A different trip?.....

.........in theory, yes

Unlike when I went to Paris to be with a lovely local Frenchman; I am taking my partner of 3 years Andrew with me. An even lovelier and very British young man. I say young man, he's 34 and I'm 33 - we're not old, but we no longer get asked for ID, let's leave it at that.

Being with Andrew feels like home, wherever we are, so I'm hoping this will eradicate 90% of my home-sick tendencies.

(please feel free to wretch into your travel guides at that sickly analogy, don't worry, there won't be many)

Andrew is a 3D Animator who will be working in this field in Amsterdam. I work as a Line Producer with a Film Company, also based around animation. My work, however, enables me to travel anywhere in the world; all I need is an internet connection and my laptop (a possession I have become more attached to than my bestest teddy bear as a child)

So; this time, I will be taking a piece of home with me (the bloke with the crinkly head)

And I will already have paid employment whilst in Amsterdam, so the financial burden of maintaining my house in the Isle of Man is already spoken for.

That was a major aspect of my uneasiness in Paris. I still had to pay my mortgage at home (or sell the house, not an option at the time).... the unemployment rate was very high, as was the tax. Also, by all accounts, unless you could both speak and write the language fluently, you really could wave goodbye to the possibility of any employment paid above minimum wage.

While in Holland I want to explore many things.......yes, I have visions of casually cycling along the canal, laptop strapped to my back, stopping at cafes and restaurants to take advantage of their internet connection and 'work' whilst drinking expensive coffee and eating copious amount of miniature pancakes.

But I want to find out about the real lifestyle there.....the language, working as a non-national, social clubs, nightlife, heritage, getting around and, my biggest love, the food.

So I am going to update this blog as often as I can (this will be often as I want to appear both busy and popular whilst sitting in aforementioned cafes, drilling furiously on my keyboard)

I'm going to give an honest account of what we get up to; difficulties we encounter and (hopefully) lots of new discoveries that might be of interest if you ever think of going there too.