Despite what everyone seems to think, and despite the image I desperately try to uphold on Teh Internets (because who doesn’t?) my life is actually pretty boring. Yes. Boring. You see, on this little island paradise there is not so much to do. There are no bars (not even one where you can sip a cocktail out of a fresh coconut under a straw umbrella). There are no clubs. Officially, there is no…
Every time I hear a story about someone having a horrible first-dive experience my heart dies a little. Being Rushed Unfortunately, these stories are more common than they should be. Last week, two girls stayed with us. One of them was diving, but her friend was not. She explained that she had a bad experience in Koh Tao (Thailand) for her Discover Scuba Dive (introduction dive which may or may not lead up…
“Why don’t you get a real job?” was what a friend of my parents asked. He was not the first to ask, and I’m sure many dive professionals have encountered this question at least once. I like to assume that questions like this are asked with the best intentions or maybe just come from ignorance about what the job actually entails. In this (and many other) particular case though, it felt like judgment and…
There are about 358.342.896 reasons I love my job, and one of them is that I get to see this sometimes: There were around eight dolphins playing around our dive boat for a little while. Awesome. Eight is not so many because, allegedly, you get big pods of hundreds of them sometimes, but they were so close! Tell me, what makes your job so awesome that your heart almost jumps out of your chest from excitement?
So you´re travelling around the world find yourself on a beautiful tropical beach and in a whim decide that you want to go scuba diving (and you totally should!). Or after hearing stories from your friends that just came back from their diving holiday, you decide that you want to take your classes locally. That´s great, we love people who make spontaneous decisions. But hang on a second; there are a few things you…
I think I might be missing ´home´ but I´m not sure. I´m not even sure what home is these days, but that´s not the point. The point is that as far as I know, I have never been homesick so I don´t know what I should be feeling or what feelings I should be looking for. ´Homesick´ doesn´t really cover it because it is nothing like the desperate breakdowns and crying fits my sleepovers…
Because photos are cliché and lists are boring. Imagine me, running around the house like a headless chicken. My room looks like my wardrobe just exploded with clothes scattered everywhere. There’s two cardboard boxes labeled ‘things to keep’ and a garbage bag filled with ‘junk to throw away’. My backpack is almost full but there is still so much stuff left. How on earth is it all gonna fit in my modest 55l backpack and…
In between counting down, pre-packing and saying goodbye to people, routines and places I find myself thinking about the future. Not The Future, as in my blueprint for life (although perhaps I should do that more often) but the future, as in what I’ll be doing in two weeks. Most of you probably think I have a perpetual holiday and sit on the beach under a palm tree, sipping from a coconut, and taking dips…
This is the question that has been going through my head ever since I bought my one-way ticket to Kuala Lumpur. Is it really that easy to just…leave? In exactly three weeks I’ll be jumping on a train to Paris and from there I’m flying to Malaysia, not knowing when, or if, I’ll come back to Holland. I expected to be running around like crazy by this time doing errands, making arrangements, getting stressed to…