Life By Kristen

Holland or Bust

Number 1 on my 30×30 list is traveling to Holland, a place I have wanted to visit since I was 7. After I read The Diary of Anne Frank my mother told me about when she visited the attic in Amsterdam where the family was in hiding. That, combined with half of my heritage being Dutch- the Netherlands was a spot on my must see list for a very long time.

A few years back, I decided that for my 30th birthday, I wanted to go to Holland, even if no one wanted to come with me. I have been blessed with lots of traveling experiences in my life- cruises, trips to Florida, lots of time out West when my aunt lived in Utah and now in California, trips to Nova Scotia to see family. My first big trip abroad though was not until 2006 when I went to London. I get to travel for work frequently and am thankful I have had a vacation every year at work in the past four years.

But this trip was something different. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong desire to go somewhere. Every time it seemed the opportunity would present itself to finally get to Holland, something would come up- the need to work before college started, the beginning of grad school, the lack of money in general, etc. Even after I decided that I wanted to finally see Amsterdam in 2013, I thought many times it actually would not happen for one reason or another.

But it’s happening. Two weeks ago I pulled the trigger on the purchase button and bought two round trip tickets to Amsterdam for my mother and me. A week ago, she finalized it by making our hotel reservations. The list of places to visit and research to do is growing by the day as we brainstorm what we want to do for a week together.

There is still part of me that worries that something will come up that will get in our way of going- ash clouds from Iceland or some other natural disaster, though– knocking on wood– I’m not sure anything could stop me from having this trip. It’s more than just a vacation- it’s really going to be a true exploration and discovery trip, more than anything else I’ve ever done. I am beyond excited and still a bit in shock that something I’ve wanted for so long is actually happening.