Hotel Jo van den Bosch

... Fernando in Peru !! I am SO happy!<br>I will be there from December 12th until 30th and spend New Years Eve in Den Haag. <br><br>So many exciting things are going to happen, hehe... and please come and visit me in Dublin, you are all very welcome!<br><br>Big Hugs,<br><br>Jo x<br>

Het is bijna zover! Mijn studie is afgerond, de laatste inentingen zijn gehaald, en nu is het inpakken en wegwezen... Op naar het avontuur!<br> <br>Ik hoop dat ik op reis genoeg gelegenheid zal hebben om af en toe van me te laten horen, en mijn belevenissen aan jullie te vertellen, en ook zou ik het heel leuk vinden om af en toe van jullie te horen hoe het thuis gaat. <br><br>Hopelijk tot onderweg : ) <br> <br>Veel liefs, Claar<br>

... the beers ! Brugge is an amazing city brimming with ornate old buildings and cobblestone streets , even horse and carts taking tourists around! (including a few english tourists that shared their fantastic virus with us ) Actual Christmas day was really nice, we had a scrumptous breakfast and a "new" traditional dinner of gourmet - like a little fondue bbq ? with kangaroo - for the homesick aussies &amp; deer for the scruuges ! A lovely relaxing day

New traveloque, new period in my life. New 'old' destination, my home country. After traveling for 3 months with my motorbike through Scandinavia, I arrived safe and sound at my brother's place, Vlijmen. All in all been on the move for about 1,5 years now. Already have more traveling trips in mind. But... ...time to touch base first! Working in the chocolate shop of my parents for a few months, busy December period coming up again ...

... post 10pm food outlet - a friendly kebab man who made us a suprisingly tasty pizza. We shamefully carried our booty into the nice hotel past the strange dutchman, supplemented it with chocolate bars from the vending machines with our remaining 10 cent coins, and then devoured the lot whilst watching campers being evacuated from flooded campsites on the local news. Maybe staying in a hotel was the right move after all...

... but you can see half of the Netherlands. At the bottom we met up with Liz and my cousin Maggie, recently back from Istanbul, and had lunch before heading to Hayo and Indra's new house. The rest of the day was spent walking and watching the kids; on our walk Betsy proclaimed to Maggie (with a veeery grumpy look) that my dad was NOT allowed to push the stroller with Guus, but it was okay if I did. The rest of the evening was a fun one of ...

... that all these buildings were new. Apparently this is where Rotterdam was bombed during the war. No old buildings any more within about a two mile area - well, maybe the vestiges of one or two. I was looking for a bank which would change traveler's cheques for me. Well, they don't. I went to about 5 banks and they all referred me to another bank. Finally I was directed to the post office where they do change traveler's cheques - albeit, as they told me, the US dollar (which ...

... really kind to stop. Only one car did but she was going to A'dam. After quite a long, I moved more south somewhere else and then it has been a long walk to reach it already then the spot was obviously worst and nobody has really fainted the will to pick me. Then the dark arrived and it was already 3 hours that I was along the road. A woman on a bike start discussing with and gave me all her change so that I could take a bus to the ...

... beds to a room. You should have seen the look on some of the girl's faces. Yeah, we've been very spoiled this trip staying in some pretty nice places (Dr. Kumar would topple over). We're settling in now, and checking things out, I think it will turn out well. I just have no patience for people who complain about little things. And, the germophobes we have on this trip, wow! You would think they hadn't ever dealt with messy animals before....Okay sorry, I'll ...

... which created a more natural environment for the monkeys. We spent a lot of time watching the Orangutans and the Chimpanzees roll around. The babies are so damn cute! I want one badly. We also watched the Gorillas get fed (see Pics 30-33). We sat there and watched as the staff threw veggies and fruits over the water barrier that separated us. There was one gorilla who was leaning against a log and would just reached up whenever food was coming his way. He was really cute ...