2000
This is a hard year for me to blog. I am sure that I will have some dates wrong. I am sure that the trouble I had with Laura disappeared. Online, it was just easier to deal with each other! At the end of 1999 I arranged with Elin , Sandra and Marleen, that I would join them on the MK&A Russia Cruise. It wasn’t that expensive to go on it at all I thought, but of course we also had to fly to Stockholm for it. Somehow, my intuition told me that it wasn’t a good idea for me to go on that cruise, I had the feeling that I wouldn’t like it much, and I know that I was right. I asked my friend Kelly from the US if she wanted to take my place, and go with Marleen from here to Stockholm. We all managed to work around obstacles and made it happen.
First , I went to Paris with my friends Charlie and Nicole. That was a lot of fun! I made a pic of a restaurant where MK&A sat in their movie “Passport to Paris” .Had some great fun there! We stayed outside of Paris, near Disney land, and took the RER and the Metro to get everywhere, that was awesome of course. It was all too well, because my friend Charlie had adapted to a strange way of driving on the highway that made me quite nervous. Anyways, that lasted 4 days. Then in June, Kelly came here for a couple of days to stay with my parents before she and Marleen would leave for Stockholm! It was fun, I picked Kelly up from the airplane, and she was so overtired that she couldn’t sleep anymore, so I just decided to keep her awake by sightseeing! We went to Scheveningen, The Hague and then drove back to where we lived. On the way back, I treated Kelly to my ultimate “fall asleep” song (waiting for Cousteau by Jean Michel Jarre) and it didn’t take her long before she fell asleep!!
Destination : Stockholm
Then the day came where we got on the car to drive to Marleen’s, and picked her up to drive to Schiphol, from where we got on the plane to Stockholm! We met Sandra and her dad at the airport, and we drank something there, chatted a little ! I dunno how Sandra felt at that time, but everything she said was really silent I remember. We had known each other for quite a few years already, so we weren’t strangers or anything. I guess it is always weird to meet someone in person for the first time! I have noooo idea anymore how we got from the Airport to the Hotel in town anymore, but I am guessing it was a bus? I don’t think Sandra’s dad was with us anymore then? We checked in our hotel and I think Elin came the day after? We went to Grona lund, the amusement park in Stockholm, which was quite close from our hotel! Of course that was enough fun for me already 
In the evening I think we watched the first American Pie movie! I remember Sandra nearly died laughing, and I thought it was really funny too! Kelly had seen it already and it was not her kind of movie and Marleen didn’t like it either. We can’t all like the same things I guess! The day after we met Elin and her dad in the hotel and Sandra’s dad came too, and they transported us to the Harbor where the Cruise ship was waiting. I got in the waiting area and saw MK&A there. I shot like 3 pics of them, and was able to post them on the trenchcoatwins the day after, and had the very first images of them . We got everyone on board and I hung around with Sandra’s father who showed me some places in Stockholm ! He was quite fun to hang around with I remember! He and Elin’s dad then dropped me off at the airport again,and I flew back to the Netherlands again, and drove home from Schiphol.
Next destination : NYC
I had arranged with my dutch friend Rieneke, that we would go to NYC again. It has always been her most favorite town in the whole wide world, and since I had already gone there the year before with Marleen, her parents felt pretty confident that this trip could work well enough for their daughter. I don’t think she ever went on vacation without her parents before. They were a really close family! I remember that the farewells from her family lead to quite a lot of tears on most of them The flight was as good as you can expect. I don’t remember any instances where flight attendants were annoying. Then once we landed in JFK, a cap found US outside, and I remembered that you should ask before getting in whether or not they were on a fixed rate to NYC. He said yes.. Logically the next step I should have taken was the question “how much do you charge” but somehow I forgot about that one.. So when we arrived at the Manhattan Plaza hotel, he told us that it was $90 . He even showed it to us in his cab book. That was a bummer and a rip off. Our first one I guess. The hotel we great, and so was NYC, too bad there was a heatwave in NYC at that time and it was hot as hell. Rieneke and I quickly got familiar with the subway system and soon drove everywhere we wanted! We went to central park everyday, bloomingdales, everyday to the Internet cafe on 42nd street, we just loved it there! NYC is an awesome city. Laura arranged that she was going to come for 3 days to visit us. It turned out to be a life altering decision We went to Coney Island, I got to ride in the Comet, one of the oldest working roller coasters in the world! It was awesome They actually still have people pulling a break lever at the side of the track to stop the train.. The trip there with the subway was interesting though.. Lots of anti social individuals, and the outside of the tracks didn’t look very cozy or anything, lots of graffiti and stuff The subway station at coney island smelled of urine, and it leaked fluids from the ceiling on lots of places. Outside it looked like we got out at a ghetto. Colored people with ghetto blasters on their shoulders blasting something that didn’t resemble music anymore We talked to some cops who told us how so many things in NYC were still named after Dutch people. Erasmus Univ. and one of them told us that Brooklyn came from “Broeklijn” (line in your pants) . I am sure it’s true, but it didn’t sound logical to me. My relationship with Laura greatly improved while we were in NYC, and a little spark flew between us Her mentally abusive boyfriend became an EX, after me and various other people told her a 1000 times to dump him, so that greatly improved our relationship! We went to the statue of liberty (it’s so small in real life!!) we met Jimmy from www.sweetin.com there, had some fun together with him there and went back! We saw the WTC. We were clueless about the fact that it would be their last year in NYC. Laura stayed an extra day with us, but we had to say goodbye to her the next day! Rieneke really liked her too, and well me..that’s a given .
On our last day there, I walked by a shop there, and saw a sony playstation 2.. It hadn’t even come out in the US yet. They wanted $800 for it, without a game, so I spent $940 for it with one game.. When I bought it, I realized how TRICKY that would be to get it into the Netherlands without customs asking difficult questions.. I decided to stuff it in my backpack and take it through customs that way!! We flew back, and when we got to Dutch customs they actually asked me if I had anything to declare and I just answered “Some t-shirts and pants” , and they let us go through, haha! If they had searched me, that would have been a hefty fine PLUS 20% of the value of the playstation! Anyways, Rieneke and her family were glad to be reunited again,and I was also glad to be home. It wasn’t going to be my last vacation…
next destination : Iowa
Laura and I arranged another meeting that year in Oct AND I flew again in Dec that year for Christmas. I don’t have much recollection of October, but Dec was pretty eventful In October we did a lot of lovey-dovey stuff, developped our relation ship a little more. We went on bike rides near the water and I think we also had a tornado warning that month too! One time we were at the water and I saw a snake crawling on the bike path. We stopped, Laura got the camera and I picked up the snake. It bit me on the hand, but just knicked me? I had it’s venom on my hand, and it stank like Hell! I decided to let the sname go then, I honestly couldn’t imagine that in Iowa they have poisenous snakes, but I guess they do We found a waterhose a little further along the path, and I put my hands under the cold water. It felt nice, but it took like half an hour of water before I lost that smell on my hands. We still have it on video, I can make a clip if anyone is interested One nice warm day I decided that I wanted to go on a little nature hike . Laura was probably working at McD, so I had some time to spare. It was fun, but found myself wandering around in the swamp pretty fast, that was a sign to go back. Saw lots of unfamiliar bugs and I didn’t like it much. The next day I was covered in itch red spots On my elbows, knees, hands, various places! It itched really bad. We had to go to the ER to get it examined and I got some cream that helped! I think it took like 3 days before everything was alright again! When you’re walking around with constant itching, you don’t have much fun. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t for long
In December I flew back to Iowa!I remember when I flew in to Waterloo (which is now financially impossible) that it was like -30 degrees there.. The streets were totally snow covered, and outside on your own, you had very little chance of survival. People said on TV to stay indoor as much as possible.. This was going to be a great vacation, me being an outdoor person, lol! It was like holiday in the freaking north pole! I remember 2 meter long icicles hanging from the roof, and because it was so dangerous, Laura got rid of them, and I filmed that! The tree in front of the house had a thick ice core from all the water that had dripped down on it! We still managed to go out a lot , but driving was very tricky! In Dec 2000 I also proposed to her at Christmas evening. Of course she said yes. What happened then is good for the 2001 entry of my blog. I hope I remember everything correctly
I think in that winter we also went to the Mall of America again? We took the greyhound bus there. That was fun, NOT. Seems that the greyhound bus is the transportation of the citizens that are poor or something? You could just see that looking at the people in the bus! The trip there took forever it seemed, but we arrived finally ! We did the usual Mall walking at the mall, which was fun as usual! On the way back I remember we had to wait for the bus at a gas station and it was very cold outside! It finally showed, but then the bus driver looked at our tickets and then neglected to say that we had to change bus somewhere in Iowa. I forget what city it was again. So we stopped there, but stayed in the bus, being ignorant about having to switch bus in Mason City. So later in the bus, I noticed cities that I didn’t see before, and I knew that something was going on. we were heading south, and we were supposed to head east.We ended up in Des Moines in Iowa. Fun city, but we weren’t supposed to be there! We had to call Laura’s brother to see if he was able to pick us up there! Not our favorite person to ask for help, but at least, 2 hours later he showed up with his wife and (then baby) Christian. We went for subway somewhere, drove around in Des Moines a little, and headed home. I remember on the way back I had some fun with Christian, and we kept screaming at each other. Turned out that Laura’s brother had a headache or something, and he was super irritated about the screaming but didn’t say anything, haha!