Wonderful Weekends in Western Europe

Mark arrived in Belgium, stayed three pleasant weeks, and left again. We had arranged three four day weekends ahead of time, with friends and family, and realized abruptly that this meant there were only three weekdays in between. Duh! The math is not that hard, but somehow, we assumed weeks contained more than seven days…

During those short “weeks”, we hung out with my parents, saw other people, had a few health related appointments and caught up on things. Just like everywhere else in the world and at any other time in the past six years, Mark needed to take care of Wirie business as well. Usually (in French Polynesia and New Zealand), our days would start very early, to take the time difference into account. In Belgium, however, his main work hours were between 3pm and 11pm, to coincide with office hours on the East Coast of the States. Fridays and Mondays were a bit difficult with those commitments and the need for WiFi and a “quiet office”, but in general, our weekends were a blast!

The first destination was Holland, where my cousin Griet and her husband Wim lead us throughout Zeeland (with its tasty mussels and oysters) to Dordrecht, where we stayed in a vacation bungalow for three nights. The objective was to explore National Park De Biesbosch, stroll through the historic center of Dordrecht, visit the impressive and oh so typically Dutch “Kinderdijk” with its picturesque windmills, taste some of Wim and his two friends’ homebrewed beers and chill out in good company. We succeeded on all fronts and had a wonderful time with beautiful weather.

During our second weekend, Mark and I borrowed my mum’s car to drive to the Ardennes, in the southeast of Belgium. Our friends Rosy and Peter had arranged a rental house for a group of eight adults and four children. We happened to be in the country at the right time and were invited along. What followed was a very relaxed weekend with interesting, multicultural people, some hikes and perfect, sunny weather. We split cooking and other duties and had a very nice time. On the last day, two of the families had left, but Rosy, Peter, Yanou, Mark and I made a little trip to the pretty town of La Roche, where we visited the castle and had lunch, before the long, traffic ridden drive back “home”.

The weekend before Mark left again, we were welcomed by Sabine and Michael, German friends we met many years ago while camping in Mexico. Since the last time we saw them, three years ago, they had moved from Munich to a cute town in the German countryside, where they are happily settled in a very unique, historic and charming cottage. They showed us around the area, introduced their horses and cars to us, took us out to dinner, let us savor their amazing artistic creations (photographs, movies and pottery), and joined us to Bonn for a not so impressive Africa Festival. As always, we had a really good time with them, exchanging travel stories and future plans. Thanks to my parents again for lending us their only car for another four days, a car I have been using much more than they have the past seven weeks!!

Yerseke in Zeeland is famous for its oysters and "Zeeuwse mossels"

Mark, Griet and Wim... still drawn to boats, in Yerseke

Oyster farm in Yerseke, Zeeland

Going for our first walk in National Park De Biesbosch

Exploring the historic town of Dordrecht

Moored boats in Dordrecht

Tourist photo: in a Dutch clog

One of the many, pretty windmills in Kinderdijk

Kinderdijk with all its windmills is spectacular, charming and picturesque!

In front of a "working" windmill we could visit inside - very interesting!

Typical Holland: windmills and water!

A game of petanque (bocce ball) on a rainy morning

Guided tour to a restored duck catching farm in De Biesbosch NP

The wild ducks' final destination

Boat tour with my family and handsome husband in De Biesbosch

Walking with friends and their families in the Ardennes

The house we rented and shared in the Ardennes

Yummy Sunday BBQ in gorgeous weather, the Ardennes

Going for a hike, crossing the river Ourthe

Passing fields, horses and forests...

...and a cute, little high water bridge

With Rosy, Peter and Yanou, we made a day trip to La Roche

Visit of the castle in La Roche

View from the castle

An eye pleasing castle visit, and we were the only tourists!

Michael and Sabine's charming house in the countryside of Drinsahl

Art exhibit, where Sabine had some of her pottery masks on display...

... and "farmer" Michael some of his amazing Africa photographs

Sabine let me ride her gentle horse Mona in the arena

And, we went for a fun drive in Sabine's "duck" (2 chevaux) - no key is needed, just two people to push her down the hill and start! :-)

Another lovely evening with amazing friends!

Air Tahiti Monopoly – Suck it Up!

Flying internationally has never caused me any grief in regards to baggage allowance. Sure, the days of being able to bring two 25kg (50 lbs) free bags with you as checked luggage are mostly over, but any respectable airline carrying you over an ocean, allows their passengers to check one bag of 25kg (50 lbs) for free, no problem, even if it is packed to the brim. Flying from and back to Tahiti – through the US and the UK – therefore did not prove to be a worry or a hassle on Air France, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. The issue on my way back home arose for the last leg Nuku Hiva – Tahiti.

The checked baggage allowance on Air Tahiti (to Tahiti and elsewhere within French Polynesia) is a mere 10 kg (20 lbs)! Yes, we are talking about the luggage which is being stowed in the bowel of the airplane. If you prove that you have a connecting international flight within days of arriving in Tahiti, you buy a return ticket and you arrange for your file to be adjusted in the computer, Air Tahiti allows you to check 20 kg (40 lbs) of luggage. Much better, but… still 5 kg or 10 lbs less than what every visitor to the islands bring from home or what they assume is allowed. When I made all my arrangements for the trip to Tahiti in Nuku Hiva, nobody mentioned anything about carry-ons.

The flights from Belgium to Tahiti were long; the lay-overs as well. By the time I wanted to check in with Air Tahiti for my last leg of the journey, I was tired. While the previous check-ins and flights went smooth, with no issues in regards to my big duffel bag, my regular sized carry-on and my laptop bag, at the desk of Air Tahiti, in the airport of Faaa (Tahiti), I came to a stop. And, so did other tourists. My duffel bag weighed 22 kg (44 lbs), so 2 kg or 4 lbs too much. Then, the employee wanted to see my carry-on, which fits in the normal overhead bins of other airplanes. Without blinking, she told me this item was not allowed in the cabin of the plane (even though I left Nuku Hiva with it in the cabin of the same Air Tahiti plane) and that I had to check it. On top of the restricted size for this flight, the allowed weight for a carry-on is... 3 kg (6 lbs)! Mine weighed 18 kg (36 lbs). With a blank face, she told me I owed her the equivalent of $160 in overweight charges!

I complained. Other tourists did as well, after the first shock of this unwelcome news, but all paid the required fees, rather promptly. I did not. I tried all the arguments I could find – how unfair this is to someone who arrived on connecting flights allowing this luggage arrangement, how it was not an issue on the leg TO Tahiti, how none-obese people should not have to suffer from the adjusted luggage allowance limits conducted every three years and getting 5 kg (10 lbs) less each time, how the weight issue must not be much of an issue if you can get everything on the plane anyway, as long as you pay huge amounts of money for it, how – if weight was such a problem – they should weigh passengers AND their luggage together and come up with a total allowance (South Pacific people are known to be relatively heavy)  - to no avail.

Appalled by the ridiculous and mandatory fee, I uttered again how expensive the plane ticket was to begin with (over $700 for a three hour flight) and that the overweight charge really was a lot of money. Then, the woman at the desk mentioned that I could try to check my carry-on bag as cargo. Time was running out, but I managed to find the freight department and – to make a crazy expensive story a tad less expensive – shipped my carry-on as “cargo” with the same plane for about $110. I could have sent the luggage on the next day’s flight for about $60, but… then all the chocolaty contents would have melted! The plane from Tahiti to Nuku Hiva carried about 20 passengers, spread out over 70 seats, bringing the empty seat – paying passenger ratio to 3:1 …

When there is no competition or customer consideration, companies like Air Tahiti can charge what they want and take advantage of every chance to do so! My recommendation for cruisers wanting to fly to their home countries or for guests to come visit, is to wait until the boat is in Tahiti.

Our Parents' Visits in St. Martin

When Mark and I found out both sets of parents would visit us at about the same time in St. Martin/St. Maarten, Mark got a bit stressed and initially didn’t like the idea. How were we going to split ourselves up, spend enough time with everybody and not give the parents an overdose of each other on this first occasion they met? I promised him it would all work out fine and was excited about this great opportunity for all the parents to meet, the first opportunity in over four years!

My parents, Jacques and Agnes, arrived early March, a week before Carol and Stan (Mark’s parents) showed up. They planned to stay on Irie for a week and we all hoped to sail around the island and explore several anchorages along the way. Bad timing brought us a serious engine problem and just like that, the four of us (and Darwin) got stuck on Irie in Simpson Bay Lagoon. Luckily for us, we were anchored in a very safe, comfortable and convenient spot (with a beach for Darwin and stores for us), before we became immobilized. My parents and I, sometimes with Mark and Darwin, decided to do most of our explorations by bus and one day, we all rented a car to see the sights of the island.

Grand Case, the only other place in St. Martin we had taken the boat, was visited for a tasty lunch and my parents walked from there to Friar’s Bay and cosy, pretty Happy Bay. During their stay, we walked around in Philipsburg, the capital of St.Maarten and in Marigot, the

capital of St. Martin a few times.

We tried the beaches of Mullet and Maho Bay. The second one is famous for its setting, right at the end of the runway. Big planes take off from here, creating a blast that might throw you in the water and when a jet arrives right above your head, you instinctively take a few steps back, because it feels like the roaring machine will hit you. Exhilarating to say the least!

On our tour of the island, the five of us walked some trails on Pic Paradis, the highest mountain on the island with some spectacular views. We had lunch on Orient Beach where we made sure that the southern end of the beach is, indeed, full with nudist. This phenomenon is also noticeable at other beaches on the French side of the island, but never as prominent and publicly as here. In the afternoon, we checked out Oyster Pond and the ruins of Fort Amsterdam near Philipsburg.

By the time Carol and Stan arrived, my parents were settled in their comfortable hotel in St.Martin, bordering the lagoon. We focussed on Mark’s parents for a bit, doing very similar things than with my parents and visiting the same towns and sights. They stayed in a very roomy, self-contained condo at Simpson Bay, St. Maarten, where one of the most beautiful beaches on the island is located. Mark, Darwin and I enjoyed spending time with them and relaxing in the condo and on the beach. Once in a while, I, or we, would go over to my parents’ hotel to check in on them and their activities.

A big highlight was the meeting between the parents. The first time, we all had lunch on the French side and that went well. Everybody got along fine and more “appointments” followed. The whole family spent an afternoon on the beach near the condo, went sailing on Irie and concluded the visits with another lunch near Marigot. Mark’s parents had brought the new piece we needed for our broken engine and from the moment that was fixed, we arranged a day sail for everybody. It felt great to finally leave the lagoon! Mark manoeuvred Irie through the narrow bridge and before long, we glided through the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. We stopped at some rocks near Grand Case to snorkel and had lunch on the boat. My mum was still suffering from seasickness, so I brought her and my dad back to shore in Grand Case. The rest of us sailed a couple of hours longer along the north coast of St. Martin and back. On the trip, we crossed the “border” with Anguilla and gazed at the contours of Tintamarre and St. Barth. The weather was wonderful and the sailing awesome!

Mark’s parents left ten days after they arrived and my parents stayed for three weeks on the island. Everybody had a good time and it all worked out fine. We hope to get together again in the future. Mark and I both appreciate the effort of our parents to fly these long distances to see us and be with us. I guess we are a good excuse for a distant vacation and an encouragement for them to see different cultures and places. But, I’m sure, deep in their hearts they would like us to stay put somewhere, ideally within reach, and live a normal life…