I like to pretend I'm a travel blogger sometimes. I say 'pretend' because I feel like I never manage to capture the spirit of a place in words. Maybe that's my inferiority complex talking, but I swear I never do better than 'the city was very pretty' when I sit down and try to write a post the way the big names do. So I've given up on that. Instead I take a more unconventional approach and let you get to know the spirit of a country through the thoughts I have while visiting the place. You might know I visited Southeast Asia this summer, but let's not forget about the stop-over I did in Helsinki, Finland. Want to know what Finland was like? Read on, my friend, read on.

Guess what the cheapest route from Amsterdam to Bangkok is. Go on, guess. With a stop in Delhi? Nope. Via Dubai? Wrong again. Switching planes in Turkey? Not even close. Want me to tell you? Well, if you've read the title of this post you won't be surprised to hear that my super cheap flight to Thailand led me to Finland's capital Helsinki first. I know, very logical, going all the way up north to get to a southeastern destination. Anyway, I ended up with an 18 hour stop-over. I arrived in Finland at 11pm and left the next day at 5.30pm, which meant I had about half a day to explore Helsinki. Sounds impossible? Yeah, maybe a little bit, but here's how I made the most out of it!

Under different circumstances I might not even have left the airport. Ever tried getting into cities like Bangkok or Moscow from the airport for a flash visit? Believe me, ain't gonna happen. Helsinki is a different story though. There's an airport shuttle that'll bring you to Elielplatsen in the city centre in not time. Plus, you get free wifi on the bus.
You already get to see a little bit of the city on your way over to Elielplatsen. I say 'a little bit' because most of it is obscured by trees. One thing that immediately stand out (because the trees aren't tall enough to hide it) is the 1952 Olympic Stadium. I almost lost my shit and forgot about the free wifi for a second when I saw it. I've wanted to visit an Olympic Stadium for ages, so I demanded we'd go there. Little did I know that it's about the only landmark far away from the city center. My dad and I decided to walk anyway, which is honestly the best thing you can do in any European city.
On our way we came across a huge park (which were actually multiple parks as I found out while researching some stuff for this post) with one of Finland's many many many lakes. You can go for a simple walk there, hire a row boat or paddle boat, or, if you're anything like me, be baffled by the absurd amount of geese.

The Olympic Stadium is right next to the City Park and well inside the city limits, but on the way over there I didn't feel like I was in an urban area at all. Trees. Everywhere. My dad and I even climbed a hill that'd put any Dutch forest to shame before we realized that was not the right way to go. With no signs pointing us in the right direction we were winging it - only to find out the Olympic Stadium was under renovation. I recommend going there when it doesn't look like this dump.


Upon return to Elielplatsen my parents decided to go to something called the 'Rock Church'. Helsinki has quite a few churches and I thought this would be one of the most amazing churches I'd ever seen because of the link to one of my favorite genres in music. It wasn't until I saw the building that I realized my mistake. The Rock Church has very little to do with rock music and all the more with actual stone. The Rock Church was hewn in a rock and that's about all there is to it. I didn't like it and neither did the people of Helsinki at first, but it might just be your cup of tea.
Personnaly I liked the Helsinki Cathedral much better. It's close to the Marketsquare and bus station and it's freaking majestic if I may say so. I spotted it from an alleyway on my way to the Marketsquare and immediately had to get closer to take pictures. Then I was drawn in by the music, the street performer playing Elvis songs on a violin. The square in front of the Cathedral is full of life. It's a perfect place for pictures and if I'd had the time I would've sat down on the endless steps that lead to the Cathedral's entrance to write.


With so little time to spend and so much of it spent on walking, my parents and I had to make some drastic decisions and choose which landmarks we'd visit before returning to the airport. So we did the sensible thing: we went for lunch.
As we were close to the harbour, we decided to get lunch at the waterfront market. It's super touristy, but the food options are endless. You can go for pizza, or be a little more adventurous and go for some authentic Finnish food. Like reindeer meatballs. I didn't particularly like those, but you never know if you never try.
While at the market I couldn't help noticing the ferris wheel that looked like the London Eye's baby brother. Or sister. I feel like someone out there is going to be mad at me for gendering that thing, but the important thing is: there is a freaking ferris wheel in Helsinki! It's right next to the Allas Sea Pool, which would be awesome to visit if time isn't an issue. I mean, it has a sea pool, regular pool, a sauna (duh, you're in Finland) and loads of restuarants. Not that I knew any of that when I first saw the ferris wheel. I was too busy whether or not I'd risk wetting myself while nothaving any clean clothes on hand, just for a nice view. The answer was YES. No matter how bad my vertigo is, in the end my answer to ferris wheels is always YES.
The SkyWheel Helsinki isn't huge, so I honestly wasn't expecting all that much. As it turned out the ferris wheel is the best thing you can do though when you want to see Helsinki, but have a limited amount of time. On the way up you get the most amazing view of the harbour, with all its ferries rolling in and islands in the distance. There's something new to look at every single minute. It just doesn't get boring. Then, once you go down again, you'll see the city and most of its major landmarks. No need to hurry and rush for pictures, you'll get three full rounds in the ferris wheel. And if you've got balls and some money to spend, you can go in a cart with a see-through bottom. I am not ashamed to admit I happily passed on that opportunity.


After the ferris wheel we headed back to the airport. There wasn't enough time for much more aimless wandering, but there'd been enough time to see a good bit of Helsinki. It might not sound like the ideal flight schedule, but if you're from Europe and want to go to Asia Finnair has some great deals; just see the long stop-over in Helsinki as a bonus! It is in no way a bad thing. You'll know what I mean when you find yourself walking through beautiful parks while eating ice cream from one of the city's countless ice cream shops ;)

Guys, I'm back!
'Was she even gone?' I can hear some of you think. Well, yeah. I was gone. About a month ago I put my last blog post online and disappeared for the summer. All this time I've been thinking about a way to explain where I'd gone and what I'd been doing since that last post went up. Let me tell you this: the simple answer "I was on vacation in Southeast Asia" doesn't even begin to cover it.

I've been in Finland, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. I turned 21 in Bangkok, obsessed over street art everywhere and sat in countless tuktuks. I've slept on mattresses on the floor, queen sized beds, the chairs of uncomfortable minivans and everything inbetween. I stood in the back of a pick-up truck, got stuck in a bamboo raft with my bracelets and had a mud fight in an elephant sanctuary. I made way too many jokes about the Mekong river, flat islands, and Freek Vonk (Dutchies will understand). I couldn't escape Ed Sheeran, but listened to Nico & Vinz all the time to quote them in the title of this blog post. I met people from Austria, Canada, Scotland, Australia and even one from my hometown (she was a bit stuck-up though). I spoke English, Dutch and German at the same time. I even learned a bit of Lao: Koi mak mung Lao! I like Laos!

I cycled, walked, went on boats, buses and planes. The only thing I didn't do was run. Instead I swam: in oceans, rivers and waterfalls. I drank awesome banana shakes, great banana shakes and not a single bad one. I learned about Buddhism, the way the Vietnam war affected Laos, and the Khmer Rouge. I took over 800 pictures, made four vlogs and countless memories. Then, after four weeks of travelling through Southeast Asia, I sat down on a Thai island and wrote everything down. From the rocky start in Bangkok to the jungle trek in Chiang Mai and the slow boat that took me to Luang Prabang in Laos. I wrote about the Lao capital Vientiane and then about Phnom Penh in Cambodia. I went on to write about Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, then finished my writing marathon with Ko Samet, the Thai island where I sat writing on the front porch of a cabin with sea view. I had pictures and stories for over 20 blog posts. By the time I was done it was time to go home.

So where have I been? Everywhere. Nowhere. I lost myself in jungles and on rivers, found myself in the countryside and busy cities of Southeast Asia. Now I'm back home in the Netherlands, but that's not the end of the adventure. For you guys it's just the beginning. Over 20 stories about Southeast Asia are in my drafts, waiting to be told. I hope you'll stick around for a while to listen.

'Have fun bye'
Last year I stared at my phone in disgust. 'Have fun bye'? I was going to go abroad for three weeks, I had no idea if there was going to be wifi and the only thing my best friend said was 'Have fun bye'?! I couldn't handle it. Not at all. You see, saying goodbye for a longer period of time is an art form. It's supposed to make you feel something, and I'm not talking about the mild annoyance this text made me feel.
As the months passed, I noticed that my best friend wasn't the only one who isn't great at this kind of goodbye. That's why I'm writing this post: to teach you how to say goodbye like a pro.


In my humble opinion there are five steps in the process of saying goodbye. Don't get them all mixed up or things will get awkward. Believe me, my words are all based on years of experience. Let's just start with step 1, shall we?

So imagine your best friend is leaving the country for three weeks and you only have one day left with them. What do you do? Well, you certainly aren't going to shrug and say goodbye early, no, you're going to make every second count! You don't have to be in the same room to do this, you can just keep texting or talk on the phone the old fashioned way. But if they tell you they have to go in half an hour, saying goodbye already is a big NO. You better make those 30 minutes count as well!

Eventually you will have to say goodbye, but sometimes silence says more than words. Or maybe you just need a little more time to find the right words. Either way it's a good idea to take a moment of silence just before you say goodbye. Just appreciate the fact that you have this person in your life and remember they'll come back soon enough. Then, just before things get awkward, move on to step 3.

Now we've all said 'bye' often enough. Nothing special, nothing difficult about that. But I'm not talking about a normal 'bye' here. This isn't an 'okay bye' kind of occassion. You gotta make this one special. You're gonna put your heart and soul in those words and let that friend of yours know how much you'll miss them!



I'm a firm believer that you should practice what you preach and I usually follow my five steps in real life. I'm the queen of crying after a goodbye. But when it comes to an online goodbye, it's a bit more difficult. You see, this is not just a weird tutorial post. This is also a goodbye. Not a permanent one, but I have decided I need a break from the internet. In a few days I'll be on a plane to Southeast Asia and I won't come home until the second week of August. I usually schedule some posts when I'm gone for such a long time, but I can't put the work in right now while knowing I'm rushing these posts, posts that won't get the love and attention they deserve as I'm not there when they go live. There's also this little thing of me just not feeling it when I'm writing. It makes me sad, but I need to find my writing voice back. I think Southeast Asia is the perfect place to get some time away from the internet and get my shit together. I'm going to miss you all like crazy, but it's for the better. I hope you guys won't forget about me. I'll see you in August...

There is a big part of me that really wants to start this blog post with some double entendre (yay, for being dirty-minded!), but I have decided to keep things nice and chirpy today. You see, things are looking up for me at the moment. I still don't know where my life is going, but at least I'm feeling much better. On the rare moments when I do sink back into a black pit of sadness, people like Becky from The Owlet save me by, for example, tagging me in the Self Love Tag, which is actually about appreciating yourself. Even though I'd told myself I wouldn't do tags anymore, but I couldn't say 'no' to this one; I needed some positivity.
It was a little difficult tag for me to write though. Apart from the name that makes me think of different things, I can't help but singing 'YOU SHOULD GO AND LOVE YOURSELF' while writing this post (yes, all caps were necessary because I only have one volume on the rare occasion that I sing and that's loud). Anyway, I feel like I'm getting way of topic, so I'll just get to listing the rules and answering some questions.

1. Answer all the questions honestly (damn, there goes my plan of making it all up)
2. Tag five people who you want to bring a bit of happiness to (can't I bring them pizza instead?)

The way my ex-boyfriend and I split up - over text, without giving ourselves the chance to talk our problems out. I know that his mental health made it difficult to be in a relationship and I was breaking down mentally as well, but the way we ended it was just... wrong. I regret that breakup in every single way and would change it if I could. I hate knowing I made a mistake I can't fix right now.


1) Music by De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig. I started listening ironically, as a true hipster, but ended up actually liking bits and pieces...
2) Trash tv such as Wicked Tuna. Brainless binge watching at its best.
3) Fake ghost hunting videos on YouTube. Pure genius to see people pretend they saw a ghost while they clearly didn't and can't act.

I'd love to spend less time thinking about things I can't change. I spend too much time thinking and overanalyzing my feelings. The latter is a result of therapy and will probably come to an end some time in the future, but for now it's really frustrating to know that your mind is messing with you, yet you can't make it stop quite yet.


I used to do that a lot in October, but it's become a lot less frequent since then. Last time was exactly one week ago. I was watching the Dutch version of Ink Master and one of the tattoo artists was wearing a tiny sun hat. I don't know why, but grown men in floppy hats make me laugh out loud for ages. Every time this guy was on screen I burst out laughing and I'm not ashamed to admit that I fell off my chair and rolled over the floor laughing.


Recently that's been Sterrenstof by De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig. Before that it was a song called Free by Emeli Sandé. Half Moon Bay by Train always did the trick when I was in high school. I could go on like this for a while, hahaha.


2) My desire to make a difference in this world; I don't know how to actually make that difference, but I can work on that.
3) My hair; all my friends hated my hair when I was growing up, but I quite like it now that I'm grown-up and don't care about high school friends' opinions.


Most of my happiest memories took place in Novato, California. Looking back on them now, it's difficult to pick just one, but walking to the pool with my friends and seeing a group of deer cross the street a few meters away is a memory that always makes me happy. It's a small but special one.

So there you have it. A little happiness, a tiny bit of sadness, and one rule left to follow: I hereby tag Kanra, Kathie K, Jerneja, The Girl with an Accent and Louise. Now you go and love yourself! (And yes you may take that whichever way you want.)