Every Hello is a Goodbye

9 June 2013It is impossible to do a journey like this and not learn how to be without certain people. The first year on the road I would have days that I was experiencing minor forms of homesickness. Not only to my friends and family in the Netherlands, but also to people I met only one or two nights before, if we had an especially good connection. But without noticing when it happened exactly, I realized at some point that I stopped experiencing this. Whenever I felt this way, almost always, that same evening I would meet another person or another family that was equally wonderful, and I guess my brain stopped making a big deal out of it. Is homesickness or whatever you want to call it then not an emotion? Is it the result of certain modes of thinking? [ Read on »]

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The Queen and the Soldier

30 April 2013The Queen of the Netherlands has called it quits. After a thirty three year reign she is passing the buck to her son today. She announced her abdication herself about three months ago, which according to some anti monarchists is too short a period to organize any real protest. This may be, but the fact of the matter is that a vast majority of the Dutch population is in favor of the monarchy. How little time one needs to protest against something was shown by the national outcry over ‘Koningslied’, i.e. ‘King’s Song’, a song written to celebrate the installation of the new king. The song is quite aweful indeed, but the future king can be pleased, it diverted all the attention from the debate about the monarchy to the question whether we really want to sing this tune at his coronation. [ Read on »]

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Io non parlo Italiano

12 April 2013Well, that is not entirely true. I speak some Italian and it is getting better every day. In Urbino I was truly tested as I was interviewed by the regional TV station for Urbino and Pesaro Tele 2000. Luckily the introductions to the questions covered most of what I wanted to say, so I could keep it short. The journalists were well prepared, had asked me most beforehand and rightfully concluded after hearing me answer all their questions that it was better not to put me through that in front of the camera. From what I understood from their introduction and questions, though, I must have given a pretty accurate description of what I was doing and why. I will find the Italian in me yet! [ Read on »]

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Colder, Higher, Fatter, Slower, Happier

29 March 2013Ridiculous title of course, but I wanted to do a short update and the Daft Punk song title is a good template for this. So in short: I am back in Italy and winter hasn't left yet; from the moment I came back until now I have been walking up and down mountains; this is harder, because I gained some weight in Lisbon; which makes me slower; but it feels good to be back on the road again! [ Read on »]

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Be water, my friend

21 February 2013There is a book by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly with the title ‘Flow’, about the psychology of optimal experience. You are doing something that is easy enough to not have to wreck your brain, hard enough to not bore you to death, successful enough to keep you motivated, imperfect enough to keep you pushing for improvement, and really, there isn’t anything else in the world that you would rather do. If you have never experienced it yourself, I can promise you, there is nothing quite like it. I have experienced flow more than once, also on my journey, but the past year and especially the past half year I lost it somehow. [ Read on »]

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Happy New Year

23 December 2012I wish everyone some wonderful and joyous days. I hope watching this special christmas compilation makes you as happy as it does me. These people are my inspiration and my guardian angels along the way. Thanks for twalking with me, also next year! [ Read on »]

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All roads lead to...

20 November 2012Dear follower, supporter, friend, fan, sponsor, host, fellow traveler, family member and everyone else that has supported me over the last two years, I am about to walk into Rome, my second destination after Santiago de Compostela. Tomorrow I walk to Grosseto, and with almost 6000 kilometers behind me I have less than 200 to go to reach the Italian capital and the seat of the papacy. Another milestone on my 10.000 kilometer walk to show the power of the internet and the kindness of people everywhere. I have been hosted by almost 350 different households in six different countries: [ Read on »]

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Reconnected

27 October 2012Those that visit this page regularly and check the map to see where I am walking will have noticed that I have been stuck in Colle di Val d’Elsa for a week or two. Well, I am not there. I actually walked on to Pentolina, Chiusdino and Montieri, but my iPhone broke down so I couldn’t update my whereabouts. My phone had been slowly falling apart in the past year, but he’s had a tough life with me on the road. I already had it before I started my journey so it isn’t a big surprise that after three years of service, of which two on the road, it should throw the towel at some point. But now what? [ Read on »]

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Dear believer

7 October 2012Imagine you sent out a message of love and you discover that the receiver is using your words to oppress and to murder in your name. Would you send out another one? So if your God spoke thoussands of years ago, and remained silent ever since, wouldn't this be the time to consider the possibility that He (or She?) isn't too happy with how you have interpreted His words? [ Read on »]

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The Way (two years on the road)

11 September 2012Today it is exactly two years ago that I walked out of my hometown Leiden in the Netherlands. Five thoussand kilometers are now behind me, there are five thoussand left to go. On foot that is, because this journey is never ending. I may live in a house of my own again one day, maybe in the Netherlands, maybe somewhere else, but it will always be a continuation and a consequence of this path I chose, or chose me... [ Read on »]

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Amused to death

2 September 2012Walking along the Cote d’Azur through towns and cities like Cannes, Antibes and Nice I am confronted with the sea that seperates rich and poor. Literally. Fifty meter yachts are anchored a kilometer from the shore. They are too far out to see what is going on onboard, but I can imagine their owners looking back and congratulating themselves that they are not among the ants that crowd the beaches. It suddenly hit me how lonely they actually must be. They have blown up their ego to a size that doesn’t even fit the harbour anymore. [ Read on »]

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If the shoe fits...

24 July 2012While the financial crisis is making itself comfortable to stay with us for some years to come, now might be the right time for some free advice on one of the cheapest means of transportation: your feet. Walking is bound to get big! For some this may seem like a gloomy outlook, but I have had the opportunity to test this a bit in the last year and a half and it has its advantages. For starters there is no law against drinking and walking, you are allowed to use your phone while you walk and people seem to be much more understanding when you don’t show up on time. Never mention the speeding tickets and parking fees that you don’t have to pay. You don’t need a walking license and you get into shape without paying for a gym. I therefore proudly present to you, the biggest invention before the wheel: the shoe. [ Read on »]

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Trash has feelings too

12 July 2012I found my love on the side of the road - Between Sitges and Girona. - She had no name nor clothes to wear - So I simply called her Donna. -- On a stone cold rock and a plain white towel, - Unprotected from the sun, - That beat down hard from the Spanish sky, - She was helplessly undone. [ Read on »]

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Bright lights, small city

13 June 2012The most expensive bar in Spain, a past filled with artists such as Hemmingway and Dali, the birthplace of Facundo Bacardi who later started a small rum producing company on Cuba, residencial town of many Barcelonian well off families, thirty five percent foreigners and as gay friendly as Amsterdam or San Francisco, the “Saint-Tropez of Spain”, “Ibiza in miniature”. There are many ways to look at Sitges, many perspectives, but in the end one its most striking feature is that it hasen’t changed in the last twenty years like most Spanish towns on the east coast have. There are no skyscrapers here, no copy paste appartment blocks, and in winter time it doesn’t get overrun by elderly people from northern Europe. [ Read on »]

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Reconquista my agua

8 May 2012"Can I have some water ?" "Uhmm, I still have to walk 30 kilometers and you are sitting behind the wheel of a car.. so no." "Please, I am really thirsty." Is there some weird Maroccan tradition that I never heard of ? I decide my and his Spanish probably aren't good enough to talk our way out of this somewhat surreal encounter so I start for my canteen with water... [ Read on »]

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The MasterPeace Journey - Alchemist Alive promo video !

31 March 2012It took some time to complete, because being on the road isn't ideal for editing video's, but my MasterPeace Journey - Alchemist Alive promo video is finally ready. I want to thank Sara Natal and Boris Booij for holding the camera's, Michiel van Meeteren for helping me record the voice over and Katelijne Langezaal for doing the final editing. They all participated voluntarily and it took a lot of their time and energy. I hope you are all happy with the result and proud as I am! Please check it out and share it with your friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter and any other site that you use to connect with people with the links at the bottom of this page. We need more peace pilgrims! [ Read on »]

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The Flying Dutchman

30 March 2012You start on a walking journey and find yourself flying all the time... I hadn't expected this, because my plan was to keep on walking till the end of the line and then fly or drive or hitchhike back to the Netherlands, but last week I had to board a plane for the fifth and sixth time in the last year and a half. This time, because my wonderful grandmother passed away at the respectable age of 95, and I wanted to say goodbye to her in person. I would only be in the Netherlands for three days, so I decided not to share my short visit with you up front. There simply was no time to meet anyone but family and I thought it best not to say anything. So if you were wondering if I was lost in the woods or lying on my back on the beach between the elderly in Benidorm, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you nor my mission. I am back on the road and will have that Paella how-to pictorial ready for you asap! [ Read on »]

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In the footsteps of Lorca

20 March 2012It is strange how some places or some people keep popping up unexpectedly. As if someone is trying to tell you something. One of the people that I keep on finding on my path is Federica Garcia Lorca. I accidentally passed through his birthplace and the house where he was born in Fuente Vaqueros. I spent the night in Alfacar near Granada, which is one of the towns were he was alledgedly killed and burried (almost eighty years later it is still uncertain). I passed an abandoned cortijo (Cortijo del Fraile, picture above) near los Albaricoques where an infamous double murder was commited in 1928 and which was the basis for Lorca's tragedy Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding). In the city of Lorca I got stranded with [ Read on »]

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As long as we beat the English

18 March 2012Walking from Penas Negras to Antas to meet my host Diego I stranded in Turre. I had planned to walk the fourty kilometers in one day, but I hadn't counted on the mountains that covered thirty of them. Turre is about ten kilometers from Antas and when I arrived there at seven in the evening the sun was already down. Since the tourist season isn't in swing yet the hotels and hostels in Turre weren't in operation yet. With night temperatures dropping to two degrees Celsius I wasn't looking forward to sleeping in my tent that evening, so when I saw an English bar across the street I decided to check it out for some information or maybe even a place to crash, old fashioned way. And I got lucky. [ Read on »]

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The beauty of decay

16 March 2012In Librilla, a small town some twenty kilometers south west from Murcia, I stummbled upon Casa Mendez. Built at the beginning of the twentieth century it now stands in ruin. A waist, because it is still clear that this villa was designed and built with much eye for proportion and style. But at the same time I have to admit that ruins, in any form, have always had a pull on me, more than any well preserved palace could ever have. It may be caused by having watched too many cartoons in my youth, resulting in some form of scoobydoo-ification. Ruins convey the mysterious, the lost, past greatness, questions about what happened to former residents, owners, and why, especially when the building still shows its former glory, they are left to rot. In any case, if you are looking for a house in Spain to revive and have some money to spare, I could recommend Casa Mendez. Murcia is a stone's throw from Librilla and the weather is, well, Spanish. But please, don't fix it too much, because it is actually quite perfect the way it is. [ Read on »]

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