A Dutch Life

I have been back from Sharm El Sheik now for a week but I’m still feeling the after effects of total relaxation, we had a great holiday. The weather was perfect, I get the impression it always is, 38 degrees and a very clear sky. The water was an incredible 25 degrees, and come with stunning clarity. We stayed at the Hilton Sharks Bay, which was nice enough, good standard rooms, and the food was ok. It was the first time I had ever gone on a “Package” holiday, and while I cant say I will ever do it again, it suited us this time given how little time we had to organise it. The main disadvantage of such a holiday is the other guests your share it with, the sort of guests which result in the restaurant serving Egyptian food on only the one special “Egyptian” night, the rest of the time it was standard western fare. Of course the best food of the trip came on the Egyptian night, for obvious reasons, though it still could not match some of the food I had on my trip through Egypt with Scotty a couple of years back…..

Anyway, the only reason we were there was for the diving, and diving we did every single day (except for the one I lost to food poisoning). We got our PADI’s in the first 4 days there, and while being inside doing theory when you could be looking at fish is a pain, it was not as bad as it sounds. We also got to do all of our introductory dives in the sea, no pools for us, and the fish even on these dives were incredible. The last day, PADI certificates in hand, we went out to some large reefs for 3 dives and it left me completely hooked. Future holidays will now be built around the activity of diving. I’m a total evangelist. It has to be the most relaxing way to spend your holiday imaginable.

You are in a sunny place keeping cool. You are underwater and have the feeling of floating. You cannot here anything except your own slow breathing. You can move only in slow motion. And best of all you have some of the most beautiful fish and coral scenery surrounding you on all sides to look at. Really, what better way is there.

On this note I will leave you with the video taken on our final days diving. Jump In!

Diving in Egypt from Daniel McPherson on Vimeo.

(not from the handlebars of a bike this time!)

Aussie mates, see you all soon!

Dutch mates, see you all in a month!

English mates, hope to visit before end of the year!

Everyone else, COME TO AMSTERDAM!

My brother put me on to Kanye West years ago, and his new album has this great track called “Homecoming”, which is a collaboration with Coldplay.

I’ve been listening to it non-stop. Why?

Tues 16^th Oct – Arrive Adelaide

Sun 21^st Oct – BBQ at my folks house

Wed 31^st Oct – Drive to Melbourne

Thur 1^st Nov – Arrive Melbourne

Sun 4^th Nov – Fly Home to Adelaide

Wed 7^th Nov – Fly to Sydney

Sun 11^th Nov – Fly to Singapore

Mon 12^th Nov – fly to Amsterdam

Tues 13^th Nov – Arrive home in Amsterdam

The lovely Petra is coming too, her first trip to Australia, so we have so many things to do, people to meet and places to see. Been totally disorganised up until now, but will be trying to arrange catch-ups as soon as I land.

If you are around, and have some time, drop me a line, be good to see you and for the Adelaide folks, COME TO THE BBQ ON SUN 21st, just drop me a line.

I went to Egypt with Scotty over two years ago now, was a really amazing holiday. The country is stunning, both historically and culturally speaking, and we mixed 5 star luxury hotels with 2nd class train journeys, the Cairo museum with illegal belly dancing clubs and expensive restaurants will stall food. Along the way we took a number of very short videos, and like my other ones, it has been hidden away on my hard disk ever since.

Anyway, I’m publishing it on my blog mainly so that Jodie can finally see the effort that Scott went to to purchase her belly dancing outfit, but also for the memories..

I’m heading back to Australia soon, really cant wait. This time, for the first time ever, I will actually be there for a decent amount of time, a whole month! Petra will also be coming which adds an extra degree of excitement, for the past 18 months she has heard nothing but how wonderful it is, with this trip I get to show her exactly what I mean.

Of course when I’m there friends and family wonder what it is like over here, and just like its hard to tell people how great Australia is, its hard to describe just how great Amsterdam is. Anyway, last year before heading back for my sisters wedding Petra and I put together a little video of what was then our new place (I moved, stayed two nights, then flew to Australia). Thought it might be fun to share it here, so that when I’m back home this time, everyone can see my Dutch life that little bit more clearly…

It looks like we’ll be booking tickets for a visit to Aus tomorrow, details to follow. As well as being excited, Petra (her blog is appropriately called Petrafied!)is a little nervous about our dangerous creatures. To the Dutch these appear as an endless stream of exotic sounding animals not unlike the scrolling text seen at the beginning of Star Wars.

Anyway, it seems there is the list is now one creature longer. 

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Pet camel kills Australian woman

Heading off to Spain tomorrow, taking a weeks summer holiday with my neighbour Leon. We are heading first to Barcelona, then to Figueres, then to San Sebastian then finally to Madrid (where I’m looking forward to catching up with Sacha).

It has been 7 years since I was in Figueres, with my last visit there being a very memorable one. Scott and I were on a tour through Spain and France and decided we should check out the Salvadore Dali museum, as we are both fans. While there, I of course needed to use the Internet, so we headed into the library. There we found just one computer, and a young Catalan women hogging the access. After a period of time she realised we were waiting, turned, and I guess because of Scotts red hair, asked “Are you English?”. With reflex we responded, “No, we are Australian”, proud that this made us just that little bit more exotic. She replied “Well, since you speak English you can help me with this translation?”, so we did. I learnt a lot about boats while massaging the words into perfectly formed, almost artistic sentences. When complete we were invited out for some drinks with her friends, starting at midnight.

We spent the rest of the day chilling out, before about 11:00pm putting on our party frocks, already we were marveling at the Spanish culture for late nights. We did ask the women for her name, but neither of us could say it, we never imagined letters could be put together in that order. Anyway, upon arrival we were greeted by some cold beers and a collection of other Catalans. We spent the first minutes learning how to pronounce Meritxell, her name, finally getting to a point which all present deemed acceptable. We chatted and drank for an hour or so before Meritxell asked if we were ready to go out. Looking at our watches we could see it was approaching 1:30am, leaving us wondering what we had been, if not out, for the last hour and a half. 

At this point Scotty, who was on the end of 3 months or more of traveling bailed, leaving me alone with the Catalans for a night of clubbing. We drove out to what seemed like a strip of clubs in the middle of nowhere, and proceed to crawl down it. Meritxell seemed to know everyone, and therefore supplied copious amounts of free drink. The last I remember is dancing in this huge bar, and watching Meritxell jump into the swimming pool. Yes, there was a pool in the club.

Anyway, its Meritxells 30th birthday, and this is just one of the great memories I have of her friendship. Its going to be fun to return to the town where we met 7 years ago, and its really amazing that we have kept touch over the years like we have.

During the time I have known her I’ve lived in Melbourne, London and now Amsterdam and she has lived in Barcelona, Paris and London. The great bit was that we had over a year of overlap in London, with a particularly memorable summer of 2005, (which I think was the first her and Thomas lived there).

Well, anyway, Meritxell, cant wait to celebrate your birthday, and thanks for dragging me off the couch as often as you have! <grin>

Went sailing this weekend with Wout, Joost and Cees (Wouts Sailing father and beautiful boat owner).

The weather turned out to be a rare sunny oasis in a desert of clouds and rain. I have actually been reminded of what it is like to get sunburn!

Here is a picture of me at the helm, with Wout ensuring I don’t run us aground.

Just got back from Las Vegas, had a fantastic trip, with of course the best news being that Simon and Jessica are now married. They are currently kicking back on their honeymoon.  

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

And they weren’t the only ones with Martyn making his feelings clear, obviously overwhelmed by the moment and the chapel!

I also had the chance to catchup with a bunch of people from the UK (Mark, Alison, Mark, Martyn, Richard, Sarah, Graham, Caroline) and an old Kiwi friend Jen (no Graham, not Gin, thats just how Kiwi’s say it!). Also present was Kerry, who amazingly I had not met before. Anyway, we formed the coolest gang in the Flamingo hotel, spending nights at the Poker table, throwing shapes in the clubs and just generally bantering away.

Overall I came back down $55.00 for the week, not bad, though if it wasn’t for one very very unlucky hand I would have been laughing. How unlucky do you have to be to lose (Blackjack) from a quadruple split, a double double up, with the dealer sitting on 14? Dealer manages to get 21 with 5 cards. INSANE!!!!

But really, I’m over it now because….Something I didn’t lose money on was a flight to the Grand Canyon. This is actually the second time I have been there, but only the f irst time I have seen it. You might ask how that is possible given its is the biggest hole in the ground in the world, well, its a long story, but lets just say that I was incredibly surprised to learn that it sometimes snows at the grand canyon, and with it comes Fog!?!?

It went from this…..

To this!

Helicopter ride was great fun, Champagne in the canyon brilliant, and getting to see it unforgettable. Next time I want to take the canoe.

Folks, thanks for making it such a great trip, see you soon!

I will be heading to London on Saturday, have a flight that gets me into Heathrow at 11:35am. Lots of people to catch up with, thinking I’m just going to park myself in my beloved Notting Hill for the afternoon with the hope that I can catch up with as many people as possible. Suspect the plan will be the same on Sunday, I know, very predictable.

I’m flying out to Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. If you are around, would love to have you buy a poor unemployed beer lover a drink. Give me a call, mail me, or IM me.