2- bulky, cheap, functional, the Babboe
Considering the fact that there are practically no reviews or comments or ervaringen to be found in internet, which is usually what I feed myself with, we went a bit by emotions...
As probably can be guessed, we chose the second.
(the picture of the Johnny Loco is small on purpose to not cry of greediness and regret every time I open this page)
Now we have to wait for all the NFP paperwork, then for the delivery time, then for the time to build it and maybe by the end of the summer we will have it!
Sunny holidays in september
My last days I have been very busy deciding where to go on holidays.
Every time I think I am close to the perfect place, some new requirement pops up in my head blowing it up.
So let's try to be more rational.
We are a family of two adults with 2 boys (3 and 1 year old).
Length is between 11 and 13 days (depending on flight and hotels availability)
We already made many experiences travelling, with only one kid and also with both, and we found out the following
- space: if we spend more than 3 days in a single room, we ALL get crazy. We prefer a mini apartment, kitchen is not necessary because we are lazy, but two rooms (bedroom+living) allow some running around.
- distance from airport: of course we do not want to spend hours travelling between airport and location, and at the same time we do not want the planes landing on our head.... well this does not look easy already
- beach: for me we should get a place on the beach, in particular sandy beach. Stones are hard, get too hot, and kids cannot build castles with them.
- swimming pool: my husband prefers a swimming pool. In that case I must add the requirement of a children swimming pool. Why on a sandy beach would you go to a swimming pool... here is where is getting more complex
- weather: of course September is not perfect in all locations, and we want zero risk of rain because this is the only sun we see the all year
- relatively safe/easy: with young kids, we still prefer not to get out of Europe.
After the above, we restricted to the following possible destinations:
Canarie islands, Rhodes, Crete
At the Canaries I have a friend with a house, but it is booked for the period we need :(
In September the Mediterranean sea is still quite warm, it would be a shame going at the Canaries where anyway you cannot bath (as literal translation of "fare il bagno" which is not necessarily swim, is more chill in the water) because it is too cold. Maybe Canaries are nice for the winter season.
To go to Rhodes and Crete from Amsterdam there is practically only a flight company, Transavia.
Then if we really really want to satisfy the swimming pool requirement, best is to go to a village. Besides checking D-reizen and Thomas Cook, I always end up looking directly in Neckermann and finding there better descriptions and deals. The village could be nice except the perfect village does not exist. Either too expensive, or is in the middle of nowhere, or reviews are too bad (for that I use a lot Google and Tripadvisor), or location, or or or... shall I maybe stop looking for the perfect place?
For now let's focus only on Crete, or I really get crazy
I had a suggestion for a house in Crete in Paleochora (or however you want to spell it), Anthea Apartments.
While it is close to two beaches, a sandy one and a stones one, and apparently inside a beautiful town, it does not have the swimming pool. And is at more than one hour from Chania airport.
So I went back to look at the villages, and while I have been suggested not to go to the North East of Crete, I found that the only side with sandy beaches is starting at Maleme then going direction of Chania. Chania itself looks really worth even more than a visit, however by checking with Google satellite maps I could see that the beaches are very tiny, with not much services (either two umbrellas and chairs from the closeby hotel or deserted), and the sand is actually mixed with pebbles (and then when you enter the water is only pebbles).... aargh, back to the beginning... shall I try Rhodes?
For now I am trying to convince myself (mostly my other half) that Paleochora is not so far from the airport and that the swimming pool is not strictly necessary.... Let's see where we end up in the coming days!!!
Every time I think I am close to the perfect place, some new requirement pops up in my head blowing it up.
So let's try to be more rational.
We are a family of two adults with 2 boys (3 and 1 year old).
Length is between 11 and 13 days (depending on flight and hotels availability)
We already made many experiences travelling, with only one kid and also with both, and we found out the following
- space: if we spend more than 3 days in a single room, we ALL get crazy. We prefer a mini apartment, kitchen is not necessary because we are lazy, but two rooms (bedroom+living) allow some running around.
- distance from airport: of course we do not want to spend hours travelling between airport and location, and at the same time we do not want the planes landing on our head.... well this does not look easy already
- beach: for me we should get a place on the beach, in particular sandy beach. Stones are hard, get too hot, and kids cannot build castles with them.
- swimming pool: my husband prefers a swimming pool. In that case I must add the requirement of a children swimming pool. Why on a sandy beach would you go to a swimming pool... here is where is getting more complex
- weather: of course September is not perfect in all locations, and we want zero risk of rain because this is the only sun we see the all year
- relatively safe/easy: with young kids, we still prefer not to get out of Europe.
After the above, we restricted to the following possible destinations:
Canarie islands, Rhodes, Crete
At the Canaries I have a friend with a house, but it is booked for the period we need :(
In September the Mediterranean sea is still quite warm, it would be a shame going at the Canaries where anyway you cannot bath (as literal translation of "fare il bagno" which is not necessarily swim, is more chill in the water) because it is too cold. Maybe Canaries are nice for the winter season.
To go to Rhodes and Crete from Amsterdam there is practically only a flight company, Transavia.
Then if we really really want to satisfy the swimming pool requirement, best is to go to a village. Besides checking D-reizen and Thomas Cook, I always end up looking directly in Neckermann and finding there better descriptions and deals. The village could be nice except the perfect village does not exist. Either too expensive, or is in the middle of nowhere, or reviews are too bad (for that I use a lot Google and Tripadvisor), or location, or or or... shall I maybe stop looking for the perfect place?
For now let's focus only on Crete, or I really get crazy
I had a suggestion for a house in Crete in Paleochora (or however you want to spell it), Anthea Apartments.
While it is close to two beaches, a sandy one and a stones one, and apparently inside a beautiful town, it does not have the swimming pool. And is at more than one hour from Chania airport.
So I went back to look at the villages, and while I have been suggested not to go to the North East of Crete, I found that the only side with sandy beaches is starting at Maleme then going direction of Chania. Chania itself looks really worth even more than a visit, however by checking with Google satellite maps I could see that the beaches are very tiny, with not much services (either two umbrellas and chairs from the closeby hotel or deserted), and the sand is actually mixed with pebbles (and then when you enter the water is only pebbles).... aargh, back to the beginning... shall I try Rhodes?
For now I am trying to convince myself (mostly my other half) that Paleochora is not so far from the airport and that the swimming pool is not strictly necessary.... Let's see where we end up in the coming days!!!
Introduction
Here it is, yet another blog in the world.
I am starting this for myself, to justify the hours I spend daily behind the computer without knowing exactly what I am doing.
Here I will try to keep a kind of diary of my relationship with internet.
So that my thoughts, my searches, my ideas, my desires, my curiosity, that is - all I search on internet - will not be lost in my huge browser history.
One of the main subjects I research upon is travels. Or at least it is something I am very busy with at the moment. From it the title of the blog, thinking about some old friend of mine making fun of these two words that we normally use in my region, and you discover only when you get out of it that normal does not mean everywhere-everyone-everything.
PS: the links I will be posting are for my own convenience, so that I can find back web locations (a sort of favorites) while mentally reconnecting them to when I found them
I am starting this for myself, to justify the hours I spend daily behind the computer without knowing exactly what I am doing.
Here I will try to keep a kind of diary of my relationship with internet.
So that my thoughts, my searches, my ideas, my desires, my curiosity, that is - all I search on internet - will not be lost in my huge browser history.
One of the main subjects I research upon is travels. Or at least it is something I am very busy with at the moment. From it the title of the blog, thinking about some old friend of mine making fun of these two words that we normally use in my region, and you discover only when you get out of it that normal does not mean everywhere-everyone-everything.
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PS: the links I will be posting are for my own convenience, so that I can find back web locations (a sort of favorites) while mentally reconnecting them to when I found them
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