Jerelis' VirtualTourist Home Page

As being a single parent I often do get the question whether I am nervous about taking my children on a (car) trip? Their excuse to ask me this question is that they would understand for me being alone, and most single parents are pretty nervous about it and usually won't undertake any journey at all. Well, I can honestly say that I would never ever deny myself (or my kids for that fact) a holiday, journey or anything else. This summer I have been to Hinterstoder with Iris and Sam by car, which is about a 1100 km drive.

I've learned this over the years:

General:
Bring books, old favourite toys and new surprise toys. Do remember that balls are not a good idea as they can end up anywhere! Our best buys were definitely books, especially sticker books are great! They can peel the stickers off, are glossy, have thick pages to turn easy, have bright colours and come in endless subjects. They're a nice break from the other books your child might be tired of, too. Put aside fears of setting poor eating habits, and bring on the snacks! I told Iris and Sam: “Welcome to the world of boredom eating."

Car:
Toy bars meant for stroller use are a big help in the car, as they often feature toys plus a snack cup, and are big and easy for you to grab from the front seat for refills. During the car trip it’s always a good idea to play a game and sing some songs. It sounds rather easy, but it does work!

Finally:
I only have one last statement! Just do it! Don’t be afraid that it might go wrong. I have learned this, because I have been travelling with both my kids from the beginning. For example Iris was only 6 weeks young when I had my first short vacation and stayed in a hotel. Because of this both Iris and Sam are being used to it rather fast and (maybe because of it) have always been an easy kids to get along with.

Sometimes something bad things must happen, before you're able to see that there are more beautiful things out there. The dictionary says: Divorce or dissolution of marriage is a legal process that leads to the termination of a marriage. This is what happened to me at the beginning of 2007, when my ex wife told me she didn't love me any more and wanted a divorce. Just like that ... boom! ... my world was shaking!

But about a year later I fell in love again. There’s nothing more enthralling than a new relationship on the move. Feelings can be intense and emotions as raw as the first time you fell in love. I felt like a child again. But both having kids of your own and starting a new relationship is not that easy at all, I can say! And we both learned from our divorces that we wanted to be totally happy again and I'm sorry to say that things didn't work out completely.

So here I am, single again. The bottom line about being single is that I don't feel any pressure or responsibility to be somewhere or do something. When I don't have the kids around I'm away a lot for my job and having to be in the structured, planned environment of a relationship probably just wouldn't suit me at this time. After being in a relationship for 12 years and after that another year, I'm trying to settle into the single life: as soon as you're seen as being on the market, all your friends make it their mission to get you back off it as quickly as possible. I must be honest and can say that sometimes I miss the companionship of a relationship, but I know that I won't be single forever.

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”
~ Samuel Johnson, 1775 ~

Whenever I undertake a journey to a particular country I always want to know all about the surroundings, it’s history, it’s culture, which cities to visit, which hikes to undertake, et cetera. In advance to the journey I browse over the internet to get certain information and read travel books just to make sure I won’t miss out on anything.

Once I'm travelling I like to talk to the local people about their own country, their own region and those conversations will retrieve lots of extra information about some beautiful spots to visit, the ultimate restaurant or sometimes a particular area to avoid.

Ever since I had my own personal travel site and this one at Virtual Tourist I like not only to undertake the journey, but also write about it for everyone to enjoy. Just to make sure I won’t forget the details of my journey I write is all down in a diary. I have given the dairy the name “Diary of a madman” and it contains all the information I have gathered. I like to make the diary more beautiful to glue in some pictures out of folders and also the entrance tickets to museums, National Parks, bus tickets, et cetera.

This way I'm able to tell all my friends about our travels. For Virtual Tourist I can reproduce all the information for (hopefully) solid tips with lots of good details that will help you in your travels. Besides that it’s always fun to read about a journey I took for example 7 or 8 years ago and read about what I exactly did and how I experienced it. I also have managed to keep in touch with the local people I talked to and do nourish these contacts. Especially at the travelogue section of each location you can see some pages out of the Diary of a madman. Yes, I know, it's written in Dutch, but you'll have an impression on how it looks. And maybe you can tell me how you remember all the information for your tips. Enjoy!

When I started my travels I had a few reason why I wanted to explore the world:

1. Make myselves more worldly;
2. Learn about other cultures;
3. Meet people from other countries;
4. Learn some new words in foreign languages;
5. Master a foreign language I've studied;
6. Become a part of the globalisation that is occurring;
7. Realize that The Netherlands isn't the only country in the world;
8. See things I've only read about;
9. Try new kinds of food;
10. Drink new kinds of beer.

Now that I have seen quite some places I have learned the following:

One: I have learned that all people in the world are basically alike;
Two: I have discovered that everyone regards himself or herself as wiser and better than other people in the world;
Three: Travelling made me care about strangers. A famine or disaster isn't distant, abstract suffering if you've visited the region;
Four: Travelling teached me that not everyone shared my beliefs. In issues small and large – from child-rearing to politics – I learned that there are many ways of thinking;
Five: I have learned that there is more than one solution to a problem;
Six: Travelling teached me to be a minority;
Seven: Travelling teached me humility.

Of course it's not always easy to travel while being a single parent -> travelling is planning everything in advance!

But if Im talking about travelling I'm having the next row of dates in 2009:

* FEBRUARY/MARCH : Hinterstoder (Austria);
* JULY : Hinterstoder (Austria) and Giethoorn (Netherlands);
* AUGUST : Maastricht (Netherlands);
* OCTOBER : Auen (Germany);
* NOVEMBER : New York (USA)?