What I learned from travelling

Exactly one year ago, I arrived in South Africa on what was supposed to be a three month break before real working life started. Except I'm still travelling, a year later, and still have more trips planned. So I thought it was time for a 'what travelling taught me' post, very cheesy but also very true ;)

1. Be flexible
Don´t plan everything because the plan will change anyway, and you'll miss out on a lot of great stuff. This one was definitely the hardest for me. If you´ve known me for a while, you know I used to plan everything up to the smallest detail. On every trip, I had a very detailed schedule. And not just a list of things I wanted to see, no a daily schedule with set times. I know I drove some people crazy with this but there is something to be said for being organised. You get to see everything you want, you're prepared for anything and you don't miss the last train home. But you also might miss that outdoor concert in that little park in Santa Fé. Or that amazing view from the top of a mountain in Iceland. Working at the ranch where plans change depending on the weather, or in South Africa where 'now' means it might happen next week (or tomorrow, or not at all), forced me to be flexible and go with the flow. And I quite like it. The best things happen unexpectedly.

2. Stay positive
Travelling has taught me to always see the good in everything. Of course it's amazing to be travelling this much and I realize how lucky I am that I get to do this, instead of sitting at a desk all day. But as with anything else, it's not always just easy and fun. At times, it's hard work, there are moments where I really miss my friends and sometimes I wonder what I am doing here and why I am not putting my degree to better use. But than I ride a horse with the wind in my hair and a gorgeous view in front of me and I just feel so happy. The past year had many highs and a few lows. But a good friend reminded me that even when things don't go your way, there is always something good that came from it. My friendship with her was one of those things! Looking back on it, it opened up other opportunities and most of all, it taught me a lot about what I can do, how to stand my ground and what is really important.

3. My own strengths 
You often hear people say they 'found themselves' while travelling. While I wouldn´t go that far, I have learned a lot about myself through travelling. When you go to a new place, where you don't know anyone and plans often go off the rails, you really learn what you're made of. I have learned that I can be quite flexible and creative. I have learned I'm a lot stronger than I thought. I have learned to stand up for myself and be proud of what I can do instead of always doubting my skills. But I also care too much and sometimes trust too easily. I am stubborn and can be bossy and I like making my own plans instead of following others' rules. But I can also adapt quite easily. I´ve become a lot more open and confident. I know what makes me happy and how to prioritize that.

4. The importance of friendship
The highlight of every trip were the people I met on the way. With some, I only got to spend a few days, others a few months. But every single one of them played an important part in making all my trips so amazing and a lot of them I consider close friends. I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, getting to know them and have adventures together. It's crazy how close you can get to someone over just a short period of time. But it's not just new friends, I also appreciate my 'old' friends more. Being away from my close friends is hard but thankfully I speak to most of them regularly. They know me better than I know myself sometimes and they always manage to cheer me up. I've met some wonderful people who really understand me and even though they are sometimes far away, I know I can always call them. I feel very blessed to have friendships in which distance doesn´t matter.

5. Inspire and be inspired
A friend recently told me that she felt so inspired and motivated by what I am doing and I realised that was the best compliment she could give me. What I love most about working at the ranch is that I get to share my passion with others and teach them, help them to get better and reach their goals. I always encourage people to do what they love, even if it's hard or takes a while. So realizing that by just doing what I'm doing, working and travelling, I can encourage and inspire others to do what they want made me really happy. And it works the other way around as well, hearing about other people's plans and adventures inspires me too. Every single person you meet, changes your outlook and perspective on life.

The Ultimate Iceland Roadtrip

Last weekend, Ilona and I decided to go on a little tour along the south coast of Iceland. That turned out to be a lot longer than we thought. In a car that turned out to be falling apart. It was quite an adventure but we saw some amazing sights!


Waterfalls everywhere! 

Our first stop was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall just off the ring road (the main road around the island). You can park right by it so it is very easy to reach. The 65m high waterfall itself was beautiful and in summer, you can walk behind it. Unfortunately there was still snow on the path so it was closed now. It was quite busy around the main waterfall so we decided to wander around a little. A sign lead us to Gljúfrabúi, another waterfall just 500m away from the main one. The name means 'dweller in the gorge' and sure enough the waterfall is partly obscured by the rock formation in front of it. You can wade through the little stream and into the gorge for a great up close view of the waterfall. Most people don´t go further than Seljalandsfoss but I thought Gljúfrabúi was even prettier. After getting soaked by the spray from both waterfalls we drove on to Skógafoss, 30km further east on the ring road. The 25m wide waterfall is pretty impressive but even better is the hike up. You have to climb a 527 step staircase to the viewing platform but from there you can walk further up along the water. We were told there are 22 more waterfalls, we didn´t walk that far but we saw another few as well as some beautiful scenery. This hike was the highlight of the trip for both of us! There are a few other waterfalls you can visit in this area, like Kvernifoss behind the Skógar Museum, but unfortunately we didn´t have enough time to go there.

A different kind of beach...
If you dream of white sand beaches, then Iceland is not for you. Here they have black beaches, but if you're lucky, they are scattered with diamonds. We went to the southernmost tip of Iceland, the lighthouse near Vik. This is a great look out point over the black beaches. It was quite windy when we were there so the waves were huge and you couldn't get to the beach itself. But there are other spots where you can walk on the beach, and we had a great view over the shore and the rock formations (which are supposedly petrified trolls..). If you drive further north on the ring road, you'll get to a big bridge where you'll find Diamond Beach on the right and the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon on the left.  The lagoon is famous for it's floating icebergs, which break of off Vatnajökull glacier. The chunks of ice fall into the lagoon and drift out to sea, where the waves crash them on the black sand beach. This beach is also known as 'Diamond Beach' as the ice chunks that wash ashore, glisten in the sun like diamonds. The 'diamonds' that break of Europe's biggest glacier are thousands of years old. You can take a guided tour of the glacier or visit one of the ice caves. Our tour was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather but I would definitely recommend the ice cave tour if you visit in winter, I´ve heard it´s beautiful.

And some car trouble (because it wouldn´t be a proper roadtrip without it)
We spent the night in Höfn (about an hour east of the Glacier Lagoon) so we wouldn´t have to do the five hour drive back to Hella the same day. While the car was fine the first day, unfortunately it didn´t do so well the second day. A guy from the hostel had to tow us behind his nice rental car in order for us to get the car running. After we visited Svartifoss waterfall in Skaftafell, the car wouldn´t start anymore without one of us pushing it. We certainly got some weird looks at the gas station when we had to 'push start' it after filling up. Svartifoss was nice by the way, but I think it will look better in Spring/Summer when it´s green. We were a bit disappointed by it now, especially since it was a 45 minute hike up a pretty steep hill to get there (and they said the level of that hike was 'easy´, I don't want to know what their 'challenging' hike is like). Besides not starting, the car also didn't reverse anymore. This caused a bit of a problem when we visited Fjadrárgljúfur, a beautiful green canyon on a dirt road about 15 minutes off the ring road. Thankfully I managed to pull the car around in the tiny parking lot. After barely making it up the pretty steep hill on the way back from the canyon, we did make it home safely (miracles do exist!). It was a great roadtrip though, for me it felt more like the Iceland that you see in photos than the Golden Circle and it's certainly a must do when in Iceland.



Ps. all the hiking and pushing cars along the south coast made for good Mongol Derby training ;)

Something Blue

One of the hardest parts of writing this blog is actually coming up with good titles. Of course I want them to reflect the content a little, but I also don't want them to be too literal. And I like them to have a double meaning. I was staring at my previous blogs and this popped in my head, a bit cheesy but it'll have to do, so here we go!


So yeah, the ideal scenario would be if I could write about my visit to the Blue Lagoon. But unfortunately I can't, so I guess I'm cheating a little with my title. Of course the Blue Lagoon is a must see when in Iceland, the top tourist attraction and all of that, but what the beautiful photos in travel guides don't show you, is that it is super busy, super expensive (I am after all travelling on a budget) and the water is not even naturally blue, they put chemicals in it! Of course it's still a great spot to visit while in Iceland, it's just not for me. Instead we went to the Secret Lagoon, which is actually not so secret as there were quite a few people there, but still quite cool. The 'pool' is made of rocks and heated by the hotsprings surrounding it. The steam rising from the water and the old changing rooms which are now a ruin give the place a very rustic feeling. It was very nice to let our muscles relax and soak until our skin was all wrinkly.

In case you were wondering, I'm not just galavanting around Iceland. I work at a stables here for two months. My friend Ilona, who I met in South Africa three years ago, is here for five months and suggested it to me. Besides her, there are two other girls: Mary from Germany and Kathi from Austria. We spend our days doing stable work, training horses and taking guests out on tours. Same thing as before but a very different environment. The first week I really had to get used to the temperature, I was freezing with six layers of clothes on! But I'm a bit used to it now and it has warmed up quite a bit as well. The area here is beautiful though. Lots of hills and beautiful mountains and volcanoes in the distance. Every night we do a short workout so I'm already getting started on the Derby training a little ;)

Here in Iceland they only have Icelandic horses, which sounds very obvious but I think it's quite interesting: as soon as a horse leaves Iceland, it's not allowed to come back. This is to prevent them from bringing in diseases as the horses here don't get vaccinated. As you may know, the Icelandic horses also have two extra gaits (speeds at which they can go), the tolt and flying pace. I did it once before on my friend's horse, but it's actually a lot harder than it looks. We get weekly lessons though,  so now I feel a little less like I have no clue what I'm doing and like I'm making the horse worse. It's a lot of fun thoug and I think every riding style can teach you something useful. Riding Icelandic horses is teaching me to really have a deep seat.


As a tour guide, I've also learned a lot of fun facts about Iceland. This is my top five:
1. A majority of Icelanders believe in elves (there was an actual research done on this)
2. There is a volcanic eruption every 4 years on average
3. Beer remained illegal untill 1989
4. Mosquitoes don't exist in Iceland
5. First names not previously used in Iceland must be approved by the Icelandic Naming Committee

Something new

Photo by TheAdventurist

It has been a bit quiet on the blog the past month but now I’ve got a lot of exciting news to share. I’ve been working on a lot of different stuff lately and it’s been a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ work but now things are moving forward in a big way. I won’t keep you in suspense for too long so here’s the first reveal: I got accepted to compete in the Mongol Derby! The Derby, which will take place in August 2019, is the longest and toughest horse race in the world. The 1000km long course recreates Chengis Khan's legendary postal system that was created in 1224. Every year, around 45 competitors from countries all over the globe take part in the race (and usually half of them finish it).

Photo by TheAdventurist

I will have 10 days to complete the course, it will take not just horsemanship skills but survival skills and determination. I will ride 25 different, semi-wild horses through rough terrain including mountain passes, open valleys, wooded hills, rivers, wetlands, sandy dunes and open steppe. Besides it being an awesome adventure, I will also raise money for different charities and the Derby supports local people in Mongolia who play a huge role in making this race possible. If you want to support me, have look at this link: Aly's Mongol Derby Horse Race

Of course I will be blogging about the preparations leading up to the race (not looking forward to all the hours I will have to spend in the gym to get in shape). 

Photo by our partner in Montenegro

In other exciting news: Heleen and I are starting our own company! It’s called ‘Centaur Trails’ and focuses on helping people find the perfect horse riding holiday. This project is something Heleen and I have been thinking about for a few years now as something that ‘would be cool to do in the future’. I often get asked if I have any suggestions on destinations and stables, with all the travelling I do, so we decided this would be a good time to get started and see if we can make this into a business. In the first phase, we will focus on Dutch clients but over the years we are hoping to expand to an international market. We will be offering horse riding holidays worldwide and will also organise tailor made trips with or without your own horse. 

We are planning the official launch for May but of course there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done. We are busy building our website, social media and of course with finding the best companies to work with. I am super excited about it, it’s the perfect combination of my two passions: riding and travelling. I realize how lucky and privileged I am to be able to do both right now and have all these amazing experiences, sometimes it feels like a dream. I hope that we will be able to help people a little in living their dream. Of course I will keep you posted on our progress on the blog! For now, check out the new Centaur Trails logo, done by Heleen!

And in case you were wondering, I’m in Iceland at the moment and it’s pretty amazing. I will tell you all about it in next week’s blog so stay tuned ;)