Aruba & Royal visits

Spent a great week in Aruba from the 14th till the 22nd of November.
Got a bit of windsurfing in, spent time with my family, soaked up some sun and good aruban vibes, visited my ex-elementary school and got to meet the new King and Queen of Holland. You know, The usual.

Arriving in Aruba after having travelled for more than 24 hours through the States was so nice. Everything just felt right. My brother picked me up and I was going to wait at his job until he was off. This happened to be 2 minutes from Barcadera. So what is a windsurfing addict  deprived of that same addiction to do? (even though I received strict orders not to go by my self.. Sorry Q.) HIT the water of course !! I had a sweet 20 minute freestyle session on 4.8. It was perfect, really.That smile on my face wasn’t coming off for the rest of the day. Later some family visit and local food. Woow..So good to be home.
The main reason I booked to go to Aruba was because I was invited by the Gouvernour of Aruba to be part of the comite to receive King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima who were visiting the Dutch Antilles for 2 weeks. I hadn’t realized what an honor this was until the day itself. I was all cool about it at first but on the day itself I was excited like a kid in a schoolbus off on some trip! When I finally got to meet the Royal couple I could barely utter a word. Cat literally got my tongue ( not literally..). This doesn’t happen often to me! 7 years ago I also had the honor of meeting Queen Beatrix and had no problem chatting back then hahaha. After everything I felt really fortunate to be part of it all. I do see a slightly recurring pattern here. Maybe more royal meetings in the future?!
One day I passed by my ex elementary school “Mon Plaisir” to share my windsurfing experiences with the kids in the 6th grade. Funny how I got all nervous to do that. But it turned out to be good fun. Such a cool group of kids!
windsurfing wise: I only got to windsurf one more day with my brother after I had arrived. I was on 5.2 but it was quite light. In my experience November is never windy. Because its hurricane season I was actually hoping for some waves, proper thunder storms and lightning shows at night. But that didn’t happen. I only saw sunshine and blue skies….Hmpf.
Juuust kidding never bad to stock up on that Vitamin D right ?!
Aruba was great and the people were as warm as they could be. I received massive support every single place I went to. Everybody was either congratulating me or wishing me all the best with my travels and competitions etc. Super thankful for all of the support and even more motivated to keep on doing my best ! So when I finally had to pack my bags to leave I didn’t really want to go. But tickets were already booked and the windsurfing adventure must go on. Next Stop: Jericoacoara, Brazil. VAMOS !
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