who are we

From the sauna to a world tour??

At the end of September 2002 we were spending a day at the sauna, enjoying the Indian summer while sitting outdoors in the garden of the sauna complex. "If I go and travel through the world for two years, will you come with me?", Coen asked suddenly. I looked at him: "Yes, right away", I said and an enormous feeling of freedom overwhelmed me. I felt the warm rays of sunshine on my body, a heavy load fell off my shoulders and a wonderful sense of freedom returned; no pressure, no schedules, no more "yes boss", just our own timing...

"But what will you do with your house?", Coen asked
"Sell it", I said
"And your job?" Coen asked
"I'll quit", I said
"And your dogs?", Coen asked
"Mmm, I'm not happy about that but I'm sure I'll find a good solution
for them", I responded.

That week I couldn't let go of the thought of leaving everything behind and starting to explore the world. One week later I sent Coen an sms that this was definitely what I wanted to do. He replied: So I can vacate my apartment! And this is how our adventure started.

5 years later... [March 2008]

To answer your [unspoken] question straight away: "No, we are not tired of traveling. There hasn't been one moment when we considered to stop traveling and to settle somewhere".
What more can we say after such a straightforward answer?

After 3.5 years driving through Asia we had reached a saturation point looking at temples, wooden huts and rice fields; we were getting bored with traveling through countries whose languages we didn't speak and where, as a result, we didn't have a lot of in-depth conversations; we were certainly growing tired of the never-ending presence of people and the production of decibels that goes with it. 
The message was clear - it was time to go!

But where to?

• China? - too expensive.
• Australia? - too expensive and too western.
• Russia, the Stans [f.e. Kazachstan, Turkmenistan] and Eastern Europe? Interesting, but felt too much like driving west and consequently to Holland. We weren't ready for this.
• Africa? - more wooden huts and crowds of people.
• South America? Lots of space, untamed nature and the majority of the continent Spanish-speaking [which is not too difficult to learn]. Sounded good. Choice made.

Our Southeast Asia Adventure ended and we started our LandCruising Adventure in Argentina in January 2007.
Space, nature, silence and solitude ... we experienced it all in its extremes - a huge continent with so few people but so full of wildlife. Watching the breaching of whales and dolphins a few metres from the shore, walking between sea elephants and penguins made deep impressions. Rivers from which you can drink without getting sick, walking [and driving] for hours without meeting another human soul, being able to bush camp more or less anywhere. We enjoyed every bit of it.

The big surprise of this past year was Brazil, the country which has such a stigma of rampant criminality. Little by little our feelings of anxiety ebbed away - we met many enthusiastic, hospitable people, received many invitations and made new friends. Even now, while traveling in Argentina and Chile, as soon as we meet a Brazilian the connection is there and we know for sure - Brazil is a country we'll go back to.

All in all, we couldn't have wished for a bigger contrast after Asia. But having said that, after all this peace and quiet, we do feel rested to the bone! Even to the point that we now look forward to going further north, to countries like Bolivia which have a larger diversity of cultures and ethnic people.

Frequently asked questions

Number one: "Where do you get the money to keep traveling?"
Answer: "Through the sale of our house and everything else we owned in Holland we had money to travel for some time. Nowadays we make our money by writing for magazines in Holland as well as abroad. Besides, we sell our own unique postcards."

Number two: "Will you ever get used to "normal" life again, after you stop travelling?"
Answer: "We don't know. It's not something we worry about since for the time being we enjoy travelling and are not considering settling down in the near future."

Number three: "How much longer will you travel?"
Answer: "Again, we don't know. We live from one day to the next, are open to what comes on our way and enjoy what we are doing. For now this means travelling in South America!"

Number four: "5 years, 24 hours a day, together in a car - don't you ever fight?"
Answer: "Sure we do, space is limited which means an argument can start easily. Often this happens when we are a bit stressed - because of traffic, breakdowns of the car, or bureaucratic hassle and we both become touchy. Since there is no escape either [in work, social life, sports - so you can avoid each other for a while], misunderstandings don't have time to evolve to major conflicts and are in generally solved quickly."
My mother noticed a recurring remark in our [Dutch] website stories, which I think typify our relationship - after we have spent one or two wonderful weeks with fellow overlanders on a campsite, we can say from the bottom of our hearts: "How wonderful to be just the two of us again."

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