End of March we flew from Athens to Amsterdam and enjoyed 3 weeks in the Netherlands! Since we started our worldtrip (on 1. May), this is what we have done always: back to Holland in April and October. For family/friends visits and giving training on location, so work. Usually even 2 times more in a year (for instance February or July, especially for work).
During our stay in the Netherlands, we go to Meerkerk, our home base. We ordered a spare drone (in case the original one decides to fly away in Greece 🙂 and as a test we flew around in Meerkerk. And actually were very happy with the results. It’s a beautiful place to live and stay in the Netherlands. And typically Dutch, with all the water and green plots of farmland!
Next Learning 1 april
The visit to the Netherlands started off well with the country’s largest annual conference: Next Learning! Among trainers and L&D professionals, it’s the yearly moment to reconnect with everyone in the field — a kind of reunion. And there are always lots of great and inspiring sessions.
Over the past years, I have often been a speaker at this event, and this time was no different, together with my colleague Eric Mooijman. Together, we also deliver the successful “Training Design” program for the organizers of Next Learning, SBO and Euroforum. The 10th edition is coming up, and Next Learning itself is celebrating its 10th anniversary too — a perfect moment to look back on the past 10 years and look ahead to the future of our profession!
Our session was very well attended, and colleagues could assess themselves on the 10 competencies for the L&D professional of the future. At the end of the day, it was great to catch up with everyone.
Meeting with friends
During the evenings or in the weekends, we met with friends. For drinks or lunch or dinner. Great to see them again! Most of them also come to us on the boat, for instance in Croatia or now in Greece, so we see them a couple of times a year.
Work and Training
I was very happy that 12 trainingdays had been booked by clients in my agenda for April 2025! I am very grateful we are in touch, as organisations and trainer, and I can help them online or when I am in Holland, I go to their companies and train at their location. My specialism is Train the Trainer and Learning & Development, so many of the people that I met want to become better trainers or strengthen their knowledge and skills in the field of Learning & Development.
Because of the great weather in the Netherlands, we could somethings do assignments outside of the trainingrooms, which is always much appreciated by the participants.
Also, there is room for a drink or even a dinner with colleagues in this field.
I also was invited for a podcast by Kessels & Smit. We talked about going to the ATD Conference in the USA in May, how I prepare, why I love going there so much and what is takes to be a speaker in the USA.
TV show Eva and play ‘Bureau Buitenschot’ by de Verleiders
I always have been interested in culture. So when I had the opportunity to visit TV show Eva, where host Eva Jinek interviews people who are in the news, I happy drove to Amsterdam with Gilles. And it was very much worth is. I admire here as a journalist, facilitator of discussions and friendly host. She had singer Anouk in her show, who rarely gives interviews. So it was a great pleasure to see that in action.
Many wanted a picture with Anouk, but I am a big fan of Eva, so lot’s of time to get my picture taken with her 😉
Also, I wanted to see the play by De Verleiders. This theatergroup has the mission to talk about fields and organisaties in society where there is something wrong. For instance: banks, pharmacy, etc. Now they wanted to examine the Consultancy organisations. Since I am also a L&D Consultant, next to trainer and speaker, I wanted to see what they had to say. It was quite a shocking and to be honest, fair play, where they talked about why people don’t use the wisdom they already have by hiring experts as employees.
Energyhouse in Oude Tonge
My friend Suzanne works at DELTA wind, a cooperation that provides energy from wind. And they have build a new office: the Energyhouse. It was really a pleasure to visit this building. It’s made of (recycled) wood, with lots of windows and plants.
There is actually a greenhouse that is part of the climate control system. The building is, of course, completely natural gas-free and equipped with solar panels and a battery.
Party for 50th birthday
I became 50 years old on 25. Dec 2024. I was with Gilles on the boat in Greece, but I send my family and friends an invitation that I would celebrate my birthday with them, the next time I would be in the Netherlands. And that was this April. In the afternoon, I had a high tea party for my family at Goeree Overflakkee.
The dresscode was ‘with a touch of Gold’ and many people wore a subtle golden item!
It was great weather that afternoon, so we also sat outside.
In the evening I invited 50 good friends to celebrate the party with me at Rotterdam. We found a great place, called Jack, in the center of Rotterdam, where there was a private room for us, music, snacks and drinks.
But before the party would start, Gilles and I had about 3 hours to kill in between arriving at Rotterdam and receiving the first friends at 21.00h. So we sat down on a nice terrace across restaurant Jack, it was actually called the Garden of Eden. And we had a great relaxing time, eating and drinking before the next party would start!
It was very happy that it turned out to be a nice party, I was thankful to see so many friends again: from high school, university, trainers, sailors, neighbors. Really nice and we enjoyed talking, dancing to the music and eating the lovely snacks.
Of course, the golden ‘50’ was brought by Gilles and me at the entrance of the party 😉. And the catering was so thoughtful, they even served ‘golden’ hamburgers!
So around 2.00h we said goodbye to the last guests and remembered this day with 2 parties are really nice. It actually felt as if it was my birthday, on 12. April in stead of 25. December!
Ben Liebrand: Disco 250
And the partying was not over yet 😉. We went with 2 friends, William and Yvonne, to the disco top 250 in Utrecht, a dance party with DJ Ben Liebrand, who brings back 80/90-memories to us. He was a famous radio DJ in those days, before the superstar DJ’s like Armin van Buuren, Hardwell, David Guetta, Hardwell got real famous. So we danced for 3 hours to his mixes, and enjoyed it a lot!
