Hi!
We are Joerik and Pauline from The Netherlands. Two year ago we decided to quit our jobs, our house and leave behind our precious friends and family.
We felt a big urge to step out of the daily predictable life. Restricted by organized society we somewhere had a strong feeling that life has more to offer. So we took a dive in to the big unknown. Adventure!
In the following updates we will write in detail about all episodes of what became a 18 months trip. An honest story of traveling together. A story of following your heart and learning to trust yourself. This introduction post will give you a short summary of what you can expect:
In July 2015 we started backpacking. First India, then Nepal and Indonesia. It has been the best decision ever made. There were a lot of beautiful places, people and moments but also many hard ones, confronting lessons... We've learned so much. It has brought us closer to ourselves and closer to each other.
The first three months in India were fabulous. Wow what a country! It felt good to be free. Totally free! After a few weeks something unexpected happened. At the source of the holy river the Ganges me [Joerik] got on his knees and proposed to Pauline. We've been together for almost 4 years then. But Pauline never expected this since I always kept telling her marriage is old fashioned. But it doesnt have to be that way! After India and climbing the Mt Everest base camp in Nepal we got married in Ubud, Bali on december 12th 2015. It was just her and me. Exactly how we wanted it. We planned the whole thing during our travels and it was the best day ever!
After the wedding day we were so lucky to have a group of best friends staying with us for three weeks. Celebrate the wedding, Christmas and NY.
After 7 months we decided to go back to India where we spent 3 months in the Ashram of the hugging Saint: Mother Amma.
So far our travels had been rich. We had seen a lot, met great people and most important had been learning a lot about ourselves and our relationship. So was this enough? Time to come home? For us at that moment: yes. Traveling in countries like these you start to re-appreciate your home country for many and many small things. So we slowly felt like coming home. Find a new career, new house and use all the experience we gained during our time away. But a flight would be to fast and mostly to boring for our taste.
We worked out a very risky en kind of crazy plan: Bring us Home; An overland trip from India to Holland.
With not much money left we bought an old Indian mini-bus. The planned trip would have to go all the way from south India to Amsterdam crossing the middle east including Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. In the following posts we will write and show you all about it. One thing we've learned during our travels: Relax, nothing will go as planned.
Our goal is to share and inspire. Show others that taking a risk, like quitting your job and start traveling always turns out for the better. Choosing to chase your dreams instead of holding on to fear! Like and Share if you support this idea.