A whole lot of everything

We had been looking forward to our roadtrip for months! And then the pandemic hit.

Even though we are still in Covid-19 times, we decided to take our roadtrip to the Netherlands during the last week of June and I am so glad we did. With a very clean car and a suitcase filled with presents, we set off on the 1.800km drive to Rijswijk. Our drive started off very very wet. It had been 25+ degrees Celsius for days, but on our day of departure it was a mild 19 degrees with pouring rain. Despite the rain, it was a smooth drive to the Swedish border. Beforehand, we had already decided not to get out of the car in Sweden. Nothing against the Swedes (of course not!!), but why take risks in light of the current Covid-19 situation.

We were expecting strict border controls at the Danish border after having come off The Bridge, but no. Despite the military people waiving us off to a B-road, it was a smiley, non-gloves and non-face mask wearing Danish customs officer asking us for our passports and then kindly wishing us a pleasant onward journey. By that time, the temp had soared to a scorching 29 degrees again so we gladly used the AC to keep us cool all the way into Germany. After a night at a Budget hotel near Flensburg it was only 6 hours to reach our Dutch destination: my sister´s beautiful house in Rijswijk.

The next days we spent at my mum´s in Heiloo, Marco´s parents in St. Pancras, Mirjam and Frank´s in Nieuwland and Pieter and Marjo in Barendrecht. And we so enjoyed the fab hospitality at my sis. Just hanging, chatting, shopping (of course!) and enjoying delicious food.

Only 3 days before we were due to go back, we received a mail from Color Line. When planning this trip, we had decided to take Color Line´s Kiel-Oslo sailing back instead of driving the whole 1.800km again. Well, Color Line decided we should take a different route. In light of the recent new (local) Covid-19 outbreaks, Color Line has stopped their sailings departing from Kiel. Or rather, no one new can board in Kiel. Only the passengers that got on board in Oslo can sail on the Color Line. They´ll have to remain on board in Kiel though. So... that left us with some new planning to do for our way back home.

We decided to take the Hirtshals-Larvik ferry back. When booking this through a very kind Color Line customer service lady, I remembered why this was not an option when planning our road trip in the first place: this ferry departs at 22.15 in the evening and gets to Larvik at 02.00 in the morning.

So on Tuesday morning, we set off with a car filled with Dutch goodies. Off to Legoland! Just after we passed the German border, we got overtaken by a Fiat stationcar that summoned us to the side. Polizei, folgen bitte. Yep, border control. Even though I wasn´t speeding, nor did we have any contrabande in the car, I did feel a bit nervous. Funny how that works when being summoned to follow a police car. The police man was very friendly though and they were just doing random border controls so they just wanted to check where we were going and whether we had any suspicious materials on board. Besides the 10kg hagelslag and the copious amounts of kroepoek, nothing!

A little after 2 we arrived in Legoland and even though we had a great stop there (in the pouring rain), I won´t be taking that night ferry again! Blimey, I am getting old when not being able to pull an all nighter anymore! We booked the business class seats on the ferry, hoping to be able to catch at least a bit of sleep during the 4 hours on the boat. The seats are very comfortable and the snacks and drinks provided in the lounge were delicious and if it weren´t for the very loudly snoring gentleman in the lounge, we all would´ve been able to sleep a bit.

Getting off the ferry at 02.15, I felt it wasn´t worth trying to find a hotel. So we started the 5 hour drive home. Mik quickly fell asleep and boy did I hear my bed calling my name! Never been so glad to park the car in our garage!!

It was a fabulous trip. A great roadtrip with lots of adventures. We spent the most amazing days with our family and (re)discovering the Netherlands. And now we have to take 10 days home quarantine. With all the Dutch goodies we brought home, we won´t go hungry, that´s for sure!

Coming home to this lovely home, it does not feel like a burden to do the 10 days quarantine. Mik and me are reminiscing about our trip and me and Ylva have already gone back to the huskytrain routine!

I feel blessed with having the best and most loving family back in the Netherlands and then being able to come home here!

And now it is time for a beschuit with vlokken!