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Category: Belgium

Where You Look is Where You Go

Where You Look is Where You Go

So picture this. At the campground, tent close to bike. You’ve been efficient and emptied the tent on the way out. There was no wind last night, so you didn’t bother pegging it except for the front door. You set up the stove to make coffee. Last night, it took to the third-to-last match to get the stove lighted for soup (who knows how old these matches are and things are a bit damp). You want to give the last…

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Late departure

Late departure

Naturally, I didn’t leave on time. I didn’t actually leave until 4 pm. There was a time when packing for a trip was routine and I knew exactly what I needed and where it went. Of course, that is no longer the case. Everything lives in different places now, adapted to the things we do as a family. And I had to find again where it all goes on the bike. Yes, I should have done that in the days…

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On the Road Again

On the Road Again

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a proper motorcycle trip, and even longer since I’ve gone it alone. The last trip I took was just before we left Canada when I was pregnant with my now 11-year-old son. And I haven’t gone alone since Ivo came to join me in Canada. So, it’s time to go and just ride, with no particular destination in mind, although this time, for the first time ever, I’ve planned the route…

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Seeking the Sun Tour 2011

Seeking the Sun Tour 2011

The sun having been pretty much absent in the Netherlands this summer, or at least well hidden by clouds and rain, we decided that the sun was the object of our inaugural trip in our new green camper van. And when I say inaugural, I mean, we hadn’t even taken it out for a weekend, or even taken the kids for a ride in it yet. But here we were, heading out on vacation. We bought the bus on July…

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Lier, Antwerp, Herentals and Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog, Oh My!

Lier, Antwerp, Herentals and Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog, Oh My!

We headed for what may be our last weekend away without Sprocket before the little one comes. Sprocket was more than happy to spend time with Oma and Opa. We got caught in horrendous Friday afternoon rush hour traffic and the GPS, in an attempt to avoid one jam, routed me through most of the rest of the Netherlands, including two other jams it hadn’t known about. I left the Utrecht area at 3:30 or so and got to DutchBoy’s…

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Weekendje Weg

Weekendje Weg

How could we not take advantage of the grandparents’ willingness, even eagerness, to take Sprocket for a weekend, his first away from both of us, so we could have a weekend away together? This first time, we planned on just one night of separation to see how it went. I went down with Sprocket on Friday afternoon, in order to spend a little time trying to get the motorbikes going – after many delays and traffic, I didn’t have enough…

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Camping in Switzerland and the South of France

Camping in Switzerland and the South of France

There’s a reason we tend not to make reservations. The plan was to spend two days getting down to the South of France, spend a week there and spend two days coming back. Only that last part ended up being true. (see the map at the bottom of the post for our route). The reason for this vacation was that DutchBoy had Thursday and Friday the 21st and 22nd of May off because of Hemelvaart (which sounds cooler than Ascension…

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European Vacation

European Vacation

By the time I got to the airport after work on Friday, October 7th (cutting the time close, of course), I was utterly exhausted. I accepted the middle seat I was given as my penalty for being late. I was just glad to start my three-week vacation in Europe with my boyfriend. I was flying into Amsterdam, spending some time with him in Utrecht, and then we were taking his mother’s car and driving to Spain. After the summer I’d…

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In Vancouver – Home again, Home again, Jiggety Jig

In Vancouver – Home again, Home again, Jiggety Jig

Well, I arrived back in Vancouver as scheduled on October 1st and have spent the time since I got back starting to explore my next options (job here, job elsewhere, more school?), starting to work part-time at UBC (to pay the mortgage and feed the cats while I do the previous item), restoring/imposing order on my apartment and getting back into rugby (got my first bruises already – yay!). But there’s one last little travelogue to be written before the…

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