The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining us!

So Lina and I have decided to embark on a journey together this year and this is what we know up until now.

At the beginning of May we will be flying to Madrid for a couple of days, where we will be assaulted with the realisation that we still do not have a clue what is being said to us after trying to learn Spanish for two months. Before we can fully recover from this shock we will step on a plane to make the jump to Bogota, Colombia.

From Bogota we will go to Cartagena where we can explore the coastline and hopefully pay a visit to the ‘casa en el agua‘ for some serious R&R with fresh seafood, cocktails, and hammocks.

All rested up and with work and the dark winter days of Holland a distant memory, we can head down to Medellin. There we will find one of the true treasures of this trip: Kitty.

Now Kitty is not, as you would suspect, a kitten (or some synthesized designer drug similar to miauw-miauw), but a good friend of mine who would probably prefer me referring to her as Kirsten. I had the extreme pleasure of getting to know her back in high school and we have since met up in seven different countries. Never one to sit still, she has moved around continuously, providing me with a ‘good excuse’ to visit each respective country. Now this excuse has led me to visit her and her amazing girlfriend Gioel in Colombia.

Once we are in Medellin we will be treated to what Kirsten has referred to as ‘The VIP tour of Medellin’. I can only imagine that this will more than live up to its name. She has in the past already alluded to having found the best gelato shop in Medellin which – coming from someone who has already treated me to the best Gelato in Milan – has gotten me truly excited.

It is from this point forward however that the plan breaks down into a confused horde of questions that, up until now, remain unanswered.

You see, we would also like to work abroad once the travelling is over. I have been trying to find a job at clinics in remote locations and I am still working on a definitive plan.
Lina would like to work with a local NGO on women’s rights and/or conduct research. Due to the possible need to travel long distances or stay in remote locations for a longer period of time, knowing where we will eventually end up will affect our budget and travel plans.

So at the moment the more concrete options that I am looking into and applying for:

1. Papua New Guinea, in a remote village with a clinic that supports 30,000 people.
2. Guatemala, in a clinic in the mountains that supports 20,000 people
3. Aruba, at the emergency ward in the local hospital

This is not to say that I will be accepted to any of these locations, there is still a large possibility that we will not have a final destination before we leave for South-America. If that is the case, then all we will know for sure is the general plan laid out above with a couple of months of travel to enjoy.

Those travel experiences are what Lina and I will be chronicling here. So our friends and family can follow along if they want to.

“Stories happen only to those who are able to tell them, someone once said. In the same way, perhaps, experiences present themselves only to those who are able to have them.” – Paul Auster