Home is a Part of Travelling
Plus: my best of 2024 list – because that’s what you do at the end of the year
With the holidays in full swing, I’ve been reflecting on the concept of home and its connection to travel. Home is an essential part of it.
A home away from home is the ultimate travel cliché. Many accommodations strive to create that feeling. But home is different for everyone; it’s not just tied to a location or being surrounded by loved ones. So yes, you can feel at home while travelling and still return home afterwards.
For me, home is Amsterdam, though I also feel at home in Rotterdam, Almelo, and other places. I’ve always been fortunate to find a sense of home—whether with family, friends, my partner, or simply myself.
A quote from the movie Shoplifters that moved me;
“Sometimes it’s better to choose your own family.”
I think this also applies to finding a home.
My 2024 list
I know—it’s such a cliché to make a list at the end of the year. But since I always enjoy them (I’m a sucker for clickbait), I decided to make one myself. Naturally, it’s about my travels in 2024. Some things are too obvious to include, like the best sports event I attended this year (the Olympics in Paris, of course) or my favourite way to travel by train (find train itineraries for Europe and China). Instead, I focused on highlights from food, art, movies, and my finest hours inside an embassy.
My most viral post: the Winter scenery in Sauerland
It’s just a photo of a truly stunning morning in Sauerland. I took a morning walk through this snowy landscape with my siblings on a hill not far from Winterberg. Snow isn’t very common in the Netherlands, especially in Amsterdam, so you can imagine how delighted we were. Thank you all for the likes and comments!
Best lunch: Nokke-don in Aomori
The ferry between Hokkaido and Tohoku was part of my trip in northern Japan. Early in the morning, I boarded the boat at Hakodate Port so I could spend a full afternoon in Aomori. My plan for Aomori was straightforward: get the Tohoku rail pass and reserve some trains, visit the Nebuta Museum, and have lunch at Furukawa Fish Market.
On Aomori’s tourism website, I read about the Nokke-don lunch at the market, which sounded very promising. Upon entering, I bought a set of tickets for a royal XL deluxe lunch. It was so much fun picking fresh toppings for my donburi bowl as I wandered around, checking all the stalls. There’s a designated eating area in the market where water, tea, wasabi, and soy sauce are provided.
After finishing my lunch, I was so impressed that I went back to tell the vendors where I had bought the fish how delicious it was.
Best Restaurants
Oh well, this is too hard, so I’ll just give you a list with recommendations for some of the destinations I visited this year. All of them offer vegetarian food.
London: Silo (also mentioned in my very first post)
Paris: Vivant2
Kyoto: Gion Senryu (tempura restaurant)
Alger: El Djenina
And back home: Café Wu
The Best Museum and Exhibitions
I was impressed by the Bardo Museum in Tunis, which has an extensive collection of ancient pieces and Islamic art. The website feels like a historical artefact itself—literally.
There were so many great exhibitions I visited, like Le Monde Comme Il Va at Bourse de Commerce in Paris, Craving for Boijmans in Rotterdam, and Cute at Somerset House in London. I went to the Marina Abramović exhibition in Amsterdam three times—it’s easy for me as I live close by and have a Museum Card. The first weeks it was the talk of the town, so my FOMO and I had to be part of the early majority. Then a friend wanted to visit it with me (and I hoped to see a performance other than the two naked people in the doorway). Finally, I made a quick visit when someone was in The House with the Ocean View for 10 days.
Best Practice in Patience: The Algerian Embassy
For our trip to Algeria, we needed visas. A friend joined us, so I volunteered to handle the applications (they authorised me for the task with an AI-generated official letter). When I showed those letters at the embassy counter for the first time, I immediately knew it was a setback. From that moment on, things could only go downhill. Then they noticed our Airbnb booking, which didn’t count as an official reservation. I had to make a new booking in the hallway (phones aren’t allowed in the waiting room) and print it at a nearby library.
After the embassy closed to the public and prayers ended (I just sat there for over an hour), they came back with one last question: “Do you have proof you are leaving the country?” I had a flight ticket from Tunis, but apparently, that wasn’t good enough.
When I finally stepped outside, the sun was shining, and school kids were cycling back home. Those five hours in the embassy felt like a whole day.
After two weeks, I picked up the passports with the Algerian visa. The wait was only 30 minutes. As I was sitting there, I overheard a child telling his mother that the embassy looked like a haunted house, which made me laugh.
Watch, listen & read
The New York Times piece about the hand-drawn hiking maps in Switzerland stood out for me this year (also covered in my post about hiking).
The movies I saw in the cinema that made me want to travel: Peak Season, The Outrun (the Orkneys!) and La Chimera.
The concert that transported me elsewhere was Tinariwen's. Sahara blues!
My journey as a travel writer
Part 8
I thought I could spark some interaction with the subject of my last post. How wrong I was. To be honest, the post about souvenirs had a nice angle, but it lacked depth. Maybe I could’ve added photos of the souvenirs, but who’s really waiting for a picture of camel socks, I thought.
Anyway, I need to focus more on the stories I enjoy sharing. For this, I use notebooks—three different ones, in fact. A Van Gogh one is for the book, the small black one I carry for travel story notes, and a ruled one for drafts and free writing. And then there are notes on my phone and MacBook. What a structure.
Thank You
Thanks to all who’ve read my posts and subscribed. Thank you for the likes, shares, comments, and feedback (including IRL!). It means so much to me. I hope 2025 will bring peace and happiness to everyone!