Fun!
I got back from my trip over to the Netherlands last night (late last night, actually) - and man, was that ever fun!
I was pleasantly surprised when I set off last Wednesday. After the last time I flew with BMIbaby I thought - and in fact swore - that I'd never fly with them again. I thought that anyone deserves a second chance, so I chanced them again, and I don't regret it. I declined to check in any baggage for one thing, resulting in an online check-in giving me more spare time on the way therem so that I popped in to see my nan on the way to the airport (she's one stop before the station I need anyhow) and she was grateful to see me. I strolled into the airport with plenty of time to spare; Dom called me up to say hey and I read a book for the remaining time, then we got ushered directly onto the plane ... no waiting around like a herd of sheep, which was a nice surprise. I arrived early, and supressed the desire to look smug in front of all the people waiting for baggage, as I'm nice like that ;)
Upon arrival I decided that if I can handle the train system in Tokyo, I can handle it anywhere, and the fact I seemed to need three trains to get to Zoetemeer to visit Lesya and Jeroen didn't put me off. I learned later that I didn't take the fastest route, but I'm what I class as a "pussy traveller" - I'll take the route that's generally a dead cert as opposed to taking a risk and getting horribly lost! :D I spent a lovely couple of days with them both, had a GREAT time and did plenty of catching up - I worked out I haven't seen them in well over a year now, possibly a lot longer! - and also got to see Leiden, which is a pretty cool place (in my humble opinion, of course!). On Friday evening we travelled to Utrecht and met up with Nele and Koen, and had dinner in what's got to be one of the most charming restaurants I've seen in a good long while; and no, it's not just because I liked the waitress' ass either, though that helped! I travelled back to Eindhoven with Nele and Koen and had a great time there, too. I avoided playing Singstar (woohoo!) but did get to spend a lot of time relaxing in wonderful company, and also took the time to look around the centre of Eindhoven a good couple of times during my stay there. I even managed to brave the bus(es) and get back to Nele's place alone despite not even knowing her address; thank goodness for a giant shopping centre not too far from where she lives, it makes a great landmark, if not an attractive one!
Nele's cat is still WAY too cute for it's own good, and regarded me curiously throughout my stay there; this is more than I can say for Lesya's cat which not only avoided me the whole time, but hissed at me as I went up the stairs as she thought I was following her! Yipes!
All in all, I can't thank Nele, Koen, Lesya and Jeroen enough... I felt thorougly relaxed, loved the culture and the language over there (though I still profess to understanding little of either!) and managed to contact Anniek, who I was a mere year and a half late emailing (Yipes again!); it's a shame that Netherlands lost to Russia as I was really enjoying seeing guys all over the place dressed in (or dyed in some cases) orange! It's odd really ... I've mentioned to Nele before that I seem to spend more time being sterotypically "English" while I'm over there than I do over here. I don't watch football, but really enjoyed the match even despite the result in the end!
I also managed to meet up with one of the guys I play World of Warcraft with while I was over there this time, too - I met up with him on Saturday and we toured Eindhoven a little more as neither of us had spent much time in the centre before, before grabbing lunch - where I got SUNBURNT! I'm not used to this - England HAS no sun, after all - but thanks to Nele's ministrations I'm feeling a lot less sore and only slightly redder. No, wait, that sounds kinda wrong .... ah well, you know what I mean!
In fact, since I've got back, I feel healthier and have been making use of this to do stupid things like catch up with the housework, have a clean out, do some gardening (more like deforestation at this point) and am looking at doing more things around the house, for home improvements. That's the blessing and curse of coming back from seeing my friends - I feel .... enthused all of a sudden *shudders* After speaking with Jeroen I'm also kicking myself, in a good way - he's done a lot of the Microsoft exams I was looking at doing some 4-5 years back and just never dragged myself to, and even more ironically the study materials he recommended are - you guessed it - ones I already have and never even damned used. So now I'm working on that in my spare time too ... time to improve myself :)
Hope you've all had an excellent week too! Pictures may be uploaded soon, just as soon as I get around to it in fact ...
I was pleasantly surprised when I set off last Wednesday. After the last time I flew with BMIbaby I thought - and in fact swore - that I'd never fly with them again. I thought that anyone deserves a second chance, so I chanced them again, and I don't regret it. I declined to check in any baggage for one thing, resulting in an online check-in giving me more spare time on the way therem so that I popped in to see my nan on the way to the airport (she's one stop before the station I need anyhow) and she was grateful to see me. I strolled into the airport with plenty of time to spare; Dom called me up to say hey and I read a book for the remaining time, then we got ushered directly onto the plane ... no waiting around like a herd of sheep, which was a nice surprise. I arrived early, and supressed the desire to look smug in front of all the people waiting for baggage, as I'm nice like that ;)
Upon arrival I decided that if I can handle the train system in Tokyo, I can handle it anywhere, and the fact I seemed to need three trains to get to Zoetemeer to visit Lesya and Jeroen didn't put me off. I learned later that I didn't take the fastest route, but I'm what I class as a "pussy traveller" - I'll take the route that's generally a dead cert as opposed to taking a risk and getting horribly lost! :D I spent a lovely couple of days with them both, had a GREAT time and did plenty of catching up - I worked out I haven't seen them in well over a year now, possibly a lot longer! - and also got to see Leiden, which is a pretty cool place (in my humble opinion, of course!). On Friday evening we travelled to Utrecht and met up with Nele and Koen, and had dinner in what's got to be one of the most charming restaurants I've seen in a good long while; and no, it's not just because I liked the waitress' ass either, though that helped! I travelled back to Eindhoven with Nele and Koen and had a great time there, too. I avoided playing Singstar (woohoo!) but did get to spend a lot of time relaxing in wonderful company, and also took the time to look around the centre of Eindhoven a good couple of times during my stay there. I even managed to brave the bus(es) and get back to Nele's place alone despite not even knowing her address; thank goodness for a giant shopping centre not too far from where she lives, it makes a great landmark, if not an attractive one!
Nele's cat is still WAY too cute for it's own good, and regarded me curiously throughout my stay there; this is more than I can say for Lesya's cat which not only avoided me the whole time, but hissed at me as I went up the stairs as she thought I was following her! Yipes!
All in all, I can't thank Nele, Koen, Lesya and Jeroen enough... I felt thorougly relaxed, loved the culture and the language over there (though I still profess to understanding little of either!) and managed to contact Anniek, who I was a mere year and a half late emailing (Yipes again!); it's a shame that Netherlands lost to Russia as I was really enjoying seeing guys all over the place dressed in (or dyed in some cases) orange! It's odd really ... I've mentioned to Nele before that I seem to spend more time being sterotypically "English" while I'm over there than I do over here. I don't watch football, but really enjoyed the match even despite the result in the end!
I also managed to meet up with one of the guys I play World of Warcraft with while I was over there this time, too - I met up with him on Saturday and we toured Eindhoven a little more as neither of us had spent much time in the centre before, before grabbing lunch - where I got SUNBURNT! I'm not used to this - England HAS no sun, after all - but thanks to Nele's ministrations I'm feeling a lot less sore and only slightly redder. No, wait, that sounds kinda wrong .... ah well, you know what I mean!
In fact, since I've got back, I feel healthier and have been making use of this to do stupid things like catch up with the housework, have a clean out, do some gardening (more like deforestation at this point) and am looking at doing more things around the house, for home improvements. That's the blessing and curse of coming back from seeing my friends - I feel .... enthused all of a sudden *shudders* After speaking with Jeroen I'm also kicking myself, in a good way - he's done a lot of the Microsoft exams I was looking at doing some 4-5 years back and just never dragged myself to, and even more ironically the study materials he recommended are - you guessed it - ones I already have and never even damned used. So now I'm working on that in my spare time too ... time to improve myself :)
Hope you've all had an excellent week too! Pictures may be uploaded soon, just as soon as I get around to it in fact ...