Last thursday it was time: the journey towards Michelle in Hawaii had to be taken.

I didn’t sleep much last wednesday on thursday night, we (and with ‘we’ I mean my mother, sister and daughter) had to get up at 6 am in the morning (and I woke up a lot during that night also) because we expected traffic on the road to Schiphol Airport from where my flight would leave towards Minneapolis/St. Paul at around 10.40 am.

We did not thought we experienced a lot of trafficjams on our way towards the airport but this seemed incorrect as it took us more than hour longer than when there would have been no traffic at all. This was a bit sad as we hoped to be able to drink something at the airport but unfortunately we did not have any time for this as they were boarding the plane already.

We made a few pictures while we were waiting for the bagage drop off, I think I look quite tired on them but yah, that is not so weird.. anyways, here are a few of these photos:

I had to go to some other desk after the bagage drop off since I had about 5-7 kilos overbagage in both suitcases, nice, that has cost me another 100 euros extra but oh well, sending it through mail would have been 55 euro for that weight and then I would have to wait several weeks before I would get it in my hands.

Like said, I had to go directly through the passport check as they were already boarding the plane. I had to say goodbye to my mother, Suzanne and Larissa which was pretty emotional, but that isn’t so weird I think, and I went through the check. Now I had to go straight towards the gate as they, according to the data, would be about to close it. ‘Fortunately’ there was a long row of people waiting (just like last time and I think it will always be like this as you have to undergo an interview for the United States and they check all your stuff also) so I could quickly buy a few bottles of water and get my money changed all well within time.

Now it was boarding and on to the States. They made a few pictures of the plane while I was leaving (I did not make them myself of cousrse haha):

The first flight, the one to Minneapolis/St. Paul, must have been a blessed flight. There were both a Carmelite and a Catholic priest on board, I could recognize them quite easily as the Carmelite was wearing his ‘monk outfit’ and the Father had his black suit with white board around his neck. A funny detail: My grandmother, who recently passed away, used to go to Carmelite services and my dad, who also passed away, used to be a Roman-Catholic, who knows, they might have been with me on that flight

The trip was nice, we had some turbulence over the North Sea but after about 15 to 20 minutes it was all normal. I had a seat with extra legspace and I have to say that this is indeed worth the money, it saves a bit compared to a normal seat.

When I arrived at Minneapolis/St. Paul, I went to the row for new immigrants, well row, it was my turn right away and I was only asked a few little questions and after the immigration officer checked my documents I heard ‘welcome to the United States’ and I could go on. I made a joke to the officer a bit earlier that she must be a fast reader as she was going through the large pile of papers quite fast, she had to laugh and told me she only wanted to know if certain documents were among the papers. All in all it was not a big deal, I was through immigration within 5 minutes and that was a relieve when you compare it to the process up until receiving the visa which felt it was like taking forever.

After this I could get my suitcases and I could drop them off right again for my connecting flight to Honolulu, which had a stopover in Seattle. I grabbed a quick bite (I took a Black Angus Steak sub, just like the other times I was at Minneapolis. It is quite greasy but very yummy) and went straight to the plane after that. It was a short stopover so I didn’t had to wait too long.

The flight towards Seattle went also smoothly, I could talk a bit to the people next to me which was nice. Near Seattle I got a short tour (from above) about the scenery, such as Mount Rainier (a very large vulcano) and the house of Bill Gates. We arrived about 30-35 minutes early in Seattle and since we had to leave the plane during this stop (they clean the plane, refuel it and such) I grabbed another bite which I could really use as I was getting quite tired.

We could board a bit later for Honolulu. The first part, I think this took about an hour or even longer, we experienced quite some turbulence. It is weird, the turbulence above the North Sea was a bit scary but you’re more like ‘whatever’ when you’re flying for a whole day. After a while of turbulence we got an easier flight, I could sleep here for about an hour (which was really needed) and after over 5 hours flying from Seattle we arrived in Honolulu.

The first thing I thought when I got off the plane (and this is probably due to me being tired and packing myself quite warm on board of the plane) is that I thought it was quite cold (and that with about 24-25 Centigrade haha). When I walked towards the lugage claim section I heard two people talking in Dutch so I turned around and asked them if they were Dutch and yep, there were two more Dutchies on board of the plane, it really shows how small the world is, you can find Dutch people everywhere (which happens to me every time, on my previous trip to Hawaii I met Dutch people and also when I went to China, I’ve seen a lot of Dutch people there..).

Anyways, I went towards the claim area and Michelle was waiting for me, I can tell you it was really great to see her finally again and I’m happy to say it was the same for her

So, we now reached saturday morning (which means it is Saturday night in the Netherlands haha) and I can tell you that I am suffering quite the jetlag. I haven’t slept much last night, probably because I took a very long nap yesterday afternoon (which should have been a short power nap), the short nap took about 4 hours and I was really in a deep night sleep which had the result that I didn’t sleep much last night haha… oh well, it’s going to be tough today, I will go to bed like normal tonight and then I should be able to get rid of the worst (at least it was like that the last time).

We will probably get some groceries today, we wanted to do this yesterday but we didn’t manage to do it anymore haha… it’s nice that island rhytm.. it really is like I heard an ex-colleague telling me before about Curacao: “Missed the bus? There will be another one tomorrow”, with other words:there is an other day tomorrow. But yah, since we didn’t do it, we had to eat out yesterday so I had some great Kalua pork as breakfast/lunch and in the evening I had some nice Korean food.

Yeah, I could get used to this

Today I had to give the keys of my home back to my landlord. I’m writing this post now from my mothers’ address where I am living for a couple of weeks since last weekend, until I move to Michelle. So, another chapter has been closed.

I have to say that it wasn’t all that easy. Last week it was the last days of my old address and it wasn’t all that easy for me, knowing that I had to leave my home and my belongings after living there for three years. The last evening and night were not much fun, a lot of things were sold already but still, even though it was already a bit more empty, it still looked like my home. I turned off the television that night with an uneasy feeling and turned my television off while saying something like ‘Well, this is the last time that I turn you off’, to give an idea of how I felt myself. Of course it is all just materialistic but still, these were ‘my’ things that I used for (sometimes many) years. I didn’t sleep good that night either, knowing it would be the last night in ‘my’ bed, in ‘my’ home.

The rest of my stuff that I still had was either sold or thrown away the day after. The date to give my keys back was scheduled for today, the 18th of September, so the place had to be emptied. The only thing I took with me to my mother (and therefore take with me to Michelle) will be my clothes (and not even all, really a lot of clothes were given away to some charity thing), personal belongings like pictures and things that I have inherited from my father, grandpa and grandma and such, and the most important papers. The rest is either sold or brought away to the dump.

My home was completely empty after that Saturday and it did not feel like my home where I lived several years anymore but it felt more like the place where I entered 3 years ago without having any feelings for it at that time. I thought to myself that it was a lot better since now at least I didn’t feel really sad anymore.

Ok, so today was the day that I had to give my keys back to the landlord today and said goodbye to my neighbors also. Again things weren’t so easy for me when this all happened, I didn’t really expect it since I had little feelings with this place when I closed the door last Saturday but yeah, still it was a bit hard because, for example, I do not know if I will ever get back in that street or will see my neighbors again. I promised them to send them a card from the islands and, who knows, I might see them somewhere someday again.

Right, like said, we closed another chapter, one of many in this period of time.