The Netherlands Archives - sateless suitcase

The European Capital Curse

For some travelers it's the one of the worst travel sins, but I'm absolutely guilty of it: Visiting (European) capital cities. Prague, Czech Republic Budapest, Hungary How often have I had a conversation with someone from England that went something like this: "So, have you been to England at all?" -- "Yes!" -- "Oh great! Whereabouts exactly?" -- "Only London, to be honest." -- "But you do know that London is not England, right?!" London, UK Okay, so besides my linguistic inability mimic a real Brit, these people are right. Of course I have no right to say I've been [...]

By Julika|2014-12-29T14:19:41+01:002014/08/13|Categories: Czech Republic, Destinations, England, Europe, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands|Tags: Europe, Germany, thoughts|31 Comments

Utrecht’s Amazing Illumination Festival

My previous posts on Utrecht already revealed that I really fell hard for this gorgeous little Dutch city, but I saved the very best for last. Because among beautiful canals, delicious food and great museums there was one last thing that I loved even more than all of the above: The Trajectum Lumen Festival. These amazing outdoor installations are where the city's beautiful sights and landmarks meet incredibly creative light design. Illuminated Utrecht at night Utrecht's colorful lighting installations can be seen immediately after nightfall and all over the city. And the best thing about: It's free, it's absolutely unique [...]

By Julika|2013-08-03T18:30:49+02:002013/06/28|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: Architecture, Art, Europe, The Netherlands|6 Comments

Why Utrecht is a Museum Lover’s Paradise

Museums are tricky. At least when it comes to travel writing. Many travel bloggers openly admit that they "don't do museums". Some even say that they don't like museums in general. And from a travel writing perspective, I understand. Museums are not adventure sports. A visit to a museum won't include how I overcame my fear of heights while bungee jumping in the dessert. Or how I almost drowned while wild water rafting in a river full of piranhas. To be honest, writing about museums is almost doomed to be boring. And then sometimes you aren't even allowed to take [...]

By Julika|2013-07-16T21:53:39+02:002013/06/22|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: Art, Europe, Museums, The Netherlands|7 Comments

How Holland (Almost) Turned Me into a Foodie

By no means I'm a foodie. I'm a picky eater. I don't like experiments. I sometimes have to force myself to even try new flavors in the first place. Throughout the last years I have at least tried to become a more open eater and realized that it was probably dumb to have lived more than twenty years without eating pineapples and eggplants just because I was too scared to try them and they looked funny. Traveling of course has made me more curious and more open about food, but I would still call myself a very picky pescetarian. Yes, [...]

By Julika|2013-10-27T11:43:51+01:002013/06/06|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: Europe, The Netherlands|13 Comments

Rotterdam via Instagram

Ever since I upgraded my embarrassing (but beloved), old-fashioned brick stone of a cell phone to a 21st century one, I've developed a slight addiction with taking photos on the road and instagramming them. And I also love integrating my Instagram photos into blog posts as a destination sneak peek, which I have done quite frequently during last months. This time however, I decided to introduce Rotterdam through scenic dSLR photos with blue skies first, although they are not really representative of my stay there... The old harbor of Rotterdam on the one (!) beautiful May day I took most [...]

By Julika|2013-06-04T22:40:45+02:002013/05/31|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: Europe, The Netherlands|8 Comments

Amsterdam – Sex, Drugs and Sightseeing

After finally having found a place to stay in Zandvoort Steffen and I were excited to explore the (in)famous capital of the Netherlands: Amsterdam has a crazy reputation. It's all about drugs, sex and beer, but at the same time Amsterdam has (had) a huge influence in the art scene. The regular train connection from Zandvoort took us right into the gorgeous central station of Amsterdam, which is already a first major sight to check out. After that we wanted to experience the city by foot and boat. Those are certainly the best ways to get to know the city. (Renting a bike [...]

By Julika|2014-05-06T09:22:42+02:002012/08/22|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: Amsterdam, Architecture, Art, Europe, medieval, Museums, The Netherlands|1 Comment

How The Netherlands Detered Us From Camping

I should have known better. Camping and I have never been the very best combination. However, I thought I had improved my camping skills throughout the past years, so I convinced Steffen to go camping with me in September 2009. Yet another story to file under camping gone wrong, although I had tried to plan so much ahead this time. We had booked a gorgeous camp ground in health resort city of Zandvoort located in the middle of the dunes. And in my idea this was going to be a perfect vacation. Our tent was going to be super cozy, we [...]

By Julika|2013-02-07T18:09:20+01:002012/05/25|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: camping, Europe, road trip, The Netherlands|2 Comments

“Monstrous” Road Trip through The Netherlands

After finally having survived our written finals and the very last day of high school in May 2007, one of my favorite travel companions, Carola (she is one of those artsy nerds like me) and I decided that we needed to do something real crazy. So, Carola's family used to have this large Volkswagen van, which had a little hippie vibe to it, but they were about to get rid of it, since it was rather old. We felt like owing that car one last adventure, and thus came up with the idea of a road trip to the Netherlands - [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T05:01:26+02:002012/04/30|Categories: Destinations, Europe, The Netherlands|Tags: camping, Europe, road trip, The Netherlands|2 Comments