Still moving on

I might have forgotten the blog, but I haven't nestled in under my bed.

Africa is still unchecked, but I did tick off North-America with Boston (yey) and New York (buuh) earlier this year! I'll have to update with photos.

Otherwise, travelling has been very boring in the past year or so. Except Boston and a short birthdayvacation in Berlin, it's been pretty much Finland-Finland-Malta-Finland-Malta-Finland-Finland-Finland. No wonder I can't afford anything else and no wonder I stopped writing.

Next year I have nothing planned (besides Dublin/Finland/Malta) and I'm trying to come up with a plan. Nobody will join me to Africa and I'm actually a bit scared going on my own. South-America&Antarctica will need more savings, so that leaves Australia. I just don't know where to start, can't really think of anything special I want to do or see there. I mean sure, sun and beach and all that normal stuff, but that will come in no matter where and when I go. Urgh, I hate being stranded!!!

It finally happened

So,regarding how much I go around with no proper plans,it should have happened earlier.

But,now it finally did. I missed my flight home. Some confusion with flight departure times, not sticking to plans,not sleeping enough and bang.

Thankfully I am in Dublin,where I have places to sleep in and can manage. And,since I missed work today,I have the whole weekend to get home.

Getting a new ticket got a bit difficult and it wasn't even a question about having money for it,which on most travels would be a likely problem. nope,I had money alright - just on the account that Ryanair wouldn't accept the card for. but,some hassle later and I am flying home on Sunday.

Can't say extra days home is the worst scenario, but feels crap spending extra money and leaving the team in trouble.

Guess who is doing a lot of overtime next week?

Tabak row

I mentioned earlier that I'll try and get these here. For once I'm keeping my promise.

On my Saturdaystroll, I was suddenly surrounded by an awesome burst of colors and wonderful street art.
The interwebs tells me that I was in the middle of Tabak row, a legendary squatters block known for hosting artists and other lively folks.

Apparently Tabak row is condemned because squatting has become illegal and a big bad real estate company wants to re-do everything to hotels and luxury apartments. There's always a big bad real estate company involved in destroying the beauty and character of cities.






The center of Tabak row is the Snakehouse, which was originally squatted in 1983 and hosts a gallery, movie nights and has/had about 10 artists living here. I found a pretty interesting piece about the Snakehouse that can be read here. I tried to find more info about what today's situation is, but most I found was old info and/or in dutch.

I hope they get to keep the block going. Rather look at street art than damn luxury apartments.

Saturdaystroll along Amstel

Two months in Amsterdam, but haven't posted much about it.

The reason is pretty simple - haven't had much to post. Moving is always quite a struggle for the wallet, specially if you weren't prepared to move to a new country. I'm still waiting for my salaries to start rolling properly, so I have out of a necessity been mostly hanging around at the flat. We live a bit off the grid, and there's not much here in Gaasperplas to see.

But, now I finally have a monthly card for the metro so I can actually travel around a bit better in city. When you are broke, it kinda is too much to pay 6 euros just to travel somewhere and back... The card cost me 90 euros, it's valid for a month with unlimited metrotravel - and my employer pays it back to me. Win!

So today I put my brave pants on and dared out in the stormy winds, took the metro towards the city with a plan of jumping off somewhere and wander around with my camera. Got of at Wibaustraat and strolled along the river Amstel towards the citycentre. Not the best day for photography, everything was grey and the wind was really horrible! But a nice stroll, definitely.

Around Spui I ran into some really cool street art. Have to try and get some of them posted here as well.

PB&J on knäckebröd

Haha, somedays just the smallest things remind me of how lucky I actually am in life.

Today that is eating PB&J-knäckebröd.

To the scandics: PB&J is peanutbutter and jam. Raspberryjam for me. You put them on bread. And it's amazing (specially with cheese on top). In Scandinavia we don't have peanutbutter. Actually, when I went to Finland for Christmas, I had a jar of pb in my luggage. The bag got flagged at security and went the other way (Schipholsecurity is on a completely different level from anything else I've been through). I've always had pb with me, so I just laughed to the securitylady that "haha, I can guess what you want to look at". She looked at the screen and then looked at me. Just stared at me and went: It's peanutbutter, isn't it. It's always peanutbutter.

and apparently you can't take that aboard the flight because it's "liquid".

To the non-Scandics: Knäckebröd is crisp bread. It lasts forever-ish, it's hard and yummy. I'm really bad with bread, it always starts getting moldy before I finish it, which has a lot to do with my love for knäckebröd. I can take one slice today, another in 3 weeks.

And the combination of these two is so amazing. And in a way, it perfectly describes my life - taking the best of everything, of all the homes, countries and lives I've had. It's not always the big picture, sometimes it's in those small little moments.

New year, new plans

Hi.

Yeah, I know that I'm a shitty blogger. I haven't had a computer again for months and we'll trying to settle in to my new town has taken it's toll and and and. I'm really just a shitty blogger.

So, Amsterdam is homely and nice and all that. In fairness, I've so far received one salary from which I paid almost 3 rents, so I've mainly been snuggling at home and being broke and boring. But it is a cool town, and I'm looking forward having the chance to experience more of it and the other cities closeby.

Funny anecdote about Amsterdam. There's this symbol with XXX everywhere, and I thought it was just a tourist thing to represent the "shady" character Amsterdam is know off, with the hookers and drugs and wild living. Nope. It's the city's official logo. Official as in all my official papers from the city has it too.

I did a quick trip to Finland as well, it was snowy,cold and dark but great being with the family over the holidays. And yes, I was broke and boring there as well. Mom and that has a little puppydoggy, and it was enough to stay in and play with him. He's so cute!

But, a new year has started and it's time to not be boring and look ahead. Best thing about being in Amsterdam, is that it's so much easier to travel around. Even the trip Finland, I left after work, had no layovers, and a few hours later I was in Helsinki having a drink with my friends. Revolutionary, I tell you!

So, what will 2015 bring? To start with, I do have a few "mandatory" trips. I have to get to Malta to get the rest of my stuff, and I need to visit Dublin considering I've been a bastard and haven't been there since last april. My wardrobe also really misses Penneys! Hopefully, I'll time Dublin with St Patricks day when Dropkick Murphys are playing in town. Might even get a buddy from back home to meet up in town for that!

I'll have to Finland of course, my niece graduates in early June, and my "little sis" is getting married in early August.But like mentioned, visiting Finland isn't as awful and expensive anymore as it used to, so I'll manage.

Now, being close by, I really want to visit Berlin finally. It's been a long long dream of mine, but I'll explain more if it happens. Should also grab a weekend in Brussels at some point. Maybe some other Europe travelling, depending on good offers and time and all that.

The P7C plan for 2015 was Africa and Mombasa. But...The best time to go is early spring, and I really can't get my finances and plans sorted out by that. Instead, this I will do a "+1".

+1???

Yes. My dear friends, are grabbing their stuff and kids and lives and moving to Jamaica, where they already spent some time earlier. So, I decided to go see them and make that my birthdaytrip for this year.

Jamaica is Central America, which doesn't really go into anything on P7C, that's why I'm calling it a +1. Although technically, I will have layovers in North America....

It's gonna be so nice. Forget about the ganja and reggae, to me Jamaica is always the place where Young Brian Flannigan met Jordan and fell in love and had romantic hangouts in the waterfall. (Yes, a film reference. If you don't know which film, then shame on you. Shame!)

Hey, if you have ideas for quick weekend trips from A'dam, I'd be happy to hear them!

New adventures: Amsterdam

Some people say that I tend to do quick turns in life.

I wouldn't say that they are completely correct, although I can see their reasoning.

My mind is constantly thinking about the next steps in life. I have always been a planner, having 5 different plans ready. So, when an opportunity presents itself, I'm all ready to go.

That's actually what has been going on again.

I had started to think about moving on from Malta and had already set my mind on Amsterdam. I have met some absolutely fantastic people on the rock, and of course the way we live there can be considered luxurious. But from the start, Malta has felt claustrophobic.

Sure, if you have no goals in life and enjoy living in a minimalistic village without anything to offer and don't mind giving up all efforts for a private life, Malta is heaven.

To me, it was just making me unhappy. In so many ways.

And then suddenly, I was in the midst of finding a new job. And I realised that I really don't have a perfect plan ready to leave the rock with, but the thought of staying for another year was too horrible.

Because I had already made up my mind about what my next step would be. The timing was just a bit crappy. For a week and a half, I was torn. I did have some interesting job opportunities going on, but I always came back to the thought 'I don't want to be here'.

And when talking to a recruiter, it became so clear. I just needed to book the flight and hope for the best. After all, I knew exactly where I wanted to be, I just didn't have any safety net installed.

So, a week ago on Thursday I booked the tickets and on Saturday I landed in Amsterdam, Netherlands ready for a new adventure. Was it quick? In a way, yeah. In honesty I was thinking of this more like a fishing trip.

'I'll go and have a look, do a few interviews and be back in a few weeks'

Well, that won't happen. I will be back at some point but only to get the rest of my stuff. I know I didn't really clue in that many about me leaving, but it wasn't supposed to be a 'forevah and evah' trip.

A week from landing, I have a great new job that I am extremely excited about and I am living in a really nice apartment.

Was it worth the risk? So far, definitely. I still need time to get a normal life rolling, but I couldn't think of anywhere else I would want to be right now.