What a ride 2023 has been
2023 Recap!!! WOW!
Reflecting back on this last year – it has been a ride! So much to be so grateful for! It has been a BEAUTIFUL and also TOUGH year!!
After kickstarting the year off at a not-so-great festival in Guatemala (where we were living for a couple of months already), Ms Magic (my gf Johanna) and I were able to create some beautiful new connections there. Closing our life at the famous “Lake Atitlan” off with a big hike up fuego (you stand 300 hundred meters away from the beautiful Lava explosion!), seeing the amazing Mayan temples and experiencing the beauties of Semuc Champey – it was time to go to LA!
Last litte move before leaving this side of the WORLD
LA is the home of one of my three brothers! I have been blessed to be with him and his amazing family a couple of times in 2022 when Ms Magic and I did a big road trip through the U.S. and then again early 2023! Dealing with a renovation job I was doing, being with family, bot flies in my partner’s leg and new life wanting to be grown – this was by no means an easy time in LA! As amazing as this month was – it also left my partner and I with some difficult decisions to be made! Pushing through –
LA is coming to a close – Zambia was nearing quick! A life dream of mine!! I have always been fascinated by the African wildlife and now I was going to be living in it while helping a friend renovate his lodges and crew space! Ms Magic decided not to come and go straight to Bali for her own healing! A decision I fully respected and stood behind – and also a decision leaving me in a space of fear and confusion.
AFRICA baby!!
ZAMBIA! What a place! Go visit KASABUSHI CAMP! A place of true bliss and wildness all on your doorstep. Or better said, Tent step (it’s a thing). My first 2 days I saw all the wildlife I could imagine, even 3 male lions walking 30m away from where I was (I’m on foot and the last male looked right at me). Quintin and I were big fans of Steve Irwin ever since we knew each other from the age of 12, and we wanted to study zoology and live in the bush in Africa! Quintin is SA – hence Africa and not Australia where Steve Irwin came from. Now he and his amazing wife Tessa and living that dream and I was lucky enough to come and experience their new found lifestyle. Thank you to my dear friends who I cherish forever for their support, love and decision to move to Zambia!
Reuniting with Ms Magic
After a visa mistake leaving the country and being banned from Zambia for a year – I arrive in Thailand. I am reunited with Ms Magic. This reunition was one of pure happiness, and also doubt and fear. You see, we went through a very tough time! There were questions as to whether she still was in love with me. Our experience earlier in the year left some deep wounds that needed healing from the both of us.! And I could not be more grateful for Thailand and the healing it gave us!
After doing a sound healing with Jennifer (an amazing sound healer) on the amazing island of Koh Phangan, our love came back full throttle! It was even more powerful than it was before and I had the deepest tears of joy and bliss! The beauties of Koh Phangan, the community, the healthy masculine & feminine energies are so potent! And on top of that – Ms Magic found the location of her amazing yoga & cacao retreat on the island! So many alignments that took place on this wonderful island. After a month of this – it was time to go home to Bali! Or so we thought.
Time to go home - BALI!!
Bali…dear Bali. How I love you. We arrive and it feels grounding and amazing to be back in the motherland we enjoyed so much during the pandemic and our to be home! Having just come out of a deep healing, Ms Magic and I decided to start off living in separate places (not too far though) and to allow the newfound deep love to grow naturally and smoothly. It felt amazing to be on such familiar ground, to have access to all these practices we love so much, to have the most amazing vegan food I have ever had on the planet, our community we developed during the COVID time within grasp and present, the beautiful weather and to be able to walk everywhere barefoot all the time (I do that anyway). With a little in-between trip coming for me – we did however, start to question Bali truly was home for us!
Know the rules!!! Learn from my mistakes? NOPE
So what was next? A quick trip to Europe! You see, my family were all going to be in the Netherlands for multiple birthdays. My mom turned 65 earlier this year in July, my brother in LA was turning 40 and this was all being celebrated on my other brother’s birthday on September 2nd. So a big happening. I had my tickets booked (they were expensive) and I was ready to leave Bali and go to my family – Or so I thought AGAIN.
I fly from Bali to Amsterdam via Jakarta! First flight down and ready to go to my second flight. You would think I would have learned from my mistake earlier in the year – but I made a mistake with my visa again! I overstayed by 31 days and had to pay 1 million IDR per day. 31 million IDR, which is the equivalent of just over $2k. OOPS!
Next mission is trying to pay this amount of money. I do not have this in cash and all that was accepted was cash. So after hours of talking trying to find a way, ATM’s would only give me so much, asking strangers if they have cash and I can transfer the money, etc – my plane flies off to Amsterdam and I am not on it! Not only am I going to miss the one day I wanted to be with my family – I now had only 3 days to try and get the rest of the money. Let me tell you – this was not easy, BUT, eventually I managed and then before I know it, I’m on a flight to Amsterdam.
Stop over in the Netherlands
Europe was beautiful! I got to see all my family (except my brother from LA as he had already flown back) and some friends. I also was blessed to experience a 2 day road trip with my dad. So much was discussed in these days. We have had our confrontations in the past – this trip was nothing but love, joy and adventure (as best it could be on the well-paved roads of the Netherlands ;))
Where is Home?
It’s time – time to be reunited with my beautiful Ms Magic again who is still enjoying the magical Bali – our future home!
And yet this time it didn’t feel like coming home. Things were a little off. It felt so familiar, and yet it didn’t feel like I (we) wanted to stay here. After experiencing all the beauties Bali offers us, we decided it was time to head back to Europe and focus on creating our home base! Our foundation.
With our tickets booked already, we still had another month to go and so we decided to head back to Thailand before heading back to Europe! A month in Phuket with some amazing friends (you know who you are) and a lot of focusing on WORK! Phuket took me by surprise. Really was not a place I thought I would ever go – and yet we went there on recommendation of one of our friends, and I am grateful we did. It provided us with the perfect space to focus on work, enjoy the relaxed beaches there and eat amazing Pad Thai! Oh, and Ms Magic and I became Lemurians thanks to our amazing friend Dani! She is a phenomenal body painter!
Netherlands & Germany
After a month, we made our way back to Europe! We were welcomed with beautiful weather, lots of snow, meeting friends, nature days in the mountains and a feeling of quiet and calmness! I went back to the Netherlands first to celebrate the end of year gathering with the amazing Creco (a set company I have worked with for many years and amazing guys!). After some go-karting (2nd place!!), playing bow and arrow tag (;)), eating amazing food, spending time with my family, meeting the new additions in the family, and enjoying the cold weather by the fire – I made my way to Munich on a night bus!
That night it was snowing so much and I arrived in Winter Wonderland in beautiful Germany. The snow has a very special place in my heart. It’s been a part of my entire life and it always gave me this feeling of bliss. There is a beautiful transformation that happens overnight, a form of quiet that is unheard of, a beautiful fresh smell and best of all – FUN!!
Munich was exactly that – FUN! We celebrated the birthday of our wonderful friend Dani (yes the bodypainter from before), and it was held in her amazing workshop. Ms Magic held a beautiful cacao ceremony (she does this all over the world!), Dani played the hand-pan, another friend the guitar and I played my native flute I built in Guatemala in 2022. Amazing people, new friends, and beautiful art.
The MOUNTAINS
That was not all that Munich had to offer us though…the mountains! Ahhhh the MOUNTAINS! I love the mountains and they are within grasp. We drive an hour and we are at the highest mountain of German. ZugSpitze. Dani, Ms Magic and I have the most wonderful day of Skiing and Snowboarding in cloudless blue sky, fresh powder and an emptiness on the slopes – I couldn’t believe it. When I was 18 I did a winter season in France and have skied and snowboarded since I was 2. So this was a beautiful moment in my return to Europe.
Time with Johanna's family
The year is slowly coming to end, but before it does, Ms Magic and I move into the house of her parents temporarily where we are welcomed with full love. We get to hang out with her family, nieces, grandparents, and much more. Conversations about what living in the 2nd World War was like (it’s getting rarer to be able to have these conversations – so I really enjoy them. It’s amazing to hear people’s stories…probably the thing I enjoy the most in life), Christmas Celebrations, sitting by the fire, walking through nature (nature I have really missed), hitching a ride in a horse carriage, and so much more. So much to be grateful here!
2023 coming to an end
So…it is time to close this story off. It is 2024 now, the day after 2023 as I am writing this. Ms Magic and I celebrated New Years with Dani (of course) and this amazing beautiful conscious community in Munich. They organised a 3 day event to which you could pick and choose what you wanted to take part in. We decided to join 2 gatherings on the 30th and then spend the whole afternoon and night there on the 31st!
Honestly, I didn’t feel great those days. I was going through a little internal transformation on my business, purpose, etc (you know, the usual), and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be around people I didn’t know. TRUST, a big concept in my life came forward and I am so happy that we went to this event! From connection games, to sharing life experiences, to singing in a choir (but not with singing – more in tones and gibberish!!), to cooking together, to creating a collective sound bath (there were many instruments for us to try out), to DANCE!!! No alcohol, no drugs, no external influences – just unconditional love, pure bliss, lots of JOY and being silly!
WOW - JUST WOW!!!
Like I said – 2023 has been a ride! A ride I am so grateful for. It has brought me so many lessons, journeys, adventure, and to be able to do all of this together with my love Ms Magic is the ultimate prize! I love you my sweet dear!
We haven’t found our base yet – but it feels very close! Thank you 2023 and I am forever grateful for what you have given me this year!
To all of you – HAPPY NEW YEARS! May 2024 bring you love, healing, fun, joy, lessons, authenticity, abundance and so so so much more!
I love you.
Arny. xxx
