Goedenavond from the Netherlands!

Goedenavond (good evening in Dutch) from Utrecht, Netherlands!

I missed my Tuesday post, but better late than never, right?

While looking back on this trip (and others we’ve taken recently), I’ve realized that not all trips have to be these big sight seeing adventures. I’ve talked to people recently that are like “Oh, what are you going to do there?” when we travel. Typically, my answer is, “I don’t know, explore the town,” and they’re almost always surprised that I have this plan to have no plans when we travel. The truth is, it’s more fun, at least for us, to leave the sight-seeing locations to the direction that our feet want to wander that day.

A big reason why I’m okay with this being how we travel, is because I don’t believe that it will be the last time we visit somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the “you only live once” or “you only have this one and precious life” thought process, but I also do not believe that I’ll never return to Paris to walk through the Louvre again, or visit Notre Dame when it is once again opened, or take a kayak down the canals of Delft. I just can’t believe that, because I think it would break my heart. I mean, if I die tomorrow, I still saw things. I still traveled and explored and loved – I loved so much. 

It’s like saying “see you later” to a good friend, you never say goodbye, even if it could be the last time. You look at them, take in their features and you give a big hug and say your version of “I’ll be seeing you”. I think that’s how I say goodbye to places I visit – places I love. Sometimes (most times) I say, “thanks for the visit (enter place here), I’ll see you again soon”. I love the places we visit, and I love the experience and adventures they give us. I love the way I feel when I travel and the love I get to pour into the place. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of. So any time I need to say goodbye, I just give it a wink and a see you later, old friend, and we’re off on our next adventure.

Do you think, that maybe, we’ll one day look back and be like “Damn, we never saw the sunset from the mountain on Maui,” or do you believe that we’ll look back with light in our eyes about our 10 days on a beautiful island with each other?

I think it’s important to note that life is short. It is fleeting. But we cannot live everyday, stretching ourselves to the limit to make every appointment or meeting. We must be happy with the choices we make. And that, happiness itself, will fill you up.

During our stay in Delft, we’ve been lazy and comfortable. This little town felt like home. Not in the same way that Paris did. Paris was more of a heart wrenching love for pain au chocolat and the French language. But Delft was a cozy, lovely feeling of home. A feeling that made it comfortable to read inside on the rainy day after a morning walk around the square.

We stepped off the train late Saturday night and we both knew, just knew, this was a place we could love.

As we experience Utrecht, we’re enjoying a different scene. But we’re keeping Delft in our back pocket, remembering to take out that idea and think long and hard about it, because it truly could be home one day.

Utrecht is an adventure in itself. We have so many recommendations from our host that we’re trying out. Just from the recommendation, it seemed a bit more lively and a lot less quiet than Delft. We’re excited to be exploring this new place, and even more excited to continue our search for somewhere that feels like home. Luckily, and I’ve said this a million times, home can truly be wherever we are, together.

I want to note, life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows when we travel like this. I mean, it’s amazing and incredible getting to travel together and experience new cultures, but it can be taxing getting things organized and making sure we know where we are and how to get there. The act of traveling (getting train tickets in a different language, knowing which platform to go to, making sure our google maps isn’t leading us the wrong way, and ensuring our eSim card is working correctly), can be hard. We get frustrated and anxious and that’s just life sometimes. But the overarching theme is that we make it just fine. We get where we’re going safely and that’s what matters most.

I will say, I think this trip has been our easiest packing job yet. Even though it’s colder weather than we’ve packed for before when traveling to Europe, we packed so little. Only our bookbags (one each), a crossbody bag, and we have a little tote bag that folds up and can be packed away if it’s not needed. It’s so nice only have one bag, and I’d recommend it 100x to anyone who wants an easy travel experience in Europe. Shameless plug – We use Tropicfeel bookbags and love them.

We’re enjoying our trip and all of the adventures that accompany it. It’s a rainy day here today, so a cozy coffee shop breakfast and then a short walk home has been the move. We’re hoping it clears up so that we can continue our exploration of this cute city.

Cheers, and happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Until next time!

-Skye