The first week - Bonaire

Hello everyone and thank you for reading our story!

So, our first blog after our first week in Bonaire. But everything started a lot earlier than this week. Basically, around a year ago, when we first decided to make this trip. From that moment, everything changed.

First, our work goals changed because we knew we would eventually have to leave our working environment. Then, we started to think about what to do with the house. Should we rent it out and reclaim it when we come back? And what about the cost; would the income be enough to cover the expense?

Long story short, we decided to sell the house, leave our jobs and go travelling before relocating to Switzerland to begin the next chapter of our lives."

With that decision came many goodbyes, warm hugs, and goodbye wishes. It also brought a lot of work! Selling the house required us to make it photo-ready. Potential buyers came to inspect the house. Once someone expressed interest, we had to empty the house in January. This involved finding a place for all our belongings. Fortunately, we could store half of our stuff at my parents' place, and the other half was relocated to Switzerland. Before we knew it, we found ourselves in a moving van for 12 hours each way, navigating through snowstorms, rain, icy streets, but also enjoying moments of sunshine.

The last week before we left, we bid farewell to our family in Switzerland after a short trip there, and, of course, we also said our goodbyes to family and friends in the Netherlands.

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Finally, the day had arrived – the start of our trip! The first day of the next six months filled with explorations, love, happiness, freedom, and, most of all, some well-deserved rest (or at least we thought so, as rest is a luxury that doesn’t come to often with a toddler of three).

We departed from Schiphol after saying goodbye to my parents, who were kind enough to drop us off. We truly wish them strength in the coming time and hope to see them again in a few months!

The flight itself went well, and upon arrival, we had a brief wait for our driver, who had forgotten our arrival date. Fortunately, everything is just a 10-minute drive away on the island, so she quickly made it to the airport. After some much-needed sleep, we woke up to the sunshine we had been dreaming of for the past couple of months (adjusting to the warmth was easier for some than for others).

In the first few days, we stocked up on groceries and got our car. We explored several places on the island, such as the salt mines and the slave huts that housed the workers. We also enjoyed watching a lot of flamingos, and I managed to do a couple of dives. On Saturday, we had a few drinks in town, and the next day, Eyan and I witnessed a small carnival parade.

All in all, not a bad week. However, I also want to highlight some things we didn't enjoy as much – the prices, which are about 40% higher than in the Netherlands, the mosquitoes, the lingering cough we've had for the last three weeks, Veronika being sick for a day and the fact that my GoPro broke today. And it has been a challenging week for our budget.

But enough complaining. We are looking forward to the upcoming weeks where Veronika or me will try to keep everyone updated once in a while. We hope everyone is well and that you enjoy the photos!

All the best