Just wanted to take the time to give some props where they are deserved. Some of the people mentioned here may never read this, but I think I can still give thanks. Sorry for the long entry..
First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to my travel companion and partner in crime Lucas! Even though we didn't do the whole trip together to the end, I don't think I would have ever done this trip if you hadn't accompanied me. Screw any of the past male cow manure (bullshit), we are homies until after the grave!
Thank you to my insanely cool and supportive dad/pops/papa/father/coolestmanontheblock. Not only for helping me organize and get through this trip, but for always being there when I need help, even when I don't need help. You have raised me very well and I couldn't be more thankful! Also I thought it was insanely cool to hear a bit about your history and see some photos of your past (I'll be sure to put another one up here once my phone allows it :))
Thank you to my unbelievably cool brother and best friend Ziggy! Thanks for always being able to cheer me up, even if you're not aware you're doing it. I may not say it enough, probably because you already know it but I am so lucky to have you as a brother!
Thank you to Lucas' parents Joan and Richard. You both made this trip so much easier to do by always lending a helping hand. You have no idea how much this has helped me. Thanks as well for always being such great hosts whenever I am over. Its nice to be able to feel so comfortable around you and treating me almost as one of your own (if its appropriate of me to say so?)
Thanks to all of my roommates back home for holding down the fort and keeping the house in one piece! Thanks Aly for taking care of my room whilst I was gone, hope you enjoyed your stay and aren't too sick of my roommates yet ;)
Thank you Tim Freeman for being so mindbogglingly generous! All the favours you did for both Lucas and I, even ones we were not expecting at all were fantastic. I had such a great time getting to know you a little better as well. I am SO pumped to start making some groovy tunes thanks to you! If I can ever return the favour do not hesitate to ask. Hope I didn't leave your place in too much of a mess?
Thank you Machteld! I am so happy to have had the opportunity to see you again after all these years. Some things have changed, but I am so happy to see that our friendship hasn't. You really knew how to make our time in Tilburg a lot of fun. Thank you as well to the entire Zoontjens family for not only being so nice to me, but also to my friend Lucas (a complete stranger to you all until now).
Thank you Ger for being to enthusiastic to catch up. It was great to see you again after like 14 years and my old school as well. You have hardly changed a bit, but that is the highest compliment I can probably give, because you have always been such an amazing human being. You have really influenced the way I was raised a lot more than you may think. Keep being you and doing what you do. Hope you have an incredible adventure on your hiking trip!
Thank you to Peter Huijbrecht for letting two (almost complete) strangers crash at your lovely home in Amsterdam. Lucas and I had a blast! The amount of work you put in to help us get around and find our way and contacts you gave was incredible! I absolutely loved hearing the stories you had to tell. Wish I could have written them all down to read later on, because some of them were so fantastic! If you do ever find your way back in the area of Vancouver or Victoria, do not hesitate to give us a call. I would be so pleased to return the favour! (Although unfortunately I don't own two cats as awesome as you do).
Thank you Quincella for making the trek out from Maastricht to Amsterdam
to meet up with us. It was very nice to see you again and to catch up,
even for the brief time it was. Wish the weather could have been a bit
more lenient, but it was great seeing you none the less! Hope the
university of Leiden treats you well.
Thank you Patrick my brother from another mother! I am so stoked that I was finally able to come visit you in Switzerland as opposed to you always coming to Vancouver (not that that is ever a bad thing!) I had such a nice time there, and the way you guys took care of me as such wonderful hosts was amazing! Thank you as well to the whole family, Christina your cooking abilities are much too good. I wish you guys lived closer, not just so I could eat more of the delicious food, but also to see all of you lovely people more frequently. (Also Patrick I'm still doing pushups everyday mate, I'll be catching up to you in no time now ;))
Thank you Freek, Pia and Eugene. I am so pleased I was still able to see you all during my second time in the Netherlands. The 8 hours didn't seem like enough and I couldn't believe how fast time flew whilst at your house. It really is a shame we didn't live closer together. Good luck Eugene on your bike excursion. I'm very impressed that you're doing such a thing. Also thank you Pia for the pannenkoek :) You guys should really come visit in Vancouver some time!
Thank you Reinier for the great conversation and the delicious dinner at your home. It was such a pleasure getting to know you a little better. I can definitely see that my dad has some really cool friends. Makes me just that much prouder of him. Thanks for being so so kind!
Thank you to all of the fellow travelers I met along the way. I will attempt to get you all in here, but I met so many amazing individuals, I sincerely apologize if I miss somebody here. From first to last - Guilherme, John, Luiz and Bruna in Brussels - thanks for making the transitions of traveling in a new place that much smoother. Ben, Olivia, Dara, and the two girls from Belgium and Australia (?) (whose names escape me) in Copenhagen - it was such a pleasure hanging with you all. Ben I am stoked you were in the same room as I was, you were probably the only person I really talked to that I shared a room with there and it made the stay much better. Hope your travels went well! Leon, Naomi, Abby, Daisy, Alex, Lorenzo, Florent plus a few more in Lyon - y'all made Lyon so much more fun than I had originally expected. Those people I talked to in the kitchen (the two Scandinavians, the two Russians who had hitchhiked pretty much all of Europe, and those two Canadians I let into the kitchen, but who weren't actually staying at the hostel - anything for a fellow Canadian eh! And of course Alex in Munich - didn't really meet a whole lot of people whilst in Munich, but being able to click with a fellow Canadian so well was a pleasure. It was kickass to experience some of the German lifestyle with you homie! Hope your stay in Ireland for this next month goes smoothly (don't get too homesick! Canada will still be here when you go back). Meredith (thanks for chilling with me like every single day, I enjoyed every moment! Super glad we're still talking. Felt like I got to know somebody I had known for a long time already, even though I had just met you), Jolene, Matthew, David Strauss (my secret agent homie) Gillian, Ally, and the guy who helped eat my large portion of pasta in Dublin - you guys made Dublin one of my favorite places of my entire two month excursion. All the lovely people that offered me a ride and made my hitchhike adventure from Dublin to Galway possible. Kate (let me know when you come to Vancouver), those two Canadians (there were a lot of them everywhere), the one roommate who was instantly friendly with me (can't for the life of me remember his name) and the group of French people who invited us to play poker with them in Galway - my stay there was short (probably too short) but you guys made it very enjoyable. Louise and Fingel (sorry if I misspelled that) in Switzerland at Patrick's place - it was a pleasure to get to know you both, hope your stay there is as nice as mine was. Allen on the bus ride from Geneva to Rotterdam - good luck with your 7th year of treeplanting bud! Hope you get to go home soon to enjoy your new pad. I know I'm missing a fair amount of folks on here, but I did my best.
Thanks as well to everybody I was going to meet up with but never got the chance to. This may sound sarcastic when you read it, but thank you none the less. I wish I had the opportunity to still be there and all the time in the world to see all of your lovely faces, but unfortunately it was a tight jam. This just means I need to come back to Europe some time in the near future though to see all the people I didn't get the chance to this time round.
Big shout out to everybody who helped us plan this trip and gave me suggestions of places to go and things to do. Thank you as well to all the people who checked up on me to ask how things were going. Hearing from the people back home whilst traveling was such a great feeling!
Last but not least, I'd like to say thank YOU, yes YOU if you're still reading this. I know this blog can maybe drag on a bit and I have a tendency to be redundant. I can be redundant but if you're still reading this thank you.
Sorry if I missed anybody. But you know who you are, just call me out and ask me why I forgot to say thanks to you and make me feel bad about forgetting.
TLDR: Thank you, you guys are awesome!
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