Sunday with Friends

Zandvoort, Sunday April 2008. I missed a great beach day yesterday because of work so when I got a text message from my good good friend Julia at 7:45 am in the morning asking me to come along to the beach, there was no doubt on my mind. It was their first time back to Tyn Akersloot. The three of us have spent a lot of time (and money) here and we keep coming back. Although the temperature was fine, it wasn't that sunny, but nevertheless a great day! Too bad I am battling a cold and feel a hang over from two days ago. I took a nap on the beach which was perfect.

Coffee on the beach

Zandvoort, April 21st. Mondays I dont work and with spring weather like this the best option for me is going to the beach of Zandvoort. It must have been around 17 degrees, sunny, windy but perfectly nice and the beach was empty. First day I am on the beach with no alcohol, good boy! I planned to stay for just coffee but ended up having this fabulous salad and didnt leave until about 4 pm. It looks like it is going to be a good spring week for the beach, too bad I have to work.
Tyn Akersloot, April 21st.

Fire Island, the best years

Fire Island, 2003. I lived in New York City from 1998 until 2004. One of the best things of New York CIty is actually Fire Island. This history loaded place is just magical. I had a share every year and spent most of my weekends there in the Pines. First with my boyfriend but later when I was single with a group of friends. Now Looking back and looking at me in this picture I can truly say I had my best years there. I was young, in-shape and full of energy, the adventures I ended up into seem like a century ago. In the coming months I will put more pics up from Fire Island, but this one is sort of typical in its 'Lachapelle' kind of way. I scanned the pic than printed it, but because my printer was out of ink I got this effect: not on purpuse but looking quite good, doen't it.

Miami Morning

Miami Beach, 2003. I have always loved Miami Beach. I started going there maybe 20 years ago when the city of Miami Beach was edgy, run down, boarded up and empty. But I was sold the first time I was there. The weather, the beach, the architecture, the light, this was just the most beautiful place I had ever been. At that time it was just models and muscle gays rollerblading the beach and I gladly joined in with that crowd. I have spent more time on the beach of Miami than on any other beach in the world and although it has been a while and all my friends say that Miami Beach has lost its vibe, I continue to have warm feelings for this paradise. I took this photo in the early morning after I parties all night with my friend Kevin. What a surreal sight.

Algarve & Me

Algarve, May 2007. I had booked myself a trip to the Algarve this weekend, just for a few days. The East Algarve (and the east part only) offers my absolute favorite beach in Europe: Empty, wide and beautiful. Usually the weather is fantastic here, but not this weekend, so with the forcast calling for four days of wind, chilly weather and rain, I choose to stay here in Amsterdam and let my plane seat go empty. This photo is from last year. I went 3 times to Portugal last year and I am planning to visit the area as many or more times this summer.

Glorious Day on the beach

Zandvoort, April 2008
Zandvoort, April 2008. I am sure you are thinking by now that all I do is go to the beach and drink wine. It certainly looked that way this weekend in April. Because me and my friend Matt were back on the beach on Monday. A fantastic day, beautiful skies with fantastic clouds. The beach was empty and so was Tyn Akersloot. We sat there from 2 until about 7pm and were the only ones there all that time. We had a few bottles of bubbles and had the best time. It must have been about 12 degrees, but sitting in this corner it felt like 20 and we left the beach with a tan. How lovely. And let me just say, how nice are the people that work here at Tyn Akersloot. They treated us so nice, even got as fantastic risotto.
Zandvoort, April 2008

Bubbles on the Beach

Zandvoort, April 2008.
Zandvoort, Tyn Akersloot, April 2008. Another glorious sunday afternoon on the beach of Zandvoort. Despite it being cloudy in the city, it was fantastic sunny and warm on the beach all afternoon. Thanks to www.zandvoort.com a website with webcams pointing in all directions we got convinced to take the 25 minute trainride from amsterdam. We brought our bicycles so within 10 minutes from Zandvoort trainstation we were back at our favorite beach hang-out Tyn Akersloot. Damn: what a fabulous afternoon. Needless to say that two bottles of prosceco helped the atmosphere. It's unbelievable how few people make their way to the beach on a Sunday afternoon... and thank god by the way, much better this way.

Lobster in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, IJkantine, April 2008. Another great day this saturday, bit windy, but blue blue skies, beautiful clouds and just the right temperature to sit outside. So my friend Matt and I took the free ferry from behind central station to NDSM-shipyard where there is the IJkantine. This area is rather new and still very industrial. Now this restaurant serves half a lobster with salad and bread for something like 19 euro's. With a bottle of chardonnay not a bad way to spent the afternoon.

Hotel Heaven

Palma, Portixol Hotel, December 2007. The Penthouse suite of the Portixol takes the entire roof of the hotel and offers amongst others this fantastic outdoor bathtub. I was here for a few days with my friend Matt.

Surprise

Palma, December 2007. Just a few months ago, I spent a weekend on the island of mallorca. I had never been and really never desired to go as I felt this Island was mass-tourism-gone-horribly-wrong. How wrong was I. I stayed at this beautiful hotel, the Portixol, close to Palma, which has the atmosphere of a south american city. Also it has this beautiful beach very close to the city, with a boulevard that stretches for miles. Perfect for biking or blading. Also -how lucky was I?- the weather was perfect, about 23 degrees and sunny. The island was nice and quiet and I am not sure what it will be like in high season. December is absolutely a time of year to return

Gava

Gava, March 2008. Just a few weeks ago I was on my way to Ibiza when I spent a night in Gava, which is just South of Barcelona Airport. This is very quiet area, with the most unexpected beautiful beach. This was early in the morning, sometime around 6:30 am. I can imagine that this is a great beach in the mid of summer, spacious, raw and real. I stayed at the AC Gava, it's a bit of a strange hotel, very business style, but with a beautiful garden and pool and straight on the beach. And only 10 minutes from the airport.

Spring?

Amsterdam, April 2008. I know this doesnt look like spring, but look at the contrast?! Beautiful.

Spring in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, April 2008. It finally feels and looks like spring the last couple of days. The city is so much nicer, softer, friendlier and more romantic now. Unfortunately there is work, but for the first time ever I took a longer bike ride to work, just to enjoy the feeling of spring. With the dry air, the skies are so blue and clouds just look magnificent.

Azur

Nice, March 2008. What's up with that color of the water on the cote d'azur. Who ever wondered why this name for the coast in the south of France: voila. I love this area any time of year, although being here a few weeks ago was once again fantastic. My favorite thing is to fly into Nice airport, put on my rollerblades and skate my way down the Boulevard des Anglais. The start of that trip is a bit bumpy, but the Boulevard itself is rollerblade heaven.

First Day this year

Zandvoort, April 2008. Here I was.. back on the beach in Zandvoort, which is about 30 minutes from Amsterdam. My first day back at my favorite beach hang out, Tyn Akersloot. A bit chilley, empty but sunny and fantastic to be back. I spend any and every moment I have free here on the beach. I know many of you live on better beaches, but hey.. a beach is a beach.

Holland

Dutch coastline, March 2008. I am Dutch but I have lived a large part of my life abroad. The good thing of living in Amsterdam is that I am only 30 minutes away from Zandvoort beach. Although not the most beautiful beach in the world, it offers everything for a great day. whenever I can you can find me here. Unfortunately Dutch weather does not allow for too many beach days and the water is too cold and muddy to really enjoy a good swim. This pic ws taken when I returned from a trip to France.

Clouds

Amsterdam-Valencia, March 2008. There actually are more passions I have. I love clouds. I am fascinated by skies. Like we all know the best clouds are seen from airplane windows. I am a sucker for it. Dont put me in the aisle seat.

Ibiza, March 2008. Before I am going to take you with me on my most recent travels I am going back a few trips. I fly about every other week or so and I am always looking for places that offer an authentic travel experience. I can enjoy a grand hotel in all its luxury, but I can also enjoy a cup of coffee from a plastic cup sat in a tight economy seat looking out over a sunset somewhere in the sky. This pic was taken a few weeks ago in Evissa harbor. I love Ibiza in the winter. It is empty, nice, quiet and usually good weather. This was at 7 am in the morning. I wake up early go to the harbor, order a latte at the Cafe Maritimo and watch the ferry leave to Palma and Formetera. Its just the most peaceful experience.

First entry

Hi everyone, in the coming months I am going to update you on my life and especially on my life on beaches around the world. I travel a lot and finding great beaches is my passion.