Glenturret is a small glen in the Scottish Highlands of Perthshire, just north of the little town of Crieff. Within easy reach of nearby Glasgow and Edinburgh, this is the southern edge of the true Scottish Highlands, that extend from here to the rough North Coast. It is an area famous for a typical Scottish bird: The Grouse. The easy access makes this a great area for hiking and camping in the hills. It literally takes minutes to go from friendly Crieff town square to the rugged and remote hills of the Highlands. With my company Expedition Factory I organized an early spring mini-expedition to this wonderful place. Please follow me on a virtual tour to Glen Turret: Continue reading
Europe
My travels in Europe
Winterhike blog – Skarvan og Roltdalen 2015
Intense Arctic IV – Leadership Expedition Norway
Is it really climate change or just a very mild Arctic winter? When we landed at Trondheim Vaernes Airport it was six degrees and the area was free of snow. This is 63 degrees North, only a few hundred kilometers short of the Arctic Circle! The taxi driver who took us into the mountains had never experienced such a snowless and spring-like February in this area of Central Norway. Would this become a spring hike in winter? Would we be carrying our full winter expedition gear across green fields filled with flowers? Continue reading
Rotterdam Citytrip: Manhattan on the Maas
Locally referred to as ‘Manhattan on the Maas’, Rotterdam is a city in transition. Long known as a blue collar hard working port city, hosting the world’s largest port, it is rapidly evolving into the place to be in the Netherlands. Rotterdam is a city of modern architecture, modern shopping, modern food and the country’s best cityscapes. I guess there is a good reason that #instawalk010 is one of the most popular traveler hashtags of the Netherlands. Continue reading
My travels in 2014
With the travel year 2015 still fully open, I can only hope it will become as great as my travels in 2014. So before I start reporting on my trips in the new year, here is a summary of my trips in 2014, with links to the blog posts to some of these trips. Sometimes it feels as if I travel too much to blog about each and every trip, so I hope I will have time to catch up on my work. Until then, please follow me around the world in 365 days: Continue reading
Vakantiebeurs 2015 in 10 selfies
With 117,000 visitors the Dutch Travel Convention Vakantiebeurs 2015 exceeded the organizers expectations (reported by nu.nl). It certainly felt crowded on some of the public days. As a travel professional and blogger this convention is my traditional start of the travel year. The convention consists of two parts: a two day professional conference and five public visitor days. Over the last years the Vakantiebeurs has slowly converted from a boring travel brochure exchange into a destination by itself. Together with my 14-year old daughter we turned our visit into a worldwide travel adventure in four hours, taking the challenge to capture the event in ten selfies. We were assisted by a selfie contest, with nine selfie spots posted at the convention floors, using the #selfievakantiebeurs hashtag. It wasn’t even easy to find all spots, but ultimately we even found one extra under water! So here we go on a virtual tour of Vakantiebeurs 2015 in 10 selfies: Continue reading
Road trip: Best of Britain in a British Roadster
A few years ago I was able to purchase a small British sportscar, of a type that I had always really liked. An 8-year old MGF convertible in British Racing Green, with a beige leather interior. Two seats, central engine, rear wheel drive (meaning I couldn’t safely drive it in winter). When owning a British car there is only one country in the world where you truly experience the classic English sportscar feeling: England! As a member of the Dutch MG club I had the opportunity to join British MG events, the most famous of which is organized every year at Silverstone, the home of British motor racing! In 2007 and 2009 I attended this MGLive event, making it into a very cool road trip from home to Silverstone and back! The best of Britain in a British roadster! Continue reading
Road trip: Utrecht to Istanbul and back, in six days
This is one of the craziest road trip stories I have. It all happened in 2010. Through social media (how else!) I got in touch with an Utrecht-based artist who was hitchhiking through Europe, along all three European Capitals of Culture, with a caravan, but without a car. I got involved by being one of the very first ride-givers of the project, when I took Tjerk Ridder and his caravan from Arnhem to my home town Nijmegen. Continue reading
Road trip: Into the Arctic
I have long been a Volvo fan. My first car was a Volvo (343) and I have had several Volvo’s over the past decades. Volvo is proudly Swedish. So when I got an invite from the Swedish Volvo Owners Club to join one of their events in the Arctic I only hesitated shortly. I asked my father to join me and together we registered for a 4 day Arctic driving experience. To add some more Scandinavian fun, we decided to drive up to Northern Sweden via Denmark and Sweden, but return via Finland, after crossing the frozen Gulf of Bothnia by ferry. We would visit the cities of Vaasa and Helsinki and return by another ferry over the Baltic Sea. An epic European road trip in the Arctic winter! So here it goes: Continue reading
The best 5 road trips in the world
This post was not entirely my own idea. I was totally inspired by a short blog post by fellow travel blogger We Are Travellers, who wrote about ‘the five coolest cars for a road trip‘ recently. Her post immediately reminded me of the many very cool road trips that I have done over the past years. It even made me realize for the first time that I am actually a real road trip travel addict. Many of my most epic trips were road trips and I still prefer taking the car wherever I can… or can’t… Let these road trip ideas inspire you: Continue reading
Summer holiday fun in winter: #Vakantiebeurs
For many people the first weeks of the year are the time to think about trips to make in the year ahead. This is also the time of the biggest annual holiday convention in the Netherlands. For me the ‘Vakantiebeurs’ has become synonymous with the beginning of a new travel season. In the past I always attended as a visitor, collecting brochures. Nowadays I also attend as a travel blogger, including the two professional travel conference days that precede the convention for the general public. So what will Vakantiebeurs 2015 have in store? Continue reading