Sir, I find it intensely humiliating to be asked by airport security staff if I have packed my own bag. This forces one to admit, usually within earshot of others, that I no longer have a manservant to do the chore for me. Gentlemen should be able to answer such questions with a disdainful: “Of course not! Do I look like that sort of person?”

(via)

This, for some reason, stirred something in me. I became even more fascinated with the whole phenomenon when visiting the Museo das Peregrinacións, a museum in Santiago that tells the story of pilgrimage routes all over the world in general and pilgrimage on the route of Santiago de Compostela in particular. Ever since then I’ve often wondered what it would be like to go on a pilgrimage, not so much for religious reasons, but more because of the whole experience.

Recently I’ve taken to walking for an hour and a half on the days that I that I don’t work out. It helps me to relax and take my mind of things. While walking I started thinking again about that holiday and the pilgrims we saw walking on the route of Santiago to Compostela and decided that I should put thought into action. Which means that next year, 2010 (which happens to be a holy year), I’ll be walking from Leiden, The Netherlands to Santiago de Compostela. I haven’t decided when I’ll go exactly or whether I’ll do the whole journey in one go or in a couple of stretches (this would probably be more practical in terms of my job and the number of holiday days I get every year), but the decision has been made.

I still have lots of preparations to make. Becoming a member of the Dutch Confraternity of Saint James would probably be a good idea. Along with extra training. Getting a sponsor wouldn’t be such a bad idea (in case you know someone let me know ). I’ll keep you posted.

Apart from going to Moro we managed to squeeze in a reservation at Tom Aikens. We’d contemplated going to the Fat Duck, but they were temporarily closed at at that time. Should be a nice experience, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Apart from that I haven’t made any plans yet. Perhaps we’ll go see a show, do some shopping, visit a museum, hopefully go to some other great restaurants and of course drink a couple of pints (possibly with some old friends).

Listening to it makes me want to go back to Spain: drink unas cañas con los amigos and eat some tapitas. Aaah, the good life.

The audio file present in this post can be listened to by viewing the original post on my blog.

I’m sure he’s having a good time (they went there last year as well and had a blast). I’ve always wanted to go to Japan, I find it such a fascinating country. Even their manhole covers are much funkier than anywhere else I’ve seen. My friend Martijn once took a bunch of photos of different manhole covers in NYC (but I cannot seem to find his blog post) and they were not even half as funky. Nor are they here in Leiden I might add (via).

We – my friends Giorgos and Gijs, plus his brother-in-law Ivo – recently went to Disney for a good old day of coaster riding. It was kind of a crazy trip, because the four of us set upon our journey around five o’clock in the morning, driving approximately five hundred kilometers and arriving just in time for the park to open at ten.

Luckily it wasn’t very busy, so we didn’t have to wait for too long at any of the rides. We were also lucky in the fact that, although cloudy, it only rained a little in the morning. We did whole thing again when we left at eight o’clock in the evening, arriving home at around two o’clock in the morning. I think I was already asleep before my head had even hit the pillow…

Anyway, I thought I’d kick off with a trip I made at the end of March/beginning of April to New York, with some pictures from the trip. We arrived on Friday and were picked up by my friend Martijn. That evening we had sushi in one of the best sushi restaurants in the area where he lives (Montclair, NJ).

The next day we took off towards the Hudson Valley, where we toured around and visited some wineries and vineyards. We visited Millbrook. We got a little tour there, which was interesting, and then went on for some more wine tasting more wine at Rivendell. That night we found a beautiful Victorian B&B with an amazing view over the Hudson.

On Sunday we visited one more winery and then set course for Boston, where we arrived later in the afternoon. We checked into a very nice hotel, called Nine Zero. Then we took a walk thru the city and had dinner later at a fish restaurant. We didn’t take any pictures in Boston, though.

On Monday we drove southward again to Cape Cod. We found another B&B in a town called Chatham, the Captain’s House Inn. Our suite had a beautiful jacuzzi as well as two fireplaces! After a walk, we had afternoon tea. By this time the weather had worsened somewhat though. In the evening we had lobster!

The next day we took a drive up the cape all the way to Provincetown, where we looked around on the beach for a bit. It was too windy/rainy/cold though to stay very long, so early in the afternoon we started driving back to Martijn’s place.

The rest of the week was filled with visiting Manhattan and since we go every year we spent most of the time shopping, relaxing and eating & drinking. I noticed a few things, though. The Mexx shop had vanished and its place there was a Juicy Couture (although they were still refurbishing). I don’t know what happened to the Mexx store. Perhaps it had moved from 5th to somewhere else. I also noticed that American Apparel are starting to get really big, shops popping up everywhere! I also bought some Tommy Bahama clothes. At first I thought it was some sort of subbrand of Tommy Hilfiger, but looking at their website I reckon that’s not the case. Enough of my ‘fashion adventures’, that’s it for now.