We’re going to the Netherlands!

This summer, we’re going to the Netherlands.  But we’re not just “going” to the Netherlands, we’re going to live in the Netherlands.  For 2 months, we’ll be living like locals in the city of Amersfoort – about 30 minutes east of Amsterdam.  On this blog you’ll find stories about our adventures, our mistakes, and our random “I can’t believe that just happened” experiences.

You’re probably wondering why we decided to go to the Netherlands.  There are two big reasons.  Reason #1 – It’s a country we’ve never visited.  Reason #2 – Bikes.   I’ve been to Europe three times prior to this trip.  My first trip was a month-long backpacking trip after college with a friend.  We visited France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Spain.  The trip was packed full of activities and constant traveling. After a month, I needed a vacation from my vacation.  A few years later, my husband and I returned for a two-week trip to Greece for our honeymoon.  We visited Athens, Santorini and Mykonos and had plenty of time for drinking wine and watching the sunset.  On our most recent trip to Europe, still sans kids, we spent one week in Germany and one week in Switzerland.  Switzerland is so gorgeous it’s one of the few places I’ve visited twice.  Generally, my feeling is that there are so many new places to explore that I don’t want to visit any place twice, but for Switzerland, I’ll break that rule any day.

I’m going to be traveling with my husband and our two boys who are 4 and 1.  We’re staying in a house in Amersfoort, which is about a 30 minute train ride southeast of Amsterdam.  We found our house through the website HomeExchange.com and I am soooo happy we decided to go this route.  The family we’re exchanging homes with has two little boys just like us, so their home is equiped with everything we will need from a crib to toys to bikes with child seats.  And if you’ve traveled with kids before, you know how nice it is to have a house to come home to instead of a hotel room.  I’m excited for each of us to have our own room, to have a kitchen to cook meals, and a living room to kick back and relax.  There is also a small fenced yard out back that will be awesome for the kids to play in during the day and for Brian and I to hang out in at night.

So what am I most excited about?  Here’s the short list:

• Biking

  

  • I love that Dutch culture is so bike friendly.  I can’t wait to live in city where biking is second nature.  I want to ditch our car and ride everywhere.
• Old town squares.
  • My favorite part of European towns in their old town squares.  They are usually lined with restaurants, bars and cute shops and are always full of activity.  There’s typically cobblestones, great architecture, and the best ambiance.
• Canals
  • Every other picture you see of Amsterdam is of the canals.  I think they look gorgeous, so hopefully they’re not green and disgusting in real life like the ones in Venice, Italy were.  I want to take a boat ride through the canals, take millions pictures of them and eat dinner, drink wine and soak up the feeling of sitting outside along the water.
• Architecture
  • Old buildings are great.  We don’t have enough of them in the U.S. because our country just isn’t that old.  But in Europe, they are everywhere.
• Getting lost
  • Some of the best memories from previous vacations have come from ending up places we didn’t intend to go.  Whether it was the annoying detour in southern Germany that will forever make me hate the GPS voice that kept saying “Recalculating”, or the random day trip we took to a coastal Italian town after buying the wrong train ticket – these are the experiences that stick with you forever.
• Spending time with my family

  

  • Life is a constant rush.  I don’t care whether you work full time, part time or stay home with your kids.  It always seems like there are 500 million things to do every day.  I’m excited to have a break from my job, my house and my to-do list.  I’m excited to have lazy mornings with my kids where the big goal for the day is to go to the park.  I’m excited to spend 2 months with Brian where he doesn’t have to travel for work.  I’m excited to have time to reflect on how fortunate we are and how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband and happy, silly kids.

What am I nervous about?  Here’s the very short list:

• Long flights with the kids
  • I am dreading being stuck in an airplane with a toddler and a 4 year old for 9+ hours.  On the way there, we’re taking an overnight flight that leaves at 6pm CST.  If the stars align, the kids will sleep the majority of the way and everything will be great.  But, even though Jack is usually the best sleeper in the world, I can’t imagine how he’s going to get comfortable in an airplane seat.  I can’t get comfortable and my head reaches the headrest.  And Ben?  Well, he’s 20 months old.  Sitting still and understanding reason aren’t exactly traits toddlers posses.
• Time going too quickly
  • When we started planning for this trip, I wanted to go for 3 months.  Well, I really wanted to go for even longer, but figured it just wasn’t realistic.  We decided on 2 months because it seemed like a more reasonable amount of time to request off.  But at the end of the day, 2 months isn’t really that long.  I’m afraid that after years of dreaming about and being excited for this adventure, it’s all going to fly by.