My Grandpa Rietveld's Hometown of Nuenen, Netherlands

Back tracking.  So when I was in the Netherlands I had an opportunity to visit my Grandpa Rietveld's hometown of Nuenen.  Here are some pictures...

70 Liters or Less: Santorini summer and Prologue to Chasing Italy

Hello to all our faithful, bored, and eager readers! This is Jamie, the lost, lost boy. I have not written a blog post after we moved to Santorini for the summer. I am still alive and have finally decided to pick the pen back up, so to speak. Since then, a lot but a little has happened. Michael, I am pretty sure, kept all of you up to date on the happenings and lack of happenings on the volcanic, Number 1 island destination in the world that we called our home for 4 months.

As most of you know our path has changed quite a bit from when our semester ended. To catch you all up to speed: Michael and I went from a graduation freak out about our future, to prolonging real life by finding work on Santorini for the summer. Santorini is where we met and made some amazing Australian friends and a Kiwi(Will, Elle, Kate, Jess, Justine, Amy), who gave us the T.B. In case you were wondering that does not mean Tuberculosis and it is not a sexually transmitted disease. But it is the highly contagious and contractible Travel Bug. With only Greece, Canada, and England under our travel belts, it wasn’t hard for them to convince us to travel above and beyond. We then set our sights on Southeast Asia, but our aim to be in Australia by December to start our 1 year work visas. With our leaving date set for September 29, the summer whisked by, our friends came and gone, and pretty soon September rolled around. Michael and his new Australian girlfriend and our SE Asian tour guide, Elle, left for Athens to meet his parents/my aunt and uncle for a romp around the Peloponnese and mainland Greece. For the first time in 7 months I was without my counterpart, R2D2, I mean Michael. And for the first time in 7 months I was without a drinking partner and a wingman. (Dramatization) Devastated, I stumble on down to the girls apartment, and begged Amy, one of the last Auzies on the Island to be my new drinking partner and wingwoman. After a few beers she agreed. Together, we set off down the road to Tranquilo, one of our favorite drinking an eating holes in Perissa Beach.

Upon arriving I recognized 2 girls that had walked past the restaurant I worked at earlier that day. They were just arriving to the island and seemed lost when I first met them. Since I am super shy and both very cute and intimidating, I sat down next to them and started talking. They were Italian, sisters, and some of the nicest and interesting ones I had met. We had a great time shooting the shit and at the end of the night, we made plans to hang out the next night. Anyways over the next few days we developed this amazing chemistry: dancing, teasing, talking, hanging out. Carlotta/Charlie, the younger one, who I was especially keen of, besides being a summer romance, we also became really good friends. But all good things must come to an end and just like every other tourist who visits the Island, it was time for her to leave. The goodbyes that we exchanged were tough as I told myself, What did you think would happen? She had to leave. Everyone who comes here leaves. Maybe you will meet again someday, but it is highly unlikely. Little did I know she would put another speed bump in my future traveling plans…

The next 3 weeks of work were tough. I just wasn’t mentally there. I felt like I was in a slump. I had packed up in my mind way to early. Besides an awesome wedding I worked, nothing really happened. I realized there was nothing really left there for me. 10 days before I left, Michael came to me and said dude, you need to leave. I weighed out my options of leaving early, thinking of places I could go and stay. That’s when I got a message from Mike, Elle’s x who I had become a pretty good friend during his long stay in Santorini, saying he was near Bologna, Italy staying with a friend. The plan clicked, I will go hang out with Mike and then with Charlie and meet Michael in Elle back in Amsterdam in a week or so after they too, left Santorini. The ticket was booked in 12 hours time of the decision, luckily I found a direct flight to Bologna for $150, which was the only ticket left for that price. The next price margin was $1,200!

Unfortunately this meant I had to tell everyone of my work friends and the Greeks that wore their way into my heart, an early goodbye. It was sad leaving them. It turned out to be harder than I thought. My last night I shared some teary eyed drinks with everyone who I loved there and wished them good luck in life and I hoped to hell I would see them again.

With my bags packed in my 70 liter Lafuma Backpack I was ready for my own adventures…

(more to come after my 14 day stay in Burma/Mayanmar)

Lots more pics on facebook, best summer yet, these were just some of the highlights.....

Last update for two weeks!

Hello all, hope this finds you well.  So we went snorkeling in shark bay but did not see any sharks.  The visibility was not ideal.  Since that day it rained every morning for about 5 hours.  On Sunday we took a fishing trip out, and we all caught heaps of snapper, grouper and king fish.  The restaurant connected to the place we were staying grilled all the fish we caught for 100 thb = $3 usd.  The meal was amazing, each of us gorged ourselves on our plunder of the sea and didn't waste a single bite. 

Even though it took us several days of saying "ok we are leaving tomorrow," we finally left paradise.  We arrived back in Bangkok this morning around 5 am and were greeted with plentiful flooded streets.  Although the area we are staying in is not affected.  Until this morning, we had to trek through shin deep water to gt some breakfast!

Running on 2 hours sleep we had a big day today, filed and received our visas for Myanmar and even fit in a movie at the cinema (three musketeers, horrible horrible movie don't waste your time).  You should do some research about Myanmar.  Although I am a bit concerned, not for our well being or anything, but the adjustment to the completely different culture.  The travel itinerary we have at the moment is Yagon, to Bagan, and a 3 day trek through the jungle to Inle Lake.  Also, I am pretty sure we will not have any access to internet at this time, so expect to hear back from us around the 15th or so of November!

Hello Koh Tao Thailand

 This place is what i imagined a tropical island would be.  Today Jamie and I rented snorkels and just snorkeled off the beach.  We saw heaps of cool fish.  Jamie really wants to go to shark bay and swim out to the drop off, I am scared shitless of the sea.  It is one of the most eerie feelings looking into the vast blue in front of you.  But he says he has to do it, so I guess you only live once ya, maybe we will do that tomorrow if you dont hear from us in 72 hours, the black tips got us.  I will make a living will, mom you can have my student debt...

There is also i huge rock right out in front of the beach we are staying at (see picture) with a rope attached to the top to climb and go cliff jumping, 1) swim with sharks 2) cliff jump.  Like is said give us 72 hours.

Oh ya, we are also going deep sea fishing for 1600 THB = $50 per person, not bad at all!

This place is the capital of diving in Thailand I think we can get certified for 9000 THB = 300 USD.  Pretty cool reefs and such from what I hear.  The beach we are staying on Tanote Bay, it is secluded beach/bay surrounded by bamboo huts.  This is our recover vacation from the other vacation, life is tough.  We have a bungalow for 500 THB about $15 a night split 3 ways, not bad at all!  We got pretty fried today laying around reading. 

Bizarre eat of the day...

So as many of you may know, we have arrived in Thailand a couple days ago.  Here is a new section we will be posting regularly throughout our trip...

Some yummy grasshopper's we bought off a street vendor...

...tasted about as good as they look

On our way to Thailand...

Just a quick update...Currently we are in Bahrain, on our way to Thailand!

One of My Dreams...

After watching the 1994 World Cup as a kid, I have become the biggest supporter of Netherlands soccer.  Since following professional soccer now for over 10 years now, it has been my dream to go see Netherlands National team play.  Last night Jamie and I were able to attend The Netherlands UEFA Euro Cup qualifier in Rotterdam, Netherlands.  Not only did we get to go to the game, but our seat were only 7 rows from the goal!  Here is a Vander Vaart's free kick, and some other pictures from the game.  

 

 

Closing Remarks on Santorini

For starters let me apologize for our 4 month hiatus from this blog.  Having said that, when you work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week in 40C/110F heat on a black sand beach, there isn’t really much to keep you updated on.  However, let me bring you up to speed on our lives’ thus far.  Since the end of May, Jamie and I have been working in Perissa Beach, on the beautiful Greek Island of Santorini.  Jamie started the summer as a promoter for The Beach Bar where he worked for about a month and a half until he got promoted to manager.  As for myself, I started the summer as a beach waiter, glorified cabana boy (without the rubbing of oil on copious amounts of gorgeous women) for a restaurant/bar called Waves.  At the beginning of July, Jamie joined me on the beach where we managed over 50 umbrellas and over 110 sun beds.  During July, Jamie pulled double duty working on the beach during the day with me, while still working at the bar during the night.  Although he was making extra money, working 10am-8pm and then again from 9pm-3,4,5am ran him into the ground.  Meanwhile, we made some really good Australian friends who were working up and down the beach.  Long story short, Jamie and I applied and received work visas for Australia for one year.

From Santorini, next stop for Jamie, Italy and then we meet up in Amsterdam, then it’s off to London, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and finally end up in Australia.

So stay tuned you will be hearing more from us soon!

A Word From My Mother

In having a conversation with my mom via e-mail, we were discussing some of the things I have learned/talked with others on this trip.  One of the topics of conversation that always seemed to arise when I talk to other Americans, is how I ended up in Greece.  After explaining  my story, the response from the other party is always 100%, "prolong your 'real life' as long as you can, it's not all it's cracked up to be."  After expressing my concern of well what do I have to look forward to when I get back then if all these people hate their lives, my mom responded with this...

"We, long time working adults, shouldn’t be sinics about our jobs.  That is why people say to find your passion and make a living doing that.  Sometimes we have to use our passions as our hobbies and make a living in other ways.  I think it is the idea that most people don’t have the luxury or take the opportunity to do the adventure that you are on we wistfully say “real life”.  You are living your “real life” and there are so many ways to live it, not just the standard way most of us do it.  The key is to live to the fullest the life you have today and know that everything is not permanent."

Why are moms always right?!

Love you Mom.

An Office With a View

 This is the view from my summer office, I wake up and get to look at this everyday.  It is even better when the topless European sunbathers occupy the chairs.  It is a difficult job but someone has to do it!