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Saudade is a Portuguese term. As far as I am aware there's no real translation for it. At least not in languages spoken by yours truly. Simple nostalgia or melancholy won't do it justice. Wikipedia defines it as an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent someone or something, often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never…
Today's the 12th of June. I am back home. Did some work in Rotterdam, took the trains to Antwerp, Leuven, and now finally Sint-Truiden. Did you know that a train from Rotterdam to Antwerp standardly costs you around €30-40. Yesterday I paid €61 . Why? Because my train didn't stop in Breda. €25 extra to avoid Breda. I've never been, but... Breda can't be that bad, can it? I'm feeling good. Happy…
About the 8th of June, I have nothing to report. I woke up, packed my bag, checked out, trained to Rotterdam, uber, checked into Novotel Rotterdam. Went to the restaurant for soup. Some vegetables, finally, you might say. Slept for a couple of hours, went to the restaurant once more for dinner and got ready for the next couple of days. No energy to go into town yet. Maybe on Tuesday. The 8th was a…
I take everything back. Forget everything I said about the Netherlands, and especially about those Dutchies. I love them. All of them. Every single one. Maybe not every single one. They can be the most open and pleasant people. A conversation about me being Belgian and having a weird accent, an invite to sit at the bar turned into one of the most fun evenings and nights I can remember. I won't go…
Slept in. Was able to today. Needed to today. I like this hostel. I trust this hostel. So much so, I'm not using lockers and leaving all my stuff on my bed. The company 's laptop included. Stay updated to find out whether it gets stolen. Got dressed. Went to find breakfast. Ended up in a small Vietnamese restaurant serving vietcoffie and bánh mì . When in Den Haag... I wonder around with no real…
When I'm away, the third days are always different. You have to pack your bags, check out of the hotel, go work, head back home. Not this time though. This time I only pack my bags, check out, go work, but I don't head home. I booked myself a solo city trip. How romantically lonely. As I write this, I just got on the train to The Hague from Utrecht Central Station. I'm currently feeling dispirited…
Today , I could wake up 30 minutes later. Alarm at 7am. Felt earlier than it did yesterday. My body seems to work that way. Can't even remember my dreams. Maybe I didn't dream. Got too cocky about it yesterday, I reckon. Shower. Go for breakfast. In anticipation of the substandard lunch on offer, I force myself to have a filling breakfast . One that would make a Brit go: Bosh . White beans, tomato…
After closing my laptop yesterday I thought of going to sleep. I closed my eyes and suddenly my phone rang. J... calling me. We talked until midnight. I thought this morning would, therefore, be a disaster. At 6:30am my alarm went off. Another one at 6:32am. But I woke up easily! Somehow my dreams were perfectly timed to end seconds before they went off. My sleep cycle paired with my alarm time…
After a horrible night's sleep (harassment by an invisible mosquito), I left for the Netherlands in the morning. Destination: Utrecht. Quite a hassle getting there. The different legs being: bus to Sint-Truiden (on time... shock), train to Leuven, train to Antwerp, train to Rotterdam, and finally a train to... not Utrecht, but Hilversum . As I said before, the hotel probably wouldn't be in Utrecht…
¡Hola! Soy Alex y empecé este blog en mayo de 2026. Quizás te hayas dado cuenta de que todo está en inglés... Lamentablemente, así es. ¿Por qué? Una razón: No me apetece traducirlo todo al español... Tampoco me gusta que escribir en inglés sea la norma. Lastimosamente, es la forma en que la mayoría de la gente entenderá lo que digo, y soy demasiado perezoso para escribir cuatro versiones de cada…