• Rescheduled flight hustle

    15/03/2017 /

    We booked a flight with Qatar Airways from Amsterdam to Capetown with a layover of four hours in Doha. Nice price, very ok airline, not too much time in between. We are happy. Then suddenly we got a disturbing e-mail from the airline: your flight has changed. This is never good news. Our first flight to Doha has been pushed back for a couple of hours for some vague reason, so now we have a layover of minus 3 hours. Perhaps we are missing something here in terms of local time? We call Qatar Airways, a friendly gentleman with a Middle Eastern accent explains our options but we cannot understand a word he’s saying. Finally we can make something out of his blabla… we have two options, we can move our second flight, which goes from Doha to Cape Town,…

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  • Live or let die

    25/02/2017 /

    After having arranged everything for our absence, we still have one unresolved issue: my botanical garden… That my plants are dear to me is an understatement. Over the years I have brought seeds from every corner of the world and grown them into supergreen rainforest-worthy trees, presumably envied by their jungle colleagues. In my assortment: a mango, black pepper, coffee, guanabana, date palm, lemon, cork, rice grass, cashewnut and a pineapple. Oh right, ánd a fantastic orchid! I can easily say, my pride and joy. You understand, the new foster mother/father for these dear children of mine has to come with excellent skills to qualify for this demanding task. While I carefully go through my network of friends and family in my thoughts, there is actually only one real winner. One person that I know will care for my babies…

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  • Backpack issues

    13/02/2017 /

    Meanwhile in Arnhem … We can hardly wait, the travel virus rages through our bloodstream, but unfortunately there is nothing left to do but countdown and patiently wait. Because we really want to prepare something, anything… we decide to pack our bags, see if everything fits. Big fun! We happily put all our stuff on the bed to get a good picture of what we have collected. We distribute the electronics and roll all our clothes neatly in a packing cubes. (more about that later) Then we put everything in our backpack. Or so I try. Arnhem we have a problem, I want to take too much stuff or my backpack is too small backpack. Shit. My bag is an Osprey Farpoint 40, fantastic thing, but 6 liters smaller than Jos’ pack. 6 milk cartons! That’s a lot. We critically…

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