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Here I am, at 4:30 in the middle of the night, sitting in the living room because I can’t sleep anymore. I thought I could sleep forever, I thought that the jet lag wasn’t going to bother me, but I was wrong!

I arrived this morning at Schiphol with a two hours delay. I saw my mom, my sis and my two friends waving and jumping behind the window dividing the baggage claim and the main hall. I couldn’t stop smiling. Although I was a bit sad to return to the Netherlands again after my wonderful month of traveling, I was very happy to see these four important people again!

So what did I do after leaving San Fran for my second Green Tortoise trip?

Well, before I visited Vegas, we stopped by in Monterey to see the beautiful aquarium, I got sick in the bus because I didn’t eat enough, I saw giant seals lying lazy on the beach, squirls hopped on our feet and we had campfires under skies full of stars.

I was in Hollywood, saw the pathway of stars, I made new friends and had to leave old friends behind. I walked between cactuses and drank liters of water per day.

After Vegas I did the well-known Angels Landing hike in Zion Canyon, I hiked in Bryce Canyon and walked half a mile on my slippers to the showers. I saw beautiful sunsets, slept with my nose only a few inches from the ceiling and got waken up too early almost every morning.

I wandered through Arches National Park, bought pints of Ben and Jerry’s to share and washed myself with river water. I saw a sunrise early morning after a hike up a mountain and got some nasty mosquito bites.

I visited a Native American market and swam in Lake Powell. I ate ribs in a very American pub in Paige and brushed my teeth in the supermarket restroom.

I camped halfway down in the Grand Canyon on the hard ground, saw a rattle snake and many deer, listened to the loud noises of the nightlife and learned how to say ‘You’ve got a nice ass’ in several different languages.

I saw some planets trough a huge telescope, I visited Vegas again in a 45 degrees celcius heat and screamed out over the nightly lit sky from a roller coaster at 330 meters above ground level.

I waited for hours, sat in two more planes, saw New York in rapid speed, ate loads of sushi, bought an Ipod, waited for hours again, sat in two more planes again and finally hit the Dutch ground somewhere around nine a.m. local time last morning.

While I desperately wanted to go home the last month at Whitworth, this last month of traveling made me all happy again. I had a great time and made great friends. Anke (Germany), Nitay (Israel) and Troels (Denmark), I will never forget you!

Tomorrow it’s time to have a look at all the hundred of pictures I made to relive the finest moments, but now, I think it’s time to go to bed again. Sweet dreams!