To show a picture of our 2018 travels. An overview of Cesky Krumlov, a river flowing through in the middle. The roofs and streets covered in snow.
City,  Couples,  Czech Republic,  France,  Kids,  Netherlands,  roadtrip,  snow,  summer,  winter

2018 travels in review

2020 has already started, and we have already made some trips. But in this post I want to take you back to 2018. We did a lot of trips, mostly in The Netherlands. It wasn’t the easiest year for us, but we got through it and we were still able to travel. Here are our 2018 travels per month.

January

A quiet month, we only took 3 trips. With Yuri’s class we went to castle de Haar and had a guided tour here. It was fun and informative. On a good level the kids learned a lot about how the owners have lived in the castle over the centuries. De Haar Castle is one of the most beautiful castles in Europe. We went to a mass from the XRDS church with friends. It was very different from the Catholic masses we’re used to, but especially Paul loved the set-up. We ended the month with a men day for Paul and Yuri and a shopping afternoon with a friend for me in Uden. So January was a good start for our 2018 travels.

To show a picture of one of the visits of 2018 travels. Castle de Haar from the outside. A castle surrounded by water.
Castle de Haar

February

We started the month with a family trip to Landal Domein de Schatberg. We had a weekend getaway here with my parents and my sisters family. It was the 12th time we did it and it’s fantastic every time. We have family meals, play board games, go swimming, watch movies and the kids playing together and having fun.

A week later it was Carnaval and as usual we went to the parade in Uden. The town I come from. We were a little bit later so didn’t get to watch it together with my sister, but enjoyed ourselves with all the floats and dressed up people. The month ended in the bitter cold and snow in the Czech Republic. We stayed at Landal Marina Lipno and went ice skating and sled’ging. We climbed the tree top park and had a lantern parade. This was our first vacation of our 2018 travels.

To show a picture of our Februari travels. 2  jesters walking on the street.
Jesters during the carnavals parade in Uden

March

We began March in the Czech Republic visiting Cesky Krumlov and did more ice skating and sledging. Paul and Yuri also had fun at the Alpine coaster. Back home Paul had a murder mystery dinner with his colleagues and we celebrated Yuri’s 8th B-day. For his kidsparty we went bowling at Bison Bowling and let the kids game for 20 minutes in the arcade hall. They all loved it. On the last day of the month we went to the Esports game arena with Yuri and a friend. Yuri participated in the Splatoon 2 tournament. He loved it.

To show a picture of our 2018 travels. Yuri is sitting on the frozen lipnos lake. He has ice skates on.
Yuri sitting on the ice

April

In the beginning of the month we didn’t do a lot, but in the middle of the month I visited the Willibrordus Abbey in Doetinchem with the confirmation Group. I’m one of the ‘counselors’ every year to prepare the kids who want to get their confirmation. Paul and Yuri went to the Esports game arena and had fun there, playing video games. On Kingsday 2018 we were in Uden and sat on the annual flee market the whole day. On that day there are flea markets in every city and town. Fun to browse through or sit on to sell your stuff.

That night we stayed in a hotel in Belgium en route to France, beginning our first roadtrip of our 2018 travels. The next day we drove through the north of France to our tent from Koko holidays in Brittany. We stayed at a small, lovely campsite on the north coast. We visited several cool sites in the area. For example we loved the village Gaulois, enjoyed the observatory and liked the big old “hunnebed”.

To show a picture of our April travels. Yuri in the left, Paul on the right. Standing on a log, trying to throw eachother off with blund sticks.
Paul and Yuri at village Gaulois

May

At the beginning we were still in Brittany. We visited the whisky distillery, Armorik Warenghem, and did a tour. Yuri went swimming with friends, we walked to the most photografed house, went on a Shell hunt, in a small boat and a on a long walk down the coast. After that we drove to Messanges-plage in the south of France. We stayed next to the beach. Made a sandcastle, went to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, enjoying the local pastries. Next to that we went to the cite de l’ocean and the aquarium de Biaritz, and enjoyed lots of chocolate at the Chocolate festival in Bayonne. With a stayover in Orleans we drove back home.

To show a picture of our 2018 travels. On the left Cosette and Yuri are sitting on a ball. Behind them a boat laying on the dry land. It's low tide.
Low tide in Brittany

When we were back in The Netherlands again, Paul went karting with his colleagues and a few days later on May 20th he went for a bike ride and someone crashed into him and that changed all our plans and our 2018 travels. His foot was broken in 3 places. So the rest of the month we were at home. I only walked the ‘avondvierdaagse’ with Yuri and his class. It was 4 days of 5 kilometers a day.

June

Well May didn’t end well, but June got off on a even worse start. Paul’s foot got infected and he had to stay in the hospital for a week. After that we were glad Paul was at home and we explored Lunetten a bit in a wheelchair. At the end of the month he felt a bit better and we went to the second Splatoon 2 tournament in the Esports game arena. A week later we did a tour at the Kamphuisen Syrup waffle factory in Gouda with a friend.

To show our june travels. Yuri is sitting in a large gaming chair. Controllers of a switch in his hands. A computer screen in front of him with Splatoon 2 playing on it.
Yuri playing Splatoon 2

July

With Yuri’s class we went to Fort Luna to celebrate the ending of the school year. I started Summer break with a shopping day in Utrecht with a friend, while Yuri and Paul had a fun day at home. Then Yuri went to code camp, where he learned to program games in Scratch. He had a blast. He also played a lot of new games outside. The second week of Summer break we went to the Efteling with Paul’s parents. It was strange with Paul in the wheelchair. We also visited World of Dinos in the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht.

The third week was the start of our roadtrip, the second one of our 2018 travels. Since Paul was still in a wheelchair, needed wound care and had fysio we opted to stay in The Netherlands. We started at a holiday rental in Vakantiepark Beekse Bergen and did safaris in Safaripark Beekse Bergen. Then we went to a holiday rental at the Veluwe lake in Hulshorst. It was still extremely hot in The Netherlands and we relaxed at the beach and in the garden of the bungalow. We had some spectacular sunsets.

A picture to show our 2018 travels. Sunset above the Veluwe lake. Under the water with a boat on it. In the middle an island with a forest. Above a typical Dutch sky. Clouds, with the son breaking through. Coloring it yellow, blue and white.
Sunset

Augustus

We continued our roadtrip in August and went to Giethoorn. It already had been a long time on my bucketlist and it met all my expectations. We went on a tour with a boat and rented a boat in Giethoorn. With still beautiful weather we had a perfect time. After that we drove to the south of The Netherlands. We went swimming, lounged,played at the ‘speelbos’ and relaxed. From Herpen we went to Tilburg and we stayed the night at a hotel in Tilburg. It was Paul’s birthday, and we had dinner at Gember & Sereh with our parents. The next morning we went to the movies and then to my parents. Paul and I went to a concert from Pierce Brothers that evening. The day after we went to a hotel in Ridderkerk for the night.

To show a picture of our August roadtrip.  The canals of Giethoorn, picture taken from one of the many bridges. In the right back another bridge. Leading to a house on an island. A beautiful garden surrounds the house. Behind another house.
Giethoorn

After this we realised another bucket list item and that was staying in a cottage right at the beach. It was perfect, we had a beautiful sunset every day. We build a sandcastle, went shell hunting and flew a kite. From Hoek van Holland we made our way to a hotel in Spijkenisse. We visited Hellevoetsluis, where a festival was going on and we explored the firetruck museum. Then we went on to our final stop of our roadtrip and that was a holiday rental in Arcen. We went swimming, glow in the dark mini golfing and regular mini golfing, a tour through the Hertog Jan Brewery (a dream come true for Paul), visited Irrland and sat on a lot of terraces. Only a week back home when we went away again the last day of August, a weekend getaway at B&B de Hooimoat in Losser.

September

We were still in Losser when the month September started. We had lots of fun at Tuckerville 2018, a fantastic festival. On Sunday we went to the Bruegleaans parade and then back home. We had one other outing in September and that was a concert from Cam in the Sugarfactory in Amsterdam. A quiet month on our 2018 travels.

To show our september trips. People standing on the side of the road. On the road are 2 Brueghelian caracters walking.
Brueghelian caracters

 October

Paul and Yuri started the month with a visit to the Firstlook festival, while I went strolling through Utrecht with a friend. The week after that we visited the ‘Robots love music’ exhibit in museum Speelklok.

Yuri had fall break during October and we went on a 3 day roadtrip with a campervan. We were dreaming about this for a long time. We visited Archeon, Pinball museum and Kinderdijk, all fantastic things. That same week Paul went to a Per Gessle concert in Tivoli, Utrecht. At the end of Yuri’s fall break I went shopping in Haarlem with a friend and Paul and Yuri went to the Esports game arena. We celebrated Halloween at Park 6 Tivoli Vredenburg.

To show something popular from The Netherlands near the campsites. The windmills from Kinderdijk in a row. The river flowing in front of them. Campsites in The Netherlands.
Kinderdijk

November

At the beginning of November we visited Paul’s sister in Norderstedt, Germany. Always a fun time. On 11 november we celebrated St. Maarten in our street, which we do every year. Paul and I went for a night in the Fletcher hotel Willibrord hage. It was a surprise hotel, we only heard 48 hours before the visit to which hotel we would be going. It was fun and we visited Eindhoven.

To show our november trips. Yuri and his nephew seen from behind. His nephew is cycling. Yuri is running. There on a sand path in the forest.
Into the woods

November 26th is our wedding day and around that day we always have a weekend getaway. We had a holiday rental at Landal Coldenhove. This was our 5th stay here. There’s lots to do around Sinterklaas and there’s a big indoor playarea, which Yuri loves. A fun, relaxing weekend. So we had 2 fun weekend getaways in this month in our 2018 travels.

December

We did a lot of fun things in December. In the middle of December we had a weekend getaway in a chalet on campsite ‘de stuurmanskolk’. It was a fun, cozy chalet with wifi. We even had some snow on the ground during the weekend. We stayed in this chalet to visit the Dickens festijn in Deventer. I wanted to visit this festival for several years and finaly got to in 2018. It was fantastic. The walking amongst the reenactors performing was a highlight and the actors did an excellent job. Next to the Dickens characters there were several Christmas markets which we loved strolling about. We also visited the speelgoedmuseum (toys museum) and liked that.

To show our 2018 travels. 4 policemen (reenacters) putting on a performance.
A show during the Dickens festijn

A week later Paul and I took off together and checked in to hotel Excelsior in The Hague. We had been to this hotel before and like a few years ago we loved the hotel. Paul had won tickets for The Addams family musical, which we loved very much.

On Christmas Eve we went to my parents and in the afternoon went to Uden on ice with my sister and her girls. The kids went ice skating and tubing. They loved it. In addition we visited Paul’s sister over Christmas and went ice skating there with the family. We ended the year with friends at their home in Almere.

Conclusion

Those were our 2018 travels, a lot in The Netherlands, which was fun. We saw and did some bucket list things like Giethoorn, Kinderdijk, roadtripping with a campervan, Dickens festijn, visiting the Hertog Jan brewery and staying at the beach. Our first time at the Lipno lake in the Czech Republic and we fell in love with the wintery landscape. We went two weeks to France and explored 2 new areas for us. Above all we made memories together as a family.

What did 2019 bring in travels? Well for starters we went back to the Lipno lake in the Czech Republic. We had a short, whirlwind roadtrip in Northern Spain. In the summer we will be roadtrippin’ through Belgium and France. The Tuckerville weekend in September was also already planned, so much fun things in 2019! Interested in what we did in 2021 in travels, read it here.

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2 Comments

  • Francesca

    It looks like you had the best time in 2018 and were able to go to a lot of fun places. I love the windmills in Holland. That picture also looks like Salzburg!

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