What’s better than a surprise weekend getaway?

Nothing. There is absolutely nothing better than a surprise weekend getaway. Especially on your Birthday weekend, with one of your absolutely favourite people on the planet.

If anyone ever surprises you with a  weekend getaway for your birthday you will probably end up liking them more than  everything else on the planet. Even more than watermelon. And pineapple. And puppies. That’s how amazing having someone surprise you with a birthday getaway is.

Did I mention it’s the best?

You may be able to guess but I recently was surprised with a weekend birthday getaway. And now I like a certain person more than all the tropical fruits on the planet.

My birthday was on a Sunday this year. There is something nice about a Sunday Birthday. Something relaxing about it.

On Friday evening I was instructed to pack a bag. I was told to leave my phone at home and not to forget my toothbrush. I managed to disconnect but forgot about oral hygiene when packing.

Toothbrushless and offline we headed off early Saturday morning. First stop: the train station.

One of the (many) great things about moving to the Netherlands is that the places all have such funny names that catching trains had no way of ruining the surprise destination. My Dutch geography is pretty limited to ‘Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam’.

None of these were on any signs so the only thing giving away our destination was the rise of the warm sun. Yep, it was a sunny day in The Netherlands on the way to my mystery weekend getaway.

We caught a train… And then a bus… And then another train.. And then another bus…

Four hours into our journey and we stopped for a snack. We were by a port now (and I could kind of guess we were about to board a boat) so we went into the local fish shop. Salmon is my latest addiction and the smoked salmon here was honestly the best ever. Yum. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

We finished our delicious catch and boarded the boat. With the wind in our hair we were heading out to a small island in the Wadden Sea. Schiermonnikoog island. Don’t worry. I can’t pronounce it either.

I had one question… How were we going to get around the island? It was only 5km long but I had a feeling we weren’t walking…

I didn’t really need an answer… We were in the Netherlands after all. Of course we would be cycling.

Cycling holidays had always been a mystery to me. But it was a mysterious weekend after all.

We collected our bicycles and headed towards the main picturesque village city (also named Schiermonnikoog).

Voted as The prettiest place in the Netherlands by the Dutch people, Schiermonnikoog island is one big National Park so it is basically a dream cycling destination.

We arrived at our super cute bed and breakfast where the older Dutch lady (who we started to refer to as ‘Grandma’) showed us to our room upstairs. It was super cute and I couldn’t have been more excited to start exploring the island.

As I waited outside to start exploring I could not believe my eyes. There was a man walking his dog… Wearing clogs. Yep, wooden clogs. The ones you see in souvenir shops in Amsterdam. This was really the Netherlands.

After recovering from sighting a real clog-wearing Dutch man we first made our way to the town centre and visited the tourist information office. Joost bought a map, we had a snack and started cycling. The island was small but super diverse in scenery. We decided to cycle through the beautiful forest first and had to stop for a drink when we found a wonderful lake with a great bar (that even served cider!).

And then it rained… We were in the Netherlands after all.

We decided not to let a little rain get in the way of discovering the island and headed out to the WW2 bunkers and war cemetery – which seemed very appropriate in the grey weather!

Eventually we decided to go home and dry off. The rain was getting worse and we were in desperate need of some warm showers. We headed home, warmed up with showers and tea and just like the old souls we were we read our books and had an afternoon nap.

I was starting to really appreciate being away from technology…

Recharged we set out for dinner. With perfect timing the rain and stopped and we found a cozy pub which served some pretty fantastic seafood – the chef even speaking to us personally about our meals.

Washed down with a beautiful bottle of French red wine (that disappeared far too quickly) we set out to the local nightclub – Tox Bar.

Just like all small towns the local night club is always unique. It was very early when we arrived but as we drank our beer and cider the party started up with all ages – from young teens to old souls and everyone  in between.

I lost count of our drinks somewhere around eight and before I knew it midnight was approaching. I was embarrassing myself on the dance floor when the DJ announced a birthday. What a coincidence, right?

Wrong. It was me. I was in a tiny island nightclub and people were singing happy birthday to me.

I was honestly slightly stage struck but the tequila shots definitely boosted my confidence afterwards.

We drunk, we danced, we laughed and at some point I drunk cried.

We managed to make our way home and actually brush our teeth but we definitely fell asleep with the lights on…
The next day I was not as hungover as I deserved to be and actually managed to enjoy the first day of being twenty two without a headache.

We had a picnic lunch in the park and hopped back on our cycles for a sunny day of exploring. IT WAS SUNNY!

We headed out along the coast. The island has the broadest beach of Europe and the North Sea makes sure that it keeps on growing. We headed out towards the islands iconic red lighthouse and enjoyed the view. I saw my favourite clog-wearing local again – out for a small hike this time.

We then headed towards the beach, making our way through the forest to get there. Although going to a nice restaurant for a Birthday lunch is always nice having a picnic on the beach was a perfect way to spend my birthday lunchtime… Followed by another afternoon nap of course.
After lunch we headed through fields, cycling around cows and horses as we made our way back to the village… And once again we saw the clog man – cycling this time. I had seen a Dutch man cycling in clogs. I could die happy.

Soon it was time to say goodbye to the beautiful little island. We had both secretly been hoping that the weather would be so bad that the ferry would stand us on the island but we had no such luck. The weather was absolutely perfect (in a very non-typical Dutch way).

We returned our bicycles and boarded the ferry. We had accepted that it was home time but there was one Dutch experience left for us to try.

Before we hopped back on the bus and started the long bus-train-bus-train journey home Joost decided we needed to visit our favourite fish shop one last time. This time for raw herring of course. Not even my favourite Ducth man had indulged in the Dutch tradition before.

We held the onion-covered raw fish over our mouths and surprisingly enjoyed it.

With bad breath and happy hearts we made our way home.