TRAVEL & FUN

★  PA PATTY  ★  TRAVEL & FUN ★

Barcelona 2006 (click to enlarge)
2015 Lisboa (click to enlarge)
2016 Valencia (click to enlarge)


Travel organiser is not only a professional skill, also in my free time I like to organise travel programs and bookings.

Like most people I enjoy spending time doing nice things with me, myself & I and good people.

Some very fun activities are the regular dinners and city trips with my 'chicas'; a wonderful group of 'crazy' women *)

who have been sharing lots of fun with each other for decades now.


How the travels began:

In 2005, on the train back from Amsterdam, after another girlz day out, we were talking about how long we have been doing this already and a first 'anniversary' came up: our first chicas weekend in Barcelona was born. Since I had already visited Barcelona a couple of times, I suggested to organise this trip in 2006. Four súper fun days followed!


After this great experience we decided to add annual weekends to our frequent dinners and day trips and started exploring the Netherlands. In the meantime we have spent some great weekends together in the island of Terschelling, Zandvoort & Haarlem, the South of Limburg, The Hague & Scheveningen, Delft, Nijmegen, Drenthe. Our very first day trip was back in 1996 and since then there's no Dutch city that hasn't got to know us yet ;)


During one of our dinners in 2015 I was telling the group that I often travelled to Spain via Lisbon airport, but I had never actually seen the city of Lisbon. More and more chicas were listening and before I knew it, our next weekend had been confirmed and I could start planning and organising 'Chicas to Lisboa'. Súper fun! and I have been able to show so many beautiful parts in such a short time.


Not only Lisbon city centre, but especially also the beauty around it:

  • like Parque das Nações with the amazing Ponte Vasco da Gama
  • and the boulevard from Estoril to Cascais
  • and of course beautiful Cascais itself


I think it was during this trip that one of the chicas started calling me her 'PA' and so the name PA Patty was born ;)

Patty is of course an abbreviation of Patricia and this is also how my Spanish friends always call me and how my Indonesian grandma used to call me when I was little.


In 2016, I passed my exam after a nine month study HBO Project Management. I told the girls in whatsapp that I would like to toast to that, somewhere in Lisboa II or in Valencia. Of course this was a joke, but I received such enthusiastic responses saying 'book it' and 'we'll join', so I started organising our next girlz weekend in Valencia that year.


And again this was a very successful mission, where we (without knowing up front) landed in the middle of the annual

Día de la Comunitat Valenciana. An unforgettable experience!!


Valencia is above all:

  • a very beautiful and relaxed city centre (Ciutat Vella) with marvellous buildings and cosy squares and areas
  • the wonderful Túria Park (Jardí del Túria), once a river that surrounded the city, now a huge beautiful and well-maintained park, where you can escape the busy traffic, walking or by bike
  • the incredible beauty of the modern Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, a totally contrary architecture that makes it seem like you're in a completely different city, however, still feels very 'Valenciana'
  • and last but not least ... the lovely and wide beach area at biking distance, with its great and pleasant boulevard


This is just a small impression, but I AM IN LOVE WITH VALENCIA!! Para siempre!!

As you can see, there is never a dull moment and always something nice to enjoy or to organise for PA Patty ;)


Here below a photo/video of our Chicas to Costa del Sol trip in 2018

and the funny almost-synchronised-swimming training session in Beekbergen prior to the trip

#BijnaSynchroon  #AlmostSynchronised

(all music used in videos on this site is legally purchased on iTunes)




*)

Like I mentioned in my stories, our chicas group started with 11 fun loving girlz and that lasted for decades until 2020,

when we suddenly, unexpectedly and very very sadly had to say goodbye to our chica Jaan (Adriane) who passed away in 2020

and a year later saying goodbye to our chica Ansje who passed away in 2021.


With this sad sad news my slogans #ChicasForever and 'Chicas para siempre' had suddenly changed to 'Never the Same'

and in Dutch #NooitMeerCompleet.


We miss you my dear chicas  ♥ ♥ Rest in Peace Sweeties  ♥ ♥  Forever in our hearts


(all music used in videos on this site is legally purchased on iTunes)



★  MORE TO COME . . .  ★