After two months in Indonesia my visa was unfortunately running out and I had to leave the country. As part of my Trip of Wonders with the Indonesian Tourism Board I could choose a flight out of Indonesia to any given destination in the world. I made me think to finally start exploring Africa or may be Southeast Europe. When I thought about Europe, I though about my friends and family in Holland and then it was an easy decision!
Coming back home from a big trip
Being surrounded by friends and family keeps you grounded. For them I am not Traveltomtom, a travel blogger or a social media guru, I am just Tom. It is super inspiring to see though how everyone is following my adventures and telling me how incredible my life is. It is summer time in Europe so a bunch of my friends were enjoying their holidays, but then again when they had to go back to the office it made me realize how blessed I am to write stories on my blog and social media and making a living out of it! Seeing my little brothers pride, my newborn cousin was definitely a highlight as well! It felt good to be home, but I honestly admit traveling feels just as good! :)
Ongoing projects
Being back in The Netherlands also gave me the opportunity to finally get some Dutch projects done, like going to festivals I was invited for and getting an interview done with Holland’s most reputed newspaper NRC. Big thanks to the hippest hotel in Amsterdam for hosting me: W Amsterdam. On top of that I was invited to meet a media production team that has plans putting me on the big screen! Imagine Traveltomtom on television! Oh and did I already mention that I received an email from NBC USA? #humblebrag. Let’s see where all this is going! I will keep you posted, sign up for my newsletter now and I will send you an update as soon as I have more news…
Attending the ITE Ho Chi Minh City
It is not even that long ago but my first big travel blogger event was the World Tourism Forum in Istanbul: a conference about the development in Tourism with interesting speeches from inspiring people and a great event to network. Lately I got invited to attend another travel network meeting: the International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City. Sunday September 3th I will be flying to Ho Chi Minh City and will be around for 9 days attending the conference and going on a fam trip to the Mekong Delta. I have already been to Vietnam twice but that was before I started blogging. I seriously love this country as for a little bit of money you get crazy cool adventures in return: the beer is dirt cheap, the food is delicious, the people are friendly and road trips are incredible. If you are looking for adventure then put Vietnam on your list. I have traveled around from North to South twice: my first time in 2009 and my second time in 2013. Excited to go back! Keep an eye out on my social media channels for daily updates: Traveltomtom Facebook and @traveltomtom Instagram.