June 12, 2021

Three years ago I bought a car. Not just any car. A Mitsubishi L300. Not just any Mitsubishi L300, the kind that has four wheel drive. The kind that sits higher on its chassis, so it can take on anything you throw at it. It had the interior of a Volkswagen van, complete with kitchen and folding bed/couch.

I was planning to travel the world with it. Ride it from Amsterdam trough Europe, Turkey and up trough Central Asia and the Stan-countries. Quit my cushy job. Prepared a little.

The days passed and my departure date got closer. The closer that day came, the more it felt like a wall I was going to crash into than a gust of wind taking me away. I got nervous instead of excited thinking about the trip. “I don’t know anything about cars. What if it brakes?” “Am I going to be OK just being with myself for so long?” The uncertainty was stressing me out.

At once I decided not to go. I don’t need to prove to anybody that I’m the kind of guy who travels the world in a van. Nor do I need to prove that I will

Don’t get me wrong, a disappointment still.

With my foreseeable future out of the window, I had to pick up the pace of every-day-life. When you set out to do an epic trip, it permeates your whole life. Everything is short term, because you’re leaving soon. Nearly everything you do and buy is in preparation for the trip. I had cut loose, but hadn’t gone.

Call it a strike of luck, the planets aligning, good karma, or plain chance; I got into contact with Charlotte who was about to open a Surf Shack, and she could use my experience as a barista. With no real plans and a need to recalibrate life, a summer on the beach sounded perfect. I’ve had one of the best summers of my life there on that little piece of sand. The days filled up with hard work, morning swims, night swims, sandy ears, long days, short nights, bonfires, sea spark, sea wind, hot sleeps, caravan, new faces and new friends. But more importantly, it gave me just enough of a motivation and plan to fill up that void left by the trip that didn’t happen.

But the days grew shorter and the sea colder. Summer had came to an end. And I got back into an office job in the (digital) advertising field that I had left before summer. But the longing for an epic trip stayed.

Wat in het vat zit verzuurt niet. A Dutch saying that translates roughly to What’s in the barrel does not mould. And by that philosophy I told myself that next summer would be the one. This time though, on a bike! Because bikes I know. I can unsarcastically say that I love everything that has to do with cycling. Watching races, spotting nice ones on the street, building them up, refurbishing them, and of course cycling itself! Plus, it would take away the stress of a big purchase — a van — and the stress of it braking down —bikes I can fix. So I set my sight on this new and improved travel plan.

And then Corona decided to go on an epic adventure.

Now, three years after I bought that car, I have an appointment for my second vaccine on the day before I turn 30. It seems that now is as good a time as any.