It took about 10 seconds to fall in love with the city of Delft – the canals filled with ducks and coots, including a trail of chirping, chicks, cobblestones, flowers and a church that played Yellow Submarine on the bells.

And the market! Thank you to Justin’s Aunt Ida who recommended we go on a Thursday to enjoy the market, particularly the flowers!

And great cheese. We all sampled the green one and knew we had to take some home. I still don’t know what it was other than smoky, filled with caraway and absolutely delicious! I think we had that cheese for breakfast and lunch most days after that.

All of this was right in the city centre of Delft and the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) looked over by Hugo Grotius or Hugo de Groot who is known as the founder of international law and who wrote an influential work on the freedom of the seas.

We followed the market throughout the city. There was so much to look at and delight in!

I even found a silver ring that was incredibly similar to a thumb ring I lost years ago. The man who sold it to me said, “You have come a long way, but you have not come for nothing.”

After taking a picture of these refurbished tools, we had a great conversation with the man who does the work. Most of these were originally abandoned and covered in rust but he brought them back to life so they are useful again.  Not to sound like a fuddy-duddy but it really does seem that things aren’t made like they used to be so this seems incredibly worthwhile!

The market is so big and full of riches it’s enough to tire a puppy out!

After the market we strolled down the streets, taking in the architecture and the historic buildings. Whenever we saw a plaque, Justin’s dad would interpret for us.

Everywhere we walked, Delft was full of charm.

We started our first full day of Holland adventure by travelling north, the direction that Justin and Chris had done the least exploring in, and that led us to the beautiful city of Hoorn. It didn’t take long to fall in love with cobblestone roads and canals under the blue skies of September and the just turning leaves.

As we walked towards the port, we passed a lovely house on the corner with big windows and an open door into what looked like a professional kitchen. My father-in-law, Chris, stopped to ask the people eating at a small table out front if it was a restaurant or their home. It was so a lovely we were ready to stop for a bite.  It turned out this was their family home so we continued on, after chatting about Canada and Holland and poor Justin getting razzed for not speaking Dutch. I think this is common for our generation of immigrants’ children. My mom also came to Canada from elsewhere and we didn’t learn a word of her mother tongue, Latvian. Her focus was on being at home in her adopted country.

One thing Justin’s Dutch heritage has instilled in him is a deep love of the water. Hoorn was the perfect place to connect to the seafaring culture of the Netherlands. This city has a great history as a harbour and a fishing centre. Anyone with a love of boats will have a wonderful time taking in the views.

We were blessed with beautiful weather on our trip, as you can see by the calm waters and blue skies. Apparently September is a traditionally a good time to travel to Holland. We could have spent hours just staring out into the waters, drinking in the peace and beauty of this locale.

I thought perhaps that was the inspiration for this sculpture but it turns out the The Ships Boys of Bontekoe or the Scheepsjongens of Bontekoe are actually three characters from a book. Rolf, Padde and Hajo make their first travel out into the world by sea here in Hoorn.

With this vista beckoning, who wouldn’t go?

On my journey to become a more confident traveller, the hardest part remains the flight, especially if it is over the ocean. Days before scheduled departure, I start to quake, anticipating the journey to come. Despite this fear, I am committed to making my travel dreams come true and have found two things that help: love and courage. (In fact, these are the secret ingredients to all my dream-come-true!)

Love. I am gentle with myself about being afraid. I’ve given up judging or trying to rationalize the fear away. I am afraid. That is the part of the travel environment just like rainy days, early departures and too-close seating. How can I lovingly support myself in going through the fear so that I can come out the other side to Paris or Amsterdam or Rome? Some things that work: knowing that people are sending loving thoughts for our flight, taking diligent care of all logistical details so they don’t add to the stress, visualizing myself and my travelling companion(s) at the destination and doodling on the flight.

Courage. To pass through fear to a goal or a dream takes courage. Period. I draw on my deep desire to experience this world, to live my life to the fullest while I am here. I draw on the bravery of Georgia O’Keefe, “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”*

And so, this month I flew to Holland with my husband for a two-week vacation to visit family and explore a truly beautiful country. I’d love to share some of that journey with you. Along the way, I’ll continue to share any tips or strategies that have helped develop travel confidence.

Travelling from Toronto to Europe usually involves an overnight flight. To ease the time transition, the airline often serves an evening meal, simulates nightfall by turning down the lights for several hours and then puts them on again before you arrive in what is the middle of the night where you left and the dawn of a new day where you arrive. We were blessed with a good flight, even arriving an hour early (!), but unfortunately, we didn’t sleep a wink.

Tired and relieved, we were welcomed to Holland by the loving arms of Justin’s dad, Christiaan. As he drove us from Schipol airport to his home near Den Haag, we were taken in by the freshness, the green, the big skies, the pastures, the air (oh, the air) of Holland.

Chris made us feel right at home and I quickly discovered that flowers are a signature gift in Holland – and also that my much-loved cyclamens are known by the Dutch to be favoured by old ladies! (All I can say is that me and the old ladies, we know beauty when we see it!) We settled right in and took a nap so that we could make a good start to the day and to our visit.

Chris quickly got us oriented to public transit and with an OV Chip Card loaded with some euros, we could start our travel adventure.  We started gently with a  trip to Den Haag Centrum aka downtown.

And what better way to start an adventure than with coffee? Especially since it is one of the first places that you can see both the similarities and differences between countries. In Toronto, people grab coffee to go and the size of that coffee can be enormous! We saw almost none of that in Holland. But we also enjoy coffee-shop time, where we sit and journal or read or work or chat with friends for hours. The latter is where our countries meet. All over Holland we had a wonderful time stopping on patios for koffie and watching the world go by. Here your coffee is always served in a modest cup and saucer with a lovely treat on the side and it is enjoyed leisurely – very civilized!

A particular delight of this first patio coffee was that it was right by the little bar where Justin’s parents, Chris and Ann, first met. Then it was called The Blue Angel. Chris was home for the weekend from the military when he stopped in this bar and met Ann. He walked her home that night and then showed up on her doorstep again the next morning. It was only months later they were on a boat to Canada to begin their married life together.

Even on this first day, we were deep in that magical meeting place of family, place, history and experience. We were sharing memories while creating new ones. It was just the beginning of our great Holland adventure.