Holidays are coming!

The summer is coming, and with that also the vacation season (in English it is called holidays). Everone is planning their vacation, and the big question always is:"Where will we go to this year?"

YuMei is already doing her research, and checking internet for nice destinations. She is the one always making the decisions on where to go to. Hmmm....that doesn't sound so nice, does it? Hmm....she plans the vacation, and I tag along for the ride. Hmmm..no, that sounds even worse. I make it sound like I am being dragged on my hair all across the globe. Maybe I should explain the situation, before I make things even worse.

When it comes to vacations, I am quite an easy person. As long as I have a place to retreat myself once in a while, i.e. hotelroom, chalet, bungalow, tent, then I am fine. Of course there are restrictions to this, and YuMei knows those already.
Also, about 95% of her ideas for a destination are just great ideas. So, I usually just say:"Ok, looks great, go ahead and plan it." Of course, she will ask for my opinion, and I will give it to her. But because of the combination of me being easy, and her sharp nose for good deals and nice hotels, I never have to interfere much in her plans.

AND..I have to admit, she does have a certain good influence on me in that matter. Before I always have said, that I would NEVER ever go to France. I just didn't like the fact that they don't speak any English, and that we have to learn French, because they are to arrogant to learn English. Yeah, I know.....all prejudices, shame on me.
And I now know they are absolutely NOT true. You see, a few years ago, YuMei was nagging about going to Paris, and trying to make me wanna go to.
I decided to give in, and she planned the trip. And, to my surprise, I liked it. After that, she "dragged" me to the south of France, and to Normandy, and I liked that even better.

Just recently she had gotten the idea in her head to go camping. To me that sounds like fun too. I do however still have mixed feelings about this. You see, I have slept in a tent once, years ago. And I didn't get any sleep, even though I was pissed.
However, we just made the reservations on a camping for a tent with everything on it, including mattresses and kitchen. So, I am covered on that part.
But what scared me also was a DVD I saw about some Dutch camping site. And what I saw there scared me a bit. Tourism on a massive scale, coziness all around, and then I do mean the typical DUTCH coziness. The kind only Dutch among each other knows what it is. People staying on the camping in front of their tent, drinking beer all day, meeting up with the neighbours. Can't really explain exactly what is wrong with it....I think the Dutch among you guys might understand what I mean.

BUT......it can get even worse. There are Dutch people driving 2000 km to the south of Spain, to stay in a hotel owned by Dutch, eat Dutch food, drink Dutch beer, and meet Dutch people. They probably don't even speak any word of English in their entire vacation.
And of course they need to bring their own food, potatoes, vegetables, hagelslag (choclate sprinkels), cheese. I once heard on the news that a guy was stopped by the police, and they found 50 kgs of potatoes in his caravan.

I always learned that the fun thing about a vacation is to explore new cultures, eat new food, meet different people. And I always enjoyed that.
Well, I guess anyone has his/her own idea of a vacation. It's just not my cup of tea (as the English would say) to travel halfway across the world and still hear someone speak Dutch.
And about bringing own food, the only thing I have always brought along with me on my travels to USA was Douwe Egberts coffee, since the coffee there taste like sewer water, and is probably made from it too. Well,..that is, till Starbucks showed up.
And, I must admit, when I am in Taiwan, I also like to drink Heineken. And I do miss my cheese when I am away from home.

Anyway, knowing us, we just go to that camping, do our own thing, and probably won't interfere with the real die-hards that inhabit the site aswell. We'll be fine!