We first bumped into each other on 10 August 1996 at a party of the gay youth group Enig Verschil in Antwerp (Belgium). Dirk just came back from Southampton where he had been living & studying for a year. Rob was enjoying his time off during summer after another year at university. After this first encounter we saw each other regularly at social gatherings, that for some reason always ended late at night in an Irish pub, where it was the two of us that kept on talking, after all the others had gone home. So, 11 September 1996, big day, late in the evening came the official moment that we became aware that something was brewing. The roller coaster started rolling. “Rob & Dirk are a couple”. “Noo,… you’re kidding”. “Yes I saw them walking hand in hand the other day at the Meir” (*Meir is main shopping street in Antwerp). Dirk graduated as a musicologist & started working for an orchestra. Rob continued his studies & started working as an IT nerd. Rob moved in to Dirks place. We started traveling together (exciting first time on a plane for Dirk), to Greece, France (yes skiing), Iceland, Spain, US California (& pride in San Francisco). Came the time to really settle & buy a house, yes, our first house! Great life, both great jobs, great love, great friends, great supporting family…
And every holiday again, the same happened, “we want to live here”, “we want to run this place”, “this is what we want to do”… Spring 2001, one evening at a very nice restaurant in Bretagne (France), came the moment that we realized “Don’t dream it, Be it” (Rocky Horror Show). We could go on, dreaming for years & years & continue to do the same forever, or just go for it. So then, we started going to hotel school in evening classes for 3 years, learning cooking, serving, accounting & how to run a hotel. We both gained during those years some weight because of the good food (10 kilos each). Then came the first really big moment. We moved to France, where we bought Hotel Le Cassini in a small mountain village in the french Alps.
The first year living in France we lost the 10 kilos we gained before. We had 10 fantastic years, we’ve had so many great guests, so many extraordinary memories, great staff, more than enough to fill another blog. As the hotel was a seasonal business we had as well time to travel a lot, we went 6 weeks Florida for the theme parks & the national parks, we drove around in a camper in California & the surrounding states for 6 weeks. We were 4 weeks in China. We went to Greece with friends. Italy was around the corner from where we lived, so was great for a short break of a week or so. Spain mainland was a regular destination. Living in France, a short break in France, happened regularly. We spent a month in India. Indonesia we discovered very luxury with a private driver. We drove twice around Thailand for a month. We did a trip to Morocco & to Turkey,… And on top of that we went every year to Gran Canaria, where we started to make friends, so we went there more regularly until 3 times a year.
Time for a change! We sold our hotel & moved to Gran Canaria. Wow, this is paradise! Year round sunshine, summer, nice weather, meeting new friends, going out for a party, going to the beach… We also went four months to school to learn Spanish in intensive classes. Rob found a job at the pool bar of Los Almendros (gay hotel), Dirk started at a Customer Service Department of a big Tourism company. We rented a house where we regularly invited friends. Going on holiday? No need for it, our life is one holiday. Then after a couple of years we both started working for Tui, great jobs, but full time, so we had to cut down (only a little bit) on the beach and the social life, still fantastic. During holidays, we started traveling again, a week to London & Brighton. Another time we went for a week to Berlin & Prague. We went as well a week to Lapland in winter with Robs family, absolutely magical, but so cold if you’re living on Gran Canaria). Last “bigger” holidays was 2 weeks to Taiwan, where we fell in love with Asia again. “We want to live in Asia!” At the beach when we were back from Taiwan October 2019: “Rob, would it be possible to learn Chinese in Gran Canaria? I’m gonna google it.”… “Rob, there’s a course starting next Monday in Las Palmas”. “Don’t dream it, be it”. We started learning Chinese,… dum, dum, dum… dum, dum, dum, (small interlude… Covid… we had a great time, but all plans were put on hold, stopped & changed). Summer 2022: “Shall we do it?, Shall we go to live for a year in Asia?” We started researching, developed a plan, we started bit by bit the first preparations. Then came the moment Rob asked: “When are we planning to go?” Some time later the question came: “What are we waiting for?”. We’re waiting for nothing, absolutely nothing. “We’re going to do it now, We’re going to live a year in Asia!”
Continue reading: The big plan or The big plan – The Sequel
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