At this moment there are just a few things that keep me from travelling. I haven't found someone who wants to go to the end of the world with me yet. I also don't have the money I need to do that. It's not a big problem though. Right now I'm mostly dreaming of all the amazing places I'm going to see.
A few months ago I started making a list of all the countries and places I want to visit in my life. Since then I've been collecting pictures of all those places. I got kindergarten creative with some glue and stuck them all in a notebook. Every time I get demovited I open the notebook and looks at all the beautiful pictures I've collected.

Italy and Iceland, good combination :P

So at this moment I'm only dreaming, but next summer dreams will start to come true. I'll travel to San Francisco on my own for the very first time. After that trip, I want to go to Cuba, Sweden, Slowakia, Indonesia... The world will become my playground.

My new bag with all the countries I've already visited

Where do you want to go? Let me know in the comments.
Stay Awesome!

'Mom!' A few weeks ago I stormed down the stairs and into the garden. 'Mom, Phineas and Ferb has ended!'
My mom looked up from her work in the garden and said: 'It's still on tv.'
'It ended in America!'
'So?'
'What so?'
'You haven't seen the show in years.'
I didn't say anything. I turned around and went back upstairs to watch the final Phineas and Ferb episode. My mom didn't understand. This was the end of an age.

Phineas and Ferb aired in 2007, but as usual with American cartoons, I didn't get to see it right after it aired. I saw the show first in 2008. At first I wasn't a big fan - probably because teh same three episodes were on tv every single day. But as I watched a couple more episodes, I became hooked. So did my dad. We used to watch the show together. He used to come into the room singing 'Phineas and Ferb' to the Perry the Platypus toon whenever I watched the show. He convinced one of his friends to watch the show too, which resulted in said friend doing the best Perry growl I've ever heard.
Phineas and Ferb became part of my life in high school.
In 8th grade my entire class was fan of the show. One guy drew Perry the Platypus in art class when we had to hand in an assignment. He spent the entire year practicing his Dr. Doofenschmirtz voice, while the girls gave away some pretty impressive Isabella imitations.
The summer of 2010 was spent in the US, where I finally heard the original voices - which weren't as good as the Dutch voices, I decided. Still I spent and excessive amount of time watching the show and looking for a Perry the Platypus shirt.
Near the end of 9th grade, no one wanted to admit that they were still watching the show. I wonder why, because we all knew we were all still watching it. One day we even spontaneously sang the theme song in class. It was awesome: each and every one of my classmates joined in, even the tough guys and the popular girls. By the end one girl said that it was a little pathetic that we knew all the words to that song. Most of us shrugged. It didn't matter, because Phineas and Ferb was an awesome show.

I think I stopped watching the show in 11th grade. The Dutch producers decided to recast some voice actors and the new voices annoyed me. But every time I was bored out of my mind, I secretly watched Disney Channel, just to see Phineas and Ferb.

A few weeks ago I discovered that the show had come to an end. I was heart-broken. Phineas and Ferb had been around for all of my high school years. Now I'm in college, and apparently so are they.
Childhood is officially over, but at least it ended with this awesome scene.
Stay Awesome!

Back in December I became one of the many, many dangers on the European roads: after months of driving lessons I finally got my driver's license. At first driving wasn't much fun, because I'd learned to drive in a tiny Volkswagen. That tiny Volkswagen was abut half the size of the bright red tank my Dad calls his car. Learning to drive our Fiat was disastrous...
Lucky for me my Granddad is awesome enough to help me out a little: he let me drive his new Mercedes and his classic 1982 Mercedes and gives me loads of helpful advice. On one of the miniature road trips with my Granddad I discovered how much fun it is to drive around the countryside with no real goal. So, inspired by one of my favorite books, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour, I started making a playlist for those random mini road trips.
Now that I'm on vacation I'll be driving long stretches on my way to France and Germany and my playlist finally comes in handy (even though my dad hates it when I listen to music while driving).

Now I could've made a fancy Spotify playlist, but as usual with everything on my lists, there's a story to tell for each song: stories I can't tell you about in an orderly way on Spotify. Without any further ado, I present you my playlists, including a small story for each song!
Eyes Wide Open - Gotye
I listened to this song all the time when I was in Peru. I could stare out of the bus window for hours, see the Panamericana Highway fly by while I listened to this song. When I listen to it while driving I get that same feeling of freedom I had back in Peru.

Bad Blood - Taylor Swift
This song made the list because of my Granddad. I was driving his classic Mercedes (I'm in love with that car) when this song came on the radio. Apparently my Granddad is a swifty, 'cause he turned the volume up to the max and allowed me to sing along, even though I was way out of key. It was awesome.

50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train
My playlists aren't complete without a song by Train. Have you ever heard this one? The chorus is so freaking fast, it almost matches my heartbeat when I'm driving a busy road. It could also be the soundtrack to a crazy car chase on a comedy, which makes it awesome to listen to while driving on the highway

Preacher - One Republic
This song is about an awesome granddad, like mine. My Granddad is the best when it comes to driving and advice on driving, so this song deserves a place on the list. Besides, it's one of those songs you can sing along to even if your voice shatters glass when you sing. It's perfect for a drive around town - if you don't mind all the weird looks you'll get at the traffic lights.

Find Someone - Sheppard
You don't know how annoying cyclists are until you're not one of them anymore. In a country full of cyclists, I often find them in front of my car at moments when they should not be on the middle of my half of the road. When that happens I curse a lot, which makes my Dad very angry... But this song, or actually singing along to it, gives me a great excuse to get the frustration out and drop a few F-bombs.

Cassy'O - George Ezra
Another song to get the frustration out. Great to listen to while driving on the highway. It also reminds me of the amazing first day I had in Peru :)

Leave the Night on - Sam Hunt
A little calmer than the other songs on this list. We all need a break every now and then, don't we? This song is the song I like to listen to when I'm on a straight road without any other cars to be seen. It's nice and relaxed and very catchy. It doesn't take long to remember the lyrics and soon you'll find yourself singing along.

T-Shirt Weather - Circa Waves
That one line 'the seat belts were burning our fingers', that brings back memories. Crossing Death Valley by car, not once but twice, is something I don't like to think about, but it reminds me of how lucky I am to be driving in normal weather conditions :P

The songs on this list are all upbeat, because they perfectly capture my feelings towards driving: total excitement and hyperactivity mixed with a little frustration and a tiny bit of fear.
Which songs would you listen to if you were on a road trip?

Stay Awesome!

This morning at 7.53am I officially turned 19. In those 19 years on this little pretty planet I learned a lot of seemingly important things, which I'd love to share with you today. Here are my 19 'important' life lessons!

1: Fire is very hot and should not be touched
The first very important life lesson I learned was a painful one. On my first birthday my mom gave me cake with a candle on it. I liked the fire a bit to much and immediately reached out to touch it. Not a good idea.

2: Crawling backwards will get you stuck under a couch
When I learned to crawl, I wasn't a big fan of going forward. Going backward was much more fun. But when there were chairs and couches around, it wasn't the best way of transportation. I got stuck on multiple occasions.

3: Swimming isn't difficult
Swimming is the easiest thing ever, I discovered at three years old. I was capable of floating and paddling myself around for a meter or two at a time. I thought I was a great swimmer. My parents disagreed and made me wear swimming aids for years.

4: English is an awesome language
I wasn't even in kindergarten yet when I started learning English (which is pretty unique for Dutch kids), I loved learning new words and got overexcited every time I heard someone say a new word. To be honest, I'm still like that :P

5: Holes last longer than sand castles
As I said in my previous post, kindergarten was the only time in my life when I was popular. I ruled the sandbox and let the other kids dig the deepest hole we'd ever seen. Occasionally we built a sand castle, but those didn't last long. The hole, however, is still there, in the left corner of the sandbox of my old kindergarten

6: Books are the greatest invention ever
I learned to read and quickly got addicted. By the time I was six, I read ten books a week.

7: 'Made with love' is better than 'made by machines'
I spent the whole summer in the US when I was seven. My parents and their friends visited a ton of national parks and bought an official national park pass. My friend Cloudy and I made our own national park passes. To us, they were more beautiful than the original ones, even though they almost fell apart after that summer.

8: Teachers aren't always right
Not everything a teacher says is true, but they don't want to admit it.

9: Superhero stories are fun to write
I started seriously writing at age 9. All stories were about superheroes. At school I was always the first to finish all my work and in my spare time I was allowed to write. At some point I spent more time writing about superheroes than actually learning stuff. It was awesome.

10: Face the fact that cheese is the meaning of life
Kim Possible was my hero when I was 10. One of my favorite episodes was the one in which they travel through time and a bunch of naked mole rats ask Rufus what the meaning of life is. He answers: Cheese.
For years to come I'd ruin every attempt of having philosophical conversation by proclaiming that cheese is the meaning of life. My teachers didn't appreciate it, but it did make life a whole lot easier: at least I didn't have to worry about the meaning of life anymore.

11: Nasua are cute (and no one will believe you on that)
They're called 'nose bears' in Dutch and they're unbelievably cute. After seeing them in Costa Rica they landed on my list of favorite animals, but when I told people at home about them, they didn't even believe these animals exist!

12: In the end you'll always find the right people
Life isn't always easy if you're introverted like me. Making new friends who actually like you for who you are can take some time, but in the end you'll always find them.

13: If your entire class says someone likes you, it's probably true
I am really stupid when it comes to guys, but if 40 out of 50 people say a guy likes you (and they others think it but don't want to tell you because they know you'll freak out), they are probably right. In my case, they were very, very right.

14: Don't listen to country music when your heart is broken
When you get hurt, you need to find a way to deal with that pain and move on. I turned to sad country music, which is not the way to go. It only made me feel worse... So no country music when your heart is smashed to pieces!

15: City pigeons are evil
At this point in life, I started to go to the big city of Rotterdam every now and then. The pigeons there are of a whole different kind than the ones in my kind of rural hometown: they are way more evil. They will do anything to steal your food. This life lesson was confirmed once again when I was in Rome and a pigeon tackled my face...

16: Don't fall for guys just because they can have a Seneca Crane beard
One of the biggest mistakes of my life. I don't think this needs any further explanation.

17: Peruvian hats are the best
Seriously, they might not look awesome, but they're soft and warm and they look pretty cool on me, which is always good. They keep your ears nice and warm, they're simply perfect.

18: Don't put your phone on vibrate in class
Eventually I found some friends who thought I was interesting enough to text all the time. I had my phone almost always on vibrate, which I forgot one day when I put my phone on my desk in class. A friend texted me, the teacher noticed (it was impossible not to notice it) and I had a lot of awkward explaining to do...

19: Online friends are just as valuable as real life friends
Over the past couple of months I've had the chance to become increcibly closewith some of my blog buddies. I always laughed at the people on Catfish, but now I understand how much you can care about people you've never met. My blog buddies are the best, they're always there for me and helped me through some tough times. They are just as amazing (maybe even more amazing) as friends I met in real life. #spacepoliceradio, thanks for being there and thanks for being awesome!

Those are the 19 important things I learned in my life. What would be on your list of important life lessons? Let me know in the comments and have some cake to celebrate my birthday!
Stay Awesome!

Literally months ago Dian from The Happy Candle nominated me for the Liebster Award. I wasn't sure if I was going to accept, because I've done a little too many Liebster Award posts throughout the years. But then I looked at Dian's post and I wasso impressed by the creative twist she'd given it that I couldn't help but accept. One of the other people who'd been nominated (back then known as Neal Kind) also did something very creative, so I felt like I couldn't stay behind. That's why I drew my answers instead of writing them down. Thank you, Dian, for nominating me and making the Liebster Award a little more awesome!

Source

It happens at the most unexpected moments: when I'm in the cookie aisle in the supermarket, when I'm walking in the park or when I open an old book. A smell, a sound, a sudden movement in the corner of my eye. The memories immediately come rushing back, as if a dam in my mind has just broken. Novato. The memories take me back to Novato, California, where I spent most of my childhood summers.
Usually I rush home when this happens - people always give me weird looks when I'm grinning for no apparent reason. Back home I make myself a cup of tea and talk to my mom. I tell her about that smell, that sound, that movement. 'It reminded me of Novato.' Those are the magic words. In that moment, my mom and I go back in time to those summers in Novato. We start to play a game of 'Do You Remember?', talk and laugh until we cry.

Do you remember the dog mattress?
Do you remember the deer in the vineyard?
Do you remember the rout to Indian Tree?
I smile when I think of those cool mornings, when I woke up to see deer standing in the backyard. I shake my head warily when I think of the sweltering heat of the early afternoons. My feet get itchy when I think of the countless splinters I got from walking on the wooden deck.
Yes, I do remember all those things.

Do you remember playing The Game of Life and losing the pieces?
Do you remember Cloudy and Maui?
Do you remember talking under water in the pool?
I laugh until I cry when I think of all the pranks my friends and I pulled on each other. I bounce in my chair with excitement when I think about Amen Boo and the tree houses in Marshmallow City. I snicker when I think of chicken in Mongolian Beef. Yes, I do remember all those things.

Do you remember going to Fresh Choice?
Do you remember Bird Poop Rock?
Do you remember The Mail Game?
I turn red with embarrassment when I think of hiding my friend's stuffed animal in the vase behind the door. I sing again when I think of our variation on 'the wheels on the bus': the people on the bus go tattoo, tattoo, tattoo! I blink away the tears when I think of our hand made National Park Passes.
Yes, I do remember all those things. But I don't just remember them, I cherish them. I'll keep telling the stories, I'll keep looking at the pictures and I'll keep laughing at our silliness until the day I'm in Novato again. The past was a beautiful place for us, for me, the boy I called Maui and the girl I called Fruit Loops. We had some great times together, but those years are far behind us. And when I look into my mom's eyes when we're remeniscing over a cup of tea, I know that these old memories won't fade, no, but they do need some company. I guess it's time for the three of us to meet up one last time in Novato. That time might come sooner than you'd expect. But until that time comes, my dear Maui and Cloudy, I just want to ask you: do you remember me?

Stay Awesome.

It's been 2.5 years since I threw my pencils down in art class. I was done with explaining where my inspiration came from (apparently Harry Potter isn't inspirational enough). I was tired of using materials I didn't want to use (apparently using pencils was too boring and easy). But most of all I was tired of the disapproving looks my teacher shot me every time I drew something in my manga-like style. I didn't touch a pencil, paint or charcoal in months. All the fun was gone. Until a few months ago.

I think it all started when my blog buddies and I were discussing superpowers. The new Avengers movie was about to be released and I couldn't help wondering what my superpowers would be. It didn't take my friends and me long to decide that I'd be an ice queen - literally. It sounded a bit like Frozen, which I didn't want to be compared with, so I decided to draw myself as superhero Enfreeze.

Machetes make everything look more bad ass

A few sketches later I got a much more bad ass ice queen with a machete, who was also scientifically correct thanks to #spacepoliceradio.
While drawing this I noticed it was quite a lot of fun to do. Slowly I got back into it. I drew Batman for a friend's birthday, I drew a self portrait on the back of my final grammar test and suddenly some silly doodles popped up in my old sketch book.

Lyrics are a great inspiration for stuff like this :)

It's summer vacation now, which means I'm bored most of the time. I could have tried to find a job, but instead I picked up my pencils again - partly because of Dian from The Happy Candle, but more on that soon.
I enjoy making silly little sketches again, especially because I don't have to explain to anyone why I decided to draw myself as the Hulk. I enjoy making little mistakes, because nothing depends on it. But most of all I like to see other people smile because of something I made. It doesn't matter it they smile because they think it's pretty, or because they think it's silly. That smile makes my day.
As much as I love drawing, I'm inspirationless most of the time. So if there's anything you'd like to see me draw, let me know in the comments. I'll try anything from chibis in shark costumes to portraits :)

Stay Awesome!

Summer 2001. Somewhere in France dozens of cyclists are making their way towards Paris, all hoping to bring the yellow jersey home. Hundreds of kilometers away, in the Dutch polder, a little blonde girl is staring at the cyclists of the Tour de France as they fly by on the television screen in front of her. Her green eyes are wide with wonder and excitement as she witnesses mass sprints, crashes and drug scandals unfold for the very first time.
Summer 2015. Dozens of cyclists are preparing themselves for the second stage of the Tour de France, which starts in the Netherlands. The little blonde girl has grown up, but her green eyes are still wide with wonder and excitement as she stands along the route of this second stage, patiently waiting for her heroes to cycle by. That girl, as you've probably guessed by now, is me.

Most people my age don't care much about the Tour de France. They don't want to waste their time watching some skinny men race each other on the French roads for three weeks. A part of me can understand that. A far bigger part of me, however, gets overexcited every July and wishes everyone would feel the same. The Tour is part of my life, just like this blog and travelling are parts of my life. I was born on a 'Tour day' and watching the race together has become a family tradition in teh Fisher household. And, when you grow up with the Tour de France like that, it's not boring to spend five hours in front of the tv during an uneventful stage, oh no. When the Tour flows through your veins, you see the tactical games the teams are playing, you see your heroes become legends or crash and burn before they reach Paris. You see alliances form and feuds come into existence. You see fights and crashes, you hear the rumours about drugs, you see everything. It's like a virus, and once you've caught it you can't get rid of it.

For years I've walked around with the Tour de France Virus. In 2013 half of my country got infected when two Dutch cyclists were positioned in the Top 10.
Today everyone seems to be crazy about the Tour. There's a very simple reason for that: the first two stages take place in the Netherlands. People have put up banners and signs to show their support. Everyone wants to be part of the circus that is the Tour de France.
Today's stage starts in Utrecht and goes to Zeeland, over Rotterdam. I've been looking forward to this day for months. Today the Tour will come close to my hometown: a mile from my front door to be exact. My heroes will race each other on their way to Rotterdam, on the same road I take to college every single day. Watching that happen, not on tv but in real life, is a once in a lifetime experience. And watching that happen is exactly what I'm going to do right now!

Stay Awesome!

You've probably seen reviews of this book pop up in our part of the blogosphere lately. Bryleigh from A Little Yarn Blossom and I also got the chance to review this book, but we decided to shake things up a little and do a discussion style post instead of a review!
My commentary is written in blue, Bryleigh's is written in purple. Enjoy!