Journal
Currently travelling the Silk Road. From The Netherlands to China in our Volkswagen T2. Check out the stories here.
One week on the road
Sleeping in the van in one of the beautiful European gems: The Black Forest.
The first border crossing
We’ve got many borders to cross but the first one is always special. It went smoothly and without problems, will it be a portend for the coming border crossings? Let’s hope so!
The first leg
On Wednesday 17th of March we woke up early, voted and started our journey towards China. We said goodbye to our parents and headed East. For the night we decided to stay in The Netherlands near the German border, just to make sure we packed everything, we are happy...
The route
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Wow! You are going to drive all the way to China? What route will you take? A question we, not surprisingly, get asked a lot lately. So, let's share our route. This will be it roughly. Of course there will be things we will add,...
A few days left
The past weeks went by so quickly, we hardly had time to breathe. We were both in full speed working on the van, emptying and cleaning the house, Yuri was busy finishing his projects and I tried to get everything online ready for our adventure. We will sleep when...
The Silk Road dream
It was our first date in 2015. Both a bit excited as we cycled to the pub. The weather was gloomy, and a bit wet, like cycling through a big cloud. It was quiet in the pub, good for us - at least we can hear each other. Little did I, Milene, knew it soon became clear...
The Volkswagen Van
In 2015 we bought a Volkswagen van, in 2020 we transformed her into a wonderful campervan and in 2021 we will drive to China with her.
Peterhof
So! After a bumpy and long boat ride we are finally here. At Peterhof, it is a series of palaces and gardens located in Peterhof, Saint Petersburg, Russia, commissioned by Peter the Great as a direct response to the Palace of Versailles by Louis XIV of France. The...
Церковь Спаса на Крови
Or in English “The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood”. High on my (Milene) list, but as ALWAYS(!!!) there are constructions thus the main church tower is in scaffolding. Same actually as the fountain at Peterhof, which is also under construction. We always have...
Hermitage and 200 steps of stairs
So as the weather forecast wasn’t so great for today we decided to visit the famous Hermitage. First some facts about this building. The Hermitage is the second largest art museum in the world! (After the Louvre) It’s 233.345 sq. meters, it has 1500 rooms and...
Svalbard, the white desert
We are about to check out and board the Rembrandt van Rijn. On Oceanwide Expeditions I read that the s / v 'Rembrandt van Rijn' was built at the beginning of the last century as a Haring logger. The ship was rebuilt in 1994 in the Netherlands into a three-masted...
The first impressions of Svalbard
After years of dreams, months of looking forward and days of planning, we are here! Svalbard, or Spitsbergen. The land that Barentsz discovered in 1596. I will briefly tell you who Willem Barentsz was, because despite the fact that a sea is named after him, not...
The Easter festival has begun
We have been in Kautokeino for several days and it is only getting better. The Easter celebrations have now started.This does not mean that there are unwise activities all day long. In fact, the opposite. During the day there is very little to do in...
Visiting the Sami during Easter
To get to our final destination, we have to change trains once at Oslo airport and then drive for 7 hours from Tromsø via Finland. But, we are used to something. We also took this route two years ago.Then we braved snow storms and ice slippery...
The most famous tribal show
Those beautiful people, the cheerful colors, the great headdresses. More than 800 languages and as many different tribes, each with their own culture. The reason I have dreamed of going to Papua New Guinea for years.After staying with the Huli Wigmen for a week, it...
Papua New Guinea: a negative travel advice
Rightly so! It's a dangerous country. If I have to believe the locals, thieves are everywhere. Especially in Port Moresby, Mount Hagen and the other major cities. Shutting windows and doors does not apply here in the event of a fire or flood, but in the case of a car...
The first white people in Polongo Village
A mud bath. In the Netherlands it costs money and in Papua New Guinea it is insurmountable. The trek to the middle of the jungle in the Hela province (Pilongo village) starts with an unplanned mud bath. On the way to Pilongo village We walk a few meters over the road...
Hunting crocodiles in Papua New Guinea
Krokodillen. De Sepik rivier in Papua Nieuw Guinea ligt er vol mee. Tenminste, dat zeggen ze…
Burned eyes on the Sepik river
Burning your eyes hurts. My eyes are my everything and my greatest fear is not death, not even deep water, but blindness. Being blind really seems like the worst of all. On the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea I burned my eyes for the first time in my...
From making mumu to machete attack
I did not sleep well. The mattress should not bear the name. It's so thin, with a hard wooden bed underneath that only allowed me to lie on my back. The pillow smells like the many people who used it for me and the beetles outside kept roaring. I also heard a lot of...
Arrival in Tari, with police escort
Je komt er niet makkelijk, rijden hier is vermoeiend maar je voelt je zo welkom! Behalve dan wanneer er een politie escort nodig is om je te beschermen. Welkom in Papua Nieuw Guinea!
An adventurous journey
Een korte rit door het land van het onvoorstelbare. Waar rijkdom bestaat uit varkens, vrouwen een bezit zijn en tijd relatief is. Papua Nieuw Guinea!
Saint Helena, the secret of the Atlantic
Our goal for this entire trip is of course Saint Helena, an island about 4,000 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro and 1,950 kilometers west of Angola. Saint Helena is, of course, known as Napoleon's exile, and he was not allowed to complain. As with Tristan da...
Tristan da Cunha; the end of the world
"Welcome to the remotest place on earth, welcome to Tristan da Cunha" she says cheerfully and shakes my hand. We introduce ourselves and "Oh I know you, Milene!" she shouts and gives me a hug. Kelly is a young girl from England. A few...
Celebrating New Years Eve on the Atlantic Ocean
The water is very restless, causing the ship to sway back and forth. Naja rocking. Do you know that boat in Drievliet? Well that's how this boat goes back and forth. It is dark below us. The captain said this morning that the water is about...
Day two on the Atlantic Ocean
Unfortunately, things quickly go wrong again after a good night's sleep. My vestibular organ does not seem to be able to get used to the power of the Atlantic Ocean. The sea laps against the boat, causing the boat to go up and down considerably. Just...
The last voyage
… Well not our last voyage, but from the Royal Mail Ship - St. Helena. The journey we've been looking forward to for so long is about to begin. From Cape Town we will sail to Tristan da Cunha in 6 days on the Royal Mail Ship - St. Helena (RMS - St...
New York before
From New Utrecht to Harlem and from Fort Gansevoort to the New York Yankees. Everywhere in New York there are connections with the city's Dutch past. Not only a city that never sleeps, but also a city with two names: New York and New Amsterdam. And I am...
The shadow
of the sun
Our world, seemingly global, is in reality a planet of thousands of the most varied and never intersecting provinces. A trip around the world is a journey from backwater to backwater, each of which considers itself, in its isolation, a shining star. For most people, the real world ends on the threshold of their house, at the edge of their village, or, at the very most, on the border of their valley. That, which is beyond is unreal, unimportant, and even useless, whereas that which we have at our fingertips, in our field of vision, expands until it seems an entire universe, overshadowing all else.
Often, the native and the newcomer have difficulty finding a common language, because each looks at the same place through a different lens. The newcomer has a wide-angle lens, which gives him a distant diminished view, although with a long horizon line, while the local always employs a telescopic lens that magnifies the slightest detail.
