Last weekend Jess, Shane, Mom and I went down to Utrecht for the day for a small #TRLT tweetmeet. We met two of our Dutch members from The Road Less Travelled  Twitter chat, Antonette and Martijn who participate under the account @we12travel.

It was certainly the most beautiful day we’d had so far in the year with a warm sun beating down from a clear blue sky. We couldn’t have picked a more perfect day. Everyone was out and about, the streets were bustling with people desperate to throw back their jackets and crawl out of hibernation.

The first time I went to Utrecht was years and years ago with Hein who was the one and only Couch Surfer we stayed with when the parents first came to Holland. It was a gorgeous sunny day then, and once again it did not disappoint. The city is full of shops, bicycles, beautiful architecture, history and people sitting at cafes drinking under the sun on patios along the many canals.

We said goodbye to Jessica early, as she had other appointments, and we continued to explore Utrecht, the layered city. We went and found the famous Dutch bunny Nijntje or more commonly known as Miffy in English . I remember when I first came to Holland the grocery store gave out little Miffy toys and I didn’t understand why they would be so crazy over this Hello Kitty type Asian character. That was of course before Kees explained to me that this was 100% Dutch with a very, “Crazy! How could you not know this?!” look.

We stumbled upon Utrechts version of Avenue of Stars and found Carice Van Houten’s footprints. I’ve had several Dutch people comment that I look like her and only JUST realized that she is the Dutch actress who plays the Red Woman in Game of Thrones.

After sitting for a nice refreshing drink and catching up on travel stories and sharing social media info, we decided to go around Utrecht on a Canal Bike or, as we call it, a pedal boat. What fun! I’d never done canal biking before in Holland and now that I’ve experienced it, it is a MUST do if visiting Holland.

We had so many great laughs as the boys nearly bashed into the narrow tunnels and brick walls. We waved and smiled as we pedalled by cafes, swans, couples picnicking in the flower speckled grass under the shade of willow trees and fellow boaters.

On Sunday Mom and I will be driving two days down to Costa Brava, Catalunya, Spain near Barcelona, to attend the blogging conference #TBEX. It’s my first time attending such a major event. After hearing about it from so many fellow travel bloggers, I decided this year I would go, as it is being held relatively close to where we live. This will be a part road trip, part business trip, part vacation.

The five star Rigat Park & Spa Hotel  is spoiling us with FOUR nights at their lovely resort on the coast where we will base ourselves for #TBEX. I am so so so excited and just cannot wait to get there. I’ll definitely be posting lots of photos from this resort, hopefully I won’t be TOO busy to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

On our way home to Holland, we’ll visit Alysha, a long time family friend and character in Volume 3 of the Sihpromatum series, who now lives in Switzerland, Hein who now lives in Germany and Jean-Marc from Zurich a former ESL student that lived with us years ago. I LOVE living in Europe because everything feels so close and yet it’s still extremely diverse. I LOVE traveling and meeting all of these great friends who I get to pop in and say hello to when I’m on a road trip.

Savannah